Baby pledge

nicola1982_2

I figure having a baby is my biggest incentive to becoming financially savvy so I've written the following pledge to him or her. Feel free to add your own pledges to your kids, I think it's really helpful!

1) I pledge to be debt free by the time you are 5 years old
2) For your first Xmas and birthday instead of buying loads of silly toys you won't use I will put £100 into your CTF and encorage other family members to do the same
3) I will never spend silly amounts of money on things detrimental to your health such as fast food and sweets
4) I will teach you to be financially savvy so you don't make the same mistakes I did
5) I will support your education and hobbies 100%

Penny2myName

nicola1982 wrote: »

I figure having a baby is my biggest incentive to becoming financially savvy so I've written the following pledge to him or her. Feel free to add your own pledges to your kids, I think it's really helpful!

1) I pledge to be debt free by the time you are 5 years old

5) I will support your education and hobbies 100%

I can confirm you need number one to be able to carry out number five. Good luck and if your arty in any way, do a fancy cross stitch/poem/picture with you pledge on and stick it somewhere that you will see daily.

chevalier

Just a reminder that you can get lots of baby/childrens things at www.freecycle.org. So that will save you buying loads of stuff. You do have to join but it is free.
I think the pledge is lovely by the way
chev

izzybusy23

nicola1982 wrote: »

I figure having a baby is my biggest incentive to becoming financially savvy so I've written the following pledge to him or her. Feel free to add your own pledges to your kids, I think it's really helpful!

1) I pledge to be debt free by the time you are 5 years old
2) For your first Xmas and birthday instead of buying loads of silly toys you won't use I will put £100 into your CTF and encorage other family members to do the same
3) I will never spend silly amounts of money on things detrimental to your health such as fast food and sweets
4) I will teach you to be financially savvy so you don't make the same mistakes I did
5) I will support your education and hobbies 100%

Just one thing.. do not spend loads of money of nursery 'must haves' as they turn out to be a waste of money and really not needed. All this co-ordinating nursery stuff is just not needed. Also toys and clothes, they outgrown them so quickly in the first 6 months. If I was to have another baby (not on your nelly by the way) I would buy everything second hand!

The £100 into CTF account for birthdays and xmas is good. Also Halifax do a save4it account for children and you can open up multiple accounts for the same child, but by different adults, ie: parents, grandparents, uncles etc, so they each have their own account to credit for your child. Good idea I thought.

nicola1982_2

Ooh yes that is a good idea. I can't see uni or house hunting getting any cheaper for the next generations so I want to help as much as I can.

I have a sad story. My OH first wife got her CTF voucher for £500 (as was low income) and couldn't be bothered to open the account. When OH asked for the account number to make a deposit she told him there wasn't one and government wouldn't give OH a replacement as he isn't parent with care. Now child is 5 she can't get the voucher anymore. So he has lost out on £500 and a good savings account. OH is putting away what he can for him in his own savings account, but it will never be as much as if he got the CTF too.