Savings for Children 7 November 2016 at 2:10PM in MoneySaving dads 8 replies 8.4K views

me1234

Hi


I am expecting my first child next month and have little idea about how to go about setting aside money for my child.


How do you guys do this - do you just keep a separate pot for them in your accounts, or have you set an account in their name for them which they will take control over at the age of 16?


Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

[Deleted User]

Both my kids have their own bank accounts, in their name, that birthday money goes into. They'll be allowed to access that under our control until they're 18 (for stuff we approve of!) and it'll be unrestricted after that.

However, I've read that if you really want to do something financially great for your kids, you should open a pension for them.

swimminginaseaofdebt

Hi,

My son is 4 months old and I just opened an account in my name to put his money in. I'll transfer it to him when he's mature enough which might not necessarily be when he's 18 lol.

MallyGirl

on the whole you can get better interest rates on childrens savings accounts than adults. My daughter's regular saver with the Halifax gets 6% - you won't find that as an adult.

LMG1305

swimminginaseaofdebt wrote: »

Hi,

My son is 4 months old and I just opened an account in my name to put his money in. I'll transfer it to him when he's mature enough which might not necessarily be when he's 18 lol.

I think the problem with doing it this way is that as the account is in your name if you ever need to claim benefits you will be classed as having that amount in savings so depending on the amounts this could restrict the amount of benefits you're entitled to. If I were you I would sort out an account in your child's name sooner rather than later. There are lots of choices around and as MallyGirl said, children's accounts tend to have better interest rates.

swimminginaseaofdebt

LMG1305 wrote: »

I think the problem with doing it this way is that as the account is in your name if you ever need to claim benefits you will be classed as having that amount in savings so depending on the amounts this could restrict the amount of benefits you're entitled to. If I were you I would sort out an account in your child's name sooner rather than later. There are lots of choices around and as MallyGirl said, children's accounts tend to have better interest rates.

Good point and one I didn't even think off! I'll get looking at children's accounts x

adom_thomas

Hi! I've a daughter! I give gold ear rings to her on every birthday and deposit little amount of cash in her bank account as well. She can use that cash after the age of 18!:money:

briancarter

You can invest in junior Sipps and just let compounding do its work. The only problem with this is access. At the moment your child will only get their hands on it when they reaches 55.

ravsd

Here's what I do (I have 2 children)

*JISA account for each child
*Cash piggy back for each child

Any money each child receives is split 50/50 between the JISA account and the cash piggy bank.

Access to the JISA will be given to them when they are older and deemed necessary (age is undecided)

Cash piggy bank is there for them to decide what to do with. The aim is to get them to start valuing the money they have in order to use it for things they want. If they want to blow it all on a shopping spree for toys then that is up to them.

Although they are little too young at the moment to understand this concept, no reason why not to start getting the ideas across.