Pension advice for clueless late 30s

DT2001

You mention allocating funds for Uni etc. Your OH can employ your children from 13 - pay them a small wage to help with office admin (?) - which will reduce his tax bill.
My OH has done this (about £2k p.a.) - little bit of PAYE admin etc - to build up a fund to help with living costs at Uni, which we would otherwise have done from our taxed income.

[Deleted User]

DT2001 said:

You mention allocating funds for Uni etc. Your OH can employ your children from 13 - pay them a small wage to help with office admin (?) - which will reduce his tax bill.
My OH has done this (about £2k p.a.) - little bit of PAYE admin etc - to build up a fund to help with living costs at Uni, which we would otherwise have done from our taxed income.

Yes I had considered this one. Would only be an option if he moves to ltd I presume but worth considering!

Albermarle

Deleted_User said:

DT2001 said:

You mention allocating funds for Uni etc. Your OH can employ your children from 13 - pay them a small wage to help with office admin (?) - which will reduce his tax bill.
My OH has done this (about £2k p.a.) - little bit of PAYE admin etc - to build up a fund to help with living costs at Uni, which we would otherwise have done from our taxed income.

Yes I had considered this one. Would only be an option if he moves to ltd I presume but worth considering!

Be aware that most UNI costs are covered by taking out a student loan and this is the best way to do it even if you have spare money . That is because it is not a loan in the normal sense and quite possibly it will never have to be paid back.
They will need some top up money for living expenses though. This can vary from say £2Kpa to £7Kpa.

In any case do not hold back unnecessary large amounts that otherwise could go into your pension etc 

[Deleted User]

Albermarle said:

Deleted_User said:

DT2001 said:

You mention allocating funds for Uni etc. Your OH can employ your children from 13 - pay them a small wage to help with office admin (?) - which will reduce his tax bill.
My OH has done this (about £2k p.a.) - little bit of PAYE admin etc - to build up a fund to help with living costs at Uni, which we would otherwise have done from our taxed income.

Yes I had considered this one. Would only be an option if he moves to ltd I presume but worth considering!

Be aware that most UNI costs are covered by taking out a student loan and this is the best way to do it even if you have spare money . That is because it is not a loan in the normal sense and quite possibly it will never have to be paid back.
They will need some top up money for living expenses though. This can vary from say £2Kpa to £7Kpa.

In any case do not hold back unnecessary large amounts that otherwise could go into your pension etc 

I completely agree. I'm only looking to put aside the 'additional' funds of the amount you're talking about. I am working on the base we may need around £6k per annum top up for them and we would have one finish uni as the other starts so 6 years worth of £6k top up starting around autumn 2024 (if they both choose to do uni).

AlanP_2

Deleted_User said:

DT2001 said:

You mention allocating funds for Uni etc. Your OH can employ your children from 13 - pay them a small wage to help with office admin (?) - which will reduce his tax bill.
My OH has done this (about £2k p.a.) - little bit of PAYE admin etc - to build up a fund to help with living costs at Uni, which we would otherwise have done from our taxed income.

Yes I had considered this one. Would only be an option if he moves to ltd I presume but worth considering!

Self employed people can employ others so it isn't dependent on Ltd status.

DT2001

Deleted_User said:

DT2001 said:

You mention allocating funds for Uni etc. Your OH can employ your children from 13 - pay them a small wage to help with office admin (?) - which will reduce his tax bill.
My OH has done this (about £2k p.a.) - little bit of PAYE admin etc - to build up a fund to help with living costs at Uni, which we would otherwise have done from our taxed income.

Yes I had considered this one. Would only be an option if he moves to ltd I presume but worth considering!

No, you can as self employed.
With luck the funds built up will not need too much topping up after student loans (available amount will be reduced by your higher than average joint incomes).

MallyGirl

If you are both in your 30s still I'd recommend looking at LISAs too. You can open with £1 now and contribute after you turn 40 but you cannot open one once you are 40.

[Deleted User]

DT2001 said:

Deleted_User said:

DT2001 said:

You mention allocating funds for Uni etc. Your OH can employ your children from 13 - pay them a small wage to help with office admin (?) - which will reduce his tax bill.
My OH has done this (about £2k p.a.) - little bit of PAYE admin etc - to build up a fund to help with living costs at Uni, which we would otherwise have done from our taxed income.

Yes I had considered this one. Would only be an option if he moves to ltd I presume but worth considering!

No, you can as self employed.
With luck the funds built up will not need too much topping up after student loans (available amount will be reduced by your higher than average joint incomes).

Ah brilliant thanks so much @DT2001 and @AlanP_2. For some reason I'd assumed he would have to be ltd to do this so that's definitely worth looking in to further if he can do it as sole trader!

Alexland

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Good point, slightly over egged it there!!

Easy mistake to make but the rules on the HICBC are easy to remember because the thresholds sadly haven't changed since they were detailed in the 2012 finance act. If they had kept up with inflation they would each be at least £10k higher by now. With no suggestion they will be changed anytime some parents will not have been able to efficiently take any more home for nearly a decade.

Retireinten

Think my daughter will be going to uni in a couple of years, not sure about her brother yet. My hope and her intention is that she lives at home during her uni years (we live in and are surrounded by good universities within a commutable distance) and we'll continue to pay for food and that roof over her head. She will work part time to fund her social life alongside her studies.

We will be getting her mobile (funding a car) and from 18 paying £4k into a LISA (x 2 kids) for at least five years.  I want to keep uni contributions low so we can help with house deposits instead. We can't do both. Not sure if staying at home is an option for your children and I appreciate they don't get the full uni experience, but it would keep costs down.