MSE Newborn to 1 year (& beyond!) baby club 3

sue1871

Hi everyone - just a quickie and off topic (forgive me, but it seems like this is the only time I've had to myself for a few days - Bonnie's being rather demanding at the moment...)

Anyway, I was wondering what your thoughts are on childrens' savings. We're saving £50 a month for Bonnie (plus any cash gifts from relatives). We plan to continue doing this until she's an adult. But we can't decide how to use the money. Do we:

- Save it and give it to her when she needs it (car, uni, flat/house)
- Use it to pay for school trips and nice things for her

She's only six months old, so there's no need for me to really worry about this at the moment, but as she's spent the last two weeks waking for a night feed every 60-90 minutes I've had a lot of thinking time on my hands!!

What are you all doing savings-wise??

Mrshaworth2b

Hi Sue,

We are doing the same, we've decided to keep it until he's old enough to decide for himself, university, house, car. My partners parents helped us with the deposit for our house and I would have loved it if my parents had have saved some money for me to use. So that's our reasoning.

Hth

turtlemoose

sunshine you can bank the vouchers but you can't bank the new scheme (afaik). You can claim 20% of your ACTUAL costs, up to a maximum of £10000 per year - so 20% of that is £2000. So if your childcare costs were, say, £500 a month, you could only claim 20% of that - £100. So in that scenario you'd be better on the old scheme.

So for us, if we were BOTH getting vouchers, once Reu is getting his free hours, we'd be better off on the old scheme. OH is looking for a new job at the moment anyway, I'm keeping everything crossed he can get get a new job with an employer who does vouchers (unlikely, only 5% of employers offer them!) so that we can save them up to pay for nursery for Reu while I have another maternity leave


sue1871 savings come down to personal choice really. I'm saving for mine, but just £10 a month from my own personal account plus his xmas and birthday money - and I intend for it to be given at a lump sum under these conditions:

A) No sooner than his 25th birthday (maybe even later)
He will not know there is a lump sum coming his way until he receives it
C) If he's a d*ck with money he won't get any of it

However if it came to it, and there was some super amazing once-in-a-lifetime type school trip, I'd consider using SOME of that money for it. But as he's going to an ordinary school up the road, that is unlikely

I aim to be mortgage free by 40, Reu will be 13 by then (and child 2 will be 9, if all goes to plan!) so I'm planning on having lots of disposable income at that point and intend to build up a nice pot for them both then, circumstances permitting.


Exciting news from me, I've done the sums and we can definitely afford another baby, but the earliest they can be born is March 2016 (3 months before Reu turns 4). So we are now saving a minimum of £20 a month in the baby fund, and adding to it when we can, and will TTC from July 2015 onwards. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek

*Nutella*

We've been saving £50 a month for LO since she was born and are planning to increase this amount once we're no longer spending a fortune on nursery fees - along with overpaying on mortgage and topping up pension pots (the excitement )... We're planning to give it to her as a lump sum when she's at least 18. My parents are also saving for her (so far she's their only grandchild) and intend to do the same.

Turtle and Sunshine - exciting re. second child! So far still no plans for another one here, but who knows, we might change our minds one day.

*Nutella*

LO and I made cookies this morning, and have just tried them for our snack. Veeeery yummy It's these. LO's verdict: 'mmmmm nice!'

minimuffin12

Morning all, we are saving about 50per month too which includes £20 from my mum and dh has been putting the other 30 in, from next month ill be able to save but havent with being on smp. We have an isa for ds so locked away until he is 18, im a bit nervous that he will blow it on something stupid but it is for uni or a house or car.

How exciting about ttc turtle and sunshine! We might try again later this year but will see, I would like them to be fairly close in age but paying childcare for 2 will be v.expensive.

lazywife

We save when we can for T. DH has his own business, so when he gets his dividend payout every year we put a bit aside. Using a child savings account at the mo to keep it seperate and get relatively good interest. Again we hope to give him the money towards a deposit on a house or something meaningful when he's much older.
Love the look of those cookies Nutella, they look yummy.
x

turtlemoose

I'm a right tightwad/control freak, Reuben's savings are in an account in MY name, so that age 18 he can't p*ss it up the wall

Beckyy

I think as long as they're taught how to be good with money it doesn't matter what age they get any savings. If they're not taught any skills they'll blow it whether their 18 or 28. Absolutely lovely that your LO's can have something to give them a good start in life

Oscar_the_Pug

Haha turtlemoose I am almost the same! LO has an account for birthday money, presents from others etc but I am focussing on saving for us first and will share as and when I think it's appropriate!