How much should I charge my son?

MaisieD

My son is 18 next summer. Hes recently started a full time job/apprenticeship. He's earning £230 a week.

He doesn't cost a lot to live at home as hes always been a fussy simple eater and he's only in the house a few evenings a week and at weekends. This is my first experience with an older child working. I have no idea what is acceptable to charge and I can't hell but feel guilty lol.

Any advice appreciated.

MaisieD

*help that should say. Also this post should have said how much should I charge my son in keep.

username901

Depending on your financial situation, what you could do is take 1/4 of his income for example, and of that 1/4 stick a half or more in to a savings account which in future can be used as a deposit towards a house.

Robin9

username901 wrote: »

Depending on your financial situation, what you could do is take 1/4 of his income for example, and of that 1/4 stick a half or more in to a savings account which in future can be used as a deposit towards a house.

That's what my mum did for me.

Marvel1

username901 wrote: »

Depending on your financial situation, what you could do is take 1/4 of his income for example, and of that 1/4 stick a half or more in to a savings account which in future can be used as a deposit towards a house.

Is he is not capable saving himself?

maman

This is a frequently asked question and the responses always seem to fall broadly into two camps.

Before deciding you need to consider what you can afford. As your son is no longer in full time education you will be financially a bit worse off as the child allowance will have stopped. Depending on your circumstances then it may also affect your Council Tax. Other than those two issues then everything remains much as it always has except that (as you say) he's out more so not eating as much at home as he did previously.

Personally I've never 'charged' my children for living at home. I let them keep any money they had and they saved any spare towards house deposits. Both DDs now own their own homes.

Others will say they must charge their children because it's a way of learning financial responsibility. We started teaching our girls financial responsibility from a much earlier age (about 12-13) by giving them an allowance so that they had to budget for almost everything but their school uniforms.

I'd feel uncomfortable about charging my children to live in their own home.

Gavin83

username901 wrote: »

Depending on your financial situation, what you could do is take 1/4 of his income for example, and of that 1/4 stick a half or more in to a savings account which in future can be used as a deposit towards a house.

Personally I’d be insulted and pretty cheesed off if my parents did this to me. I’d refuse the money and it would probably end in an argument. Others might be different.

gettingtheresometime

username901 wrote: »

Depending on your financial situation, what you could do is take 1/4 of his income for example, and of that 1/4 stick a half or more in to a savings account which in future can be used as a deposit towards a house.

When we were in this situation we 'charged' our son a nominal rent but made it perfectly clear that we weren't squirrelling away for him so unless he wanted to face the prospect of always living at home, it would be down to him to save for a house deposit.

Simby

Gavin why would you feel insulted. Genuinely curious as to me that is a lovely thing for a parent to do..

I was going to suggest maybe higher then 1/4 maybe half as the sum includes food etc.. and would fit with the percentages most people spend on housing and food.

But save half of that for a house deposit savings gift.

LilElvis

Simby wrote: »

Gavin why would you feel insulted. Genuinely curious as to me that is a lovely thing for a parent to do..

I was going to suggest maybe higher then 1/4 maybe half as the sum includes food etc.. and would fit with the percentages most people spend on housing and food.

But save half of that for a house deposit savings gift.

I would be annoyed too because the parents are treating their adult offspring as they would a young child. If they have brought them up well, with a good understanding of finances, then they should be trusted to save money themselves.

Mojisola

MaisieD wrote: »

My son is 18 next summer. Hes recently started a full time job/apprenticeship. He's earning £230 a week.

He doesn't cost a lot to live at home as hes always been a fussy simple eater and he's only in the house a few evenings a week and at weekends. This is my first experience with an older child working. I have no idea what is acceptable to charge and I can't hell but feel guilty lol.

Marvel1 wrote: »

Is he is not capable saving himself?

If you genuinely don't need the money, you could ask him to put an amount into savings in lieu of paying keep.

As he is the first, be prepared to do the same for the others. If there's a chance that your circumstances might change and you won't be able to be as generous with the others, it might be better to charge him a contribution to the household expenses.

Even if he doesn't pay towards the bills, spend some time with him going over the outgoings so that he becomes aware of what a home costs to run and will be well-prepared when he gets his own place.