Money Moral Dilemma: Should I save up child benefit to give to my children when they're older?

honestcove

The moral dilemma question posed is: "Is it their money that I should be saving?"

No - it's your money that the Gov are paying you to defray a bit of the cost to you of raising your kids over the first 18-years of their life. So, you are using it now for its intended purpose.

Davies54

I saved the child benefit for them. It helped one to increase his deposit for his house and the other one used it to have off road parking. If you can afford it, save it.

Primrose

If you can afford it, put the money away in two separate accouints, (one for each child) and use it to help cover university expenses or something like that. Bukt NEVER tell them what you're doing in case hard times like redundancy hit you leter in their adolescence and you need to rely on that money to pay your basic bills.

Bettter to have them growing up understanding the value of money and learning how to budget relying on their own financail resources.

Iloveshelties

I saved some of our childrens child benefit so they would have a lump sum at 18 to help with Uni costs or a large expense. It wasnt always easy but having had very little at that age myself, even though I was working full time, I didnt want them to go through the same. They both had a lump sum at 18 (£5k) and whilst some was spent on a car (son) they are now 21 & 25 and have both retained most of the cash which means I haven't had to worry that they would run short in Uni. I accept that not everyone can do this and although our finances have sometimes struggled over the years I'm glad we did it.

Jacket3

Hello. As a taxpayer without children, I'm happy to contribute to the cost to the costs of bringing up your children or for enriching their childhood with things like days out if you're lucky enough not to need it to cover essentials. I'm not happy to buy them cars, give them deposits for houses, or buy them beer. 

Chris_Jay

Old person here! When I was receiving child benefit, it was still called family allowance, and it wasn't paid for the first child until the birth of the second child, until 1976/7, when the rules changed. As a second child born in 1955, my mother got 18/- for me, each week. For my second child, in 1976, I got 90p, which is exactly the same as 18/-
It was a government scheme to make sure that there was money paid directly to the mother, for the child, and was the only money that a mother could claim in her own right.
Times have changed a great deal. I wouldn't have coped without it. It clothed and shod my children for years.
It's purpose has never changed,; you're receiving this allowance to assist you with child care costs now, and as others have already said, lump sums to the children at 18 may not last long!
It's yours, for them, so ultimately you decide what you think is the best way to use it.

Afourteen

If you can afford it, and you have indicated that you can then I suggest you 75% of what you receive into a tax efficient saving scheme that will payout when the children achieve the age they will be leaving School in particular going to University as such savings will be needed then. A mates parents did that for him and his sister, the cash set him up nicely at the end of his teens. 

CapricornLass

I used to save my family allowance, but that was so that I had enough money to pay the shoe bills!  I also used some of it to replace a washing machine that had given up the ghost after 10 years + of daily use, and when repair cost more than buying a new one and paid for some of the more expensive school trips.

If you are able to meet the daily expenses without using it, then that's fine.  However, for some women, its the only money paid to them while bringing up children, so its a life-line for them.

BobbinAlong

What you are really asking is "Should I save for my hildren's future?"
It doesn't actually matter what the source of the money is, whether benefit money or other income.
The answer is "Only if you can afford it without denying the children the necessaries."
They won't thank you for a lump sum as adults if they have had to go without school trips or not been able to afford to join in sports or clubs or been teased about shabby school uniform or worse, not had a decent meal at lunchtime. 

bestestgranny

My boys are now 44 and 47. I saved family allowance £10 per month for them, which was a lot starting in the 1970s. I was able to give them a start at uni. Save what you can afford, it doesn't need to be the whole amount, increase the amount as and when.