Saving for your kids

AlexLK

My wife and I have been saving for our son since he was born, he's 3 tomorrow and we have just over £12,000 saved. We plan to make sure he will at least have a decent deposit for a house by the time he is 18 (not sure he'll get his sticky fingers on it then, though).

On the flip side of the argument, I was given £250,000 at 18 and blew it all, not even having a deposit for a house left at the end of it. My parents clearly didn't think this was going to happen and practically "disowned" me for a couple of years, which hurt me more than I could have dared to admit at the time. We didn't make up until after I suffered what could only be described as a "mental breakdown".

k12479

AlexLK wrote: »

My wife and I have been saving for our son since he was born, he's 2 tomorrow and we have just over £12,000 saved.

Debts as of 2nd September 2013: £32,297.54
Paid: £805!
Money Saved towards future Full and Final Settlements: £12,915

Sounds like you need that £12,000 far more than your 2 year old does right now.

Claree__x

Kynthia wrote: »

I think you and OH need to agree as you are both her parents and especially if it's both of your money. If the account's in her name then it becomes her money and you can't really take it if you're ever short, which reduces your flexibility and is another reason why you should both agree on the amount

She's 3 months old, I'm named on the account. If I wanted to take money out then I could - perhaps not morally but I'm sure she'd forgive me :rotfl:

We're not having a huge disagreement about it, he's quite happy going along with it and we can review it at any time - it's just been a throwaway comment he made about it being quite a lot.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

I've just started to put the Child Benefit in the kids account (and a bit extra that i get from maintaince)

I've been doing this for the past 4 months now (Should have started years ago as mine are 6 and 2! :mad: :eek:)
I figured out that:

DD1 CB £20.30 * 16 years = £16889.60
DD2 CB £13.40 * 16 years = £11148.80

Not fair for one to get more than the other - so add together the two amounts and thats £28038.40... Divided by 2 = £14019.20 each

That works out that i need to put away £26.96 a week away for the eldest (Who only has 10 years to get the amount) and £19.25 for the youngest (who has 14 years). That way, when they both hit 16 they will have the same amount from me (Excluding interest etc!)

I should have saved up a long time ago for DD1, i just didnt think to do it.

EDIT: Money from birthdays etc are theres to spend however they like. Usually DD1 will save up for something she really wants - for example, she's just bought herself some stompeez with her birthday money)

I'm *HOPING* That she will use it wisely and we've already started to explain the cost of things and why its important to not waste money... whether that happens or not is a different matter... I might carry on the payments until shes older, i havent 100% decided yet

Any

I think it is very lovely thing to do.
What happens at 18... right now it is perhaps too soon to think of.
As you say you still have control and can change the terms any time.
If you can miss the money and it is not to your detriment, then it is absolutely a no brainer.
£5 a week and £20 each month.. about £500 a year... I don't think that is excessive at all.
Also you might not be able to do it all 18 years... so why not do it while you can.
Just hope you are using good account with good return!!

LondonDiva

Have you thought of a stakeholder pension? Can't be accessed before 50 (or is it 55?) and the payback from amounts paid in before age 18 will be incredible.

Jox

I like the idea of saving for my child but then would be upset and hurt if it was spent "irresponsibly". Giving young people a lump sum doesn't teach them the value of working for money and saving for things. My granny gave me about £1000 when I was 17 and I spent some of it on driving lessons and a stereo, but I had no idea what it took to earn £1000 and didn't appreciate the magnitude of what she had given me.

sassyblue

We've put some away each month for DS since he was born, it's in the Halifax regular saver which l think is 8%AER, or did it go down to 6%AER, some else will know.

We also put his birthday and Christmas money in for him, it's a nice little nest egg. But you have to move it after every 12 months as the account it rolls over into isn't brilliant.

We don't intend to tell DS until he's abut 21, if we can get away with it being a house deposit, great. My friends mum did this for my friend and her brother, they bought tier first cars with theirs.

Mojisola

sassyblue wrote: »

We've put some away each month for DS since he was born, it's in the Halifax regular saver which l think is 8%AER, or did it go down to 6%AER, some else will know.

We don't intend to tell DS until he's abut 21, if we can get away with it being a house deposit, great. My friends mum did this for my friend and her brother, they bought tier first cars with theirs.

Is it in his name?

Umistboy

We save all CB money plus an extra £100 per month for our five month old since he was born. Fortunately, we're able to do this for each subsequent child too. We may even increase the extra amount also.

We will do this until they are 18 meaning we should have ~£50k for each.

However, we have no intention of telling them or simply handing it over. In our minds it is always OUR money. But, if they are deserving, we will buy them a first car, mates holiday after 6th form, house deposit when older and settled etc.

Again, we'll never tell them so they won't expect but we will have the money there to help them. Again, only if they are deserving young people, though.