I'm annoyed with NS and I

xylophone

Does he have a CTF?

Zanderman

Rdwill said:

I'm also annoyed with myself for not reading the small print.

Sorry but nothing in your account is NS&I's fault, so yes you should be annoyed with yourself.  But not them.

Rdwill said:

I only wish that NS and I had warned me that they were going to do this so I could have taken action before they just went and did it. 

I'm not sure what' action' you would have taken?  It's your son's money.

HansOndabush

jaybeetoo said:

If only you’d invested the money instead......

In Buy2LetCars perhaps? Premium bonds are not such a bad choice for a children's investment.

Swipe

Leave it as is and don't tell him until you think he is mature enough and then he can set up his own account. Use whatever you would have put in to fund the ongoing purchases.

Tigsteroonie

Thank you for posting about this, you have reminded me that this is another form of savings that I shall have to 'resolve' as our son grows older. He is severely disabled and will be unable to manage such money for himself. I need to ensure that this money is withdrawn before his 16th birthday, i.e. whilst I still have access, and then re-invested somewhere that will either give me access with DWP appointeeship or under joint names. Cue a diary note for four years hence ...

colsten

Tigsteroonie said:

Thank you for posting about this, you have reminded me that this is another form of savings that I shall have to 'resolve' as our son grows older. He is severely disabled and will be unable to manage such money for himself. I need to ensure that this money is withdrawn before his 16th birthday, i.e. whilst I still have access, and then re-invested somewhere that will either give me access with DWP appointeeship or under joint names. Cue a diary note for four years hence ...

If you have appointeeship, it surely wouldn‘t matter where your son‘s money is kept? The important thing is the appointeeship, which you would also require for all sorts of other reasons once he becomes 16, wouldn‘t you?

Jami74

Rdwill said:

I did not intend to give him the whole £16k at the age of 16 in one go. He is not old or mature enough, he doesn't understand the value of money, or how hard you have to work to get it.

Why doesn't he know the value of money yet? Have you never talked about it? Or is your lifestyle comfortable enough that money never needs to be talked about? Either way, he is a very lucky boy to have money already set aside for future large purchases. This sounds like a good opportunity to educate him about money, he has to learn sometime. You could talk about money that has been put aside for his future that he is now old enough to help manage. Maybe he could be involved in choosing an ISA or other accounts where it can be locked away safely. You could give him £100 of it now to buy a new cricket bat/trainers/mobile phone and invest the rest safely away for his future. And going forward keep your £1000 a year savings for him in an easy access savings account so you can give it to him as you wish. Or help him set up a bank account, give him £80 a month pocket money instead and help him to understand how to save/spend it wisely.

[Deleted User]

HansOndabush said:

jaybeetoo said:

If only you’d invested the money instead......

In Buy2LetCars perhaps? Premium bonds are not such a bad choice for a children's investment.

It's obviously hindsight but even a basic FTSE tracking thingy would have risen a lot more than the average premium bond account, let alone a decent investment plan

someone

What's done is done, the money is in the Son's name and he's aware it exits.

> If he wanted money for a car or insurance, then I was going to withdraw it knowing that I was still in control. I did not intend to give him the whole £16k at the age of 16 in one go.

Probably best to have a chat and say this has been put together over more than a decade to be his for key events and not the day-to-day. First insurance, furniture for a flat, house deposit (well the amount you need nowadays probably not the case), wedding etc.

>money when his grandparents give him some, it doesn't usually last the day before its spent on something extravagant that he doesn't really need.

You may see it as extravagant but grandparents usually love grandchildren to splurge with their occasional gifts of money and extra freedom  outside of what the child's parents themselves approve of.

Two things to keep in mind

• The pandemic may change priorities. Like many he has no doubt missed so much, is there something soon that this money would help with that without the pandemic you wouldn't have approved of?
• In the future there may be situations where your son will have to spend the money even if that's not on something nether of you view the money for. E.g. he may be excluded from means tested benefits due to personally having the savings.
  

csgohan4

HansOndabush said:

jaybeetoo said:

If only you’d invested the money instead......

In Buy2LetCars perhaps? Premium bonds are not such a bad choice for a children's investment.

it's not a bad choice if you are not wanting to invest in making your money work harder, but would you rather leave it to lady luck every month.

Even a defensive portfolio would have yield more than 1.5% a  year and tax free if in a tax wrapper. My portfolio after 1 year investing is up 20%, not including individual shares. No I don't invest in Cyrpto.