Do u save for your kids?

Mojisola

lowlitmemory wrote: »

There is, we have a child savings account with Lloyds and they write to you just before the child's 16th birthday and at that point you can either choose to leave it all in their name, or transfer it into your own account. We will be transferring it into our own account.

Are you sure?

https://www.lloydstsb.com/legal/savings/young-savers.asp
ELIGIBILITY
To open the account you must be under 16. If the Account is still open when you reach 16, we will convert the Account to another instant access savings account in your name.

fluffymuffy

I started pensions for them as soon as mine were born. My eldest children are in their 20s and I'm still paying £50 per year into their pensions. It works out as a huge sum on retirement for them. I hope one day they'll take over the payments.

mrcow

I'm saving nothing per month.

Instead, I'm overpaying and am on course to pay off my mortgage by the time the eldest is 16.

That way, I'll have enough to fund them through university myself as I'll be 100% debt free by then.

There's no point me squirrelling away money when I owe £100k on our home.

lowlitmemory

Mojisola wrote: »

Are you sure?

https://www.lloydstsb.com/legal/savings/young-savers.asp
ELIGIBILITY
To open the account you must be under 16. If the Account is still open when you reach 16, we will convert the Account to another instant access savings account in your name.

Yep.
http://www.lloydstsb.com/savings/young-saver.asp?WT.ac=SCSFPFND1 under "Full features":

Before the child's 16th birthday we'll write to you reminding you that the account will convert into an Easy Saver with bonus solely in the child's name. If you’d prefer the money to be paid into a different account either for your child to manage themselves or for you to manage on their behalf we'll let you know how to do this.

I checked with the bank employee who set it up for us and he confirmed we could transfer the money into our own names. There may be some loss of interest if he's earned enough but we're unlikely to have saved enough to make that a problem.

shirlgirl2004

We don't save anything but I have adult children too and we have gifted them cash when they went to university, got married and bought a house. In that way we have control over what it is spent on. I like the fact that they have to work hard to get what they have and have never asked or assumed that they would get a handout from us.

Spendless

Thanks for the info about the Lloyds account. I'll look into changing my kids accounts over to them.

I have one child who qualified for the CTF and another who didn't so we saved to make them more equal before starting regular payments for both. We don't save much, just £10 per month each. My mortgage is similar to MrCows due to be re-paid when eldest is 19 and youngest 16, but that date could be fetched forward with regular overpayments which will do once I return to f-time working after youngest goes to Secondary school.

My daughter's CTF only has the money in it that she got automatically. I've never added to it, as I want to be sure it goes on something 'sensible' when she's older. Wasn't easy to predict when younger how likely they were to be with money. My once boisterous boy, would more likely spend the money on qualifications, driving lessons, or a rent deposit whereas my once placid and tone deaf girl, would currently be more likely to spend her money on a bung to the X factor judges.

Flower08

Wow, I would love to be able to save as much as some of you do! DS is 18 months old and does have a savings account, if he gets money off relatives for birthdays or christmas it goes in there. When I have any spare money I put it in (but that isn't very often!), hes got about £400 in there at the minute.
It wont amount to a lot but even if it helps him out a bit when he leaves home then I guess its better than nothing!

I_try

DD has a CTF which she will get when she turns 18. I paid in the voucher and no more and will wait to see how that goes, if she wants to spend that on a holiday or a big do and waste it that's fine - it was free money.

From the day she was born I set up a savings account in my name which I shall not tell her about until I see fit. All her child benefit has been paid into that as I can afford to support her on my own income at present. A few small monetary gifts have also gone into it so she has decent savings for a 2 year old! These are to be gifted when she is looking at buying first car or house deposit but certainly not when she turns 18.

I have been having a think and will also set up a further account, when things are more settled with us financially, as a parachute fund. That way if she is ever in trouble or feels she has to remain in a situation only due to finances I can give a little financial help regardless of if I have already given her the main savings. I hope it never has to be used and she gets it via inheritance though!!

Mojisola

lowlitmemory wrote: »

Before the child's 16th birthday we'll write to you reminding you that the account will convert into an Easy Saver with bonus solely in the child's name. If you’d prefer the money to be paid into a different account either for your child to manage themselves or for you to manage on their behalf we'll let you know how to do this.

I'm very surprised at that because the bank is helping you take someone else's money and put it in your name.

I thought that once money was in the child's named account, it was their money.

angeltreats

Mojisola wrote: »

I'm very surprised at that because the bank is helping you take someone else's money and put it in your name.

I thought that once money was in the child's named account, it was their money.

This doesn't sound right at all, I agree. Pretty sure someone has their wires crossed here, possibly the Lloyds employee, but there is no way you can take money from an account in a child's name (or an investment designated to the child, like a unit trust) and move it into the parents' name.

Also someone mentioned earlier in the thread that they were looking to take a CTF and move it into a JISA. That's not possible - if your child has a CTF they won't be eligible for a JISA. Children can only be eligible for one or the other depending on their age.