To ask how much you have saved/aim to have saved for your child when they reach 18?

Nothing. They'll have about 1k for their labour child trust funds and get a few hundred for thir 18th from us.

Any money I've had the last 18 years has gone to raising them!

DD has 3k in an Isa. Shes nearly 10. 1.5k of that was a christening present from wealthy relative.

We save 25 a month but we stop it on occasion when things were tight. Hoping to put more in when childcare costs stop but until then we need food on table. We are also saving for private medical stuff for her as treatment not available on nhs. We arent pushing for university but as low income parents she will be on her own there. As was I.

I put £30/month + gifted money into JISA, I don't care of she spends it on travel. My mum sends £100/month for her which I keep on ISA under my name. We will start saving for her uni soon.

My dd had about 12k in her trust fund which she now has as she's turned 18.

She was fortunate that grandparents helped pay into it as well as myself.

She's used 5k to buy and insure a car and has split the remaining money into money for travelling/uni and money for a deposit/the future.

She's sensible and already adding to the savings.

I have told her it's likely to be the only large lump sum I'll ever be able to give her (while I'm alive!) so she needs to make it last.

@Newmumatlast that's what I'm hoping to do, make being sensible second nature.

Question for the posters using money gifted to their kids to pay off their mortgage. If the gift giver asked you to please put the money into your child's bank account for when they're 18, what would you do?
Do as asked?
Refuse the money?
Agree, take the money and spend it buying yourself a house anyway?

Well one lesson I'm going to take away from this thread is that if I ever give money to a child, be absolutely clear, that the money is for the child, NOT the parent.

This.

Actually, I don't see anything wrong with blowing it on holidays. Switch language from 'holidays' for 'gap year travelling' and I don't think it's a waste of money at all.
I'd be super pissed off is they spent it on 'in game purchases' or other such shit. Going away travelling though, I don't think it's a waste of money.

I think the problem with this though is that life is so much harder for young people now than it was when I was young. Although money would have been great when I was young, I didn't need it. Young adults now have it much tougher.

My child (one is now an adult) all have accounts in their own names that I have complete control over and they have no idea exist. They each have their own 'live' accounts they control as well.
The secret accounts I have dipped into over the years to pay for things like driving lessons for them or expensive overseas school trips. I am completely free to clear out these accounts if I wanted, even the adult child's. When I take money out to pay for something for them, I move the money to my account first.

That’s right. He’ll appreciate that freedom 😊.

That's still not the only option. My children have savings accounts they don't know about. I used some of the money for driving lessons and university accommodation for them. They still don't know these accounts exist. Paying off my mortgage, with money given to my child would benefit me a lot more than it would them. And as for inheritance, the average age to inherit in the UK is 61. Are you saying your child has to wait until the are 61 before they get to benefit from the Christmas money their nan gave them when they were three because you spent it buying a house for yourself with it?

100/month only really consistently in the last couple of years. Birthday money and other money goes in there too. Pocket money is £1/week to encourage saving and understanding money. Money is saved in my name but on their behalf.

Nothing. Well, a gift. But not a lifetime's savings. But she still lives here at 21 and has a pt job so she gets by, has a plan. When she graduates, she might like to give me some money

It's sad that some people say they wouldn't trust their 18 year old child to blow it on holidays etc. how about you bring them up so that they don't do that.

My three all had 20k plus by the time they were 18. This was a mix of child benefit, birthday and Christmas money, money from grandparents. They have a lot more now but that is because a relative has died and willed it to them.

£96k for the 12 year old and £54k for the 5 year old. My DPs gave me and my DS ISA’s and property at a young age with the fear of God instilled that if we pissed it all away and didn’t have decent careers everything else they had would go to charity. Needless to say, we both have decent careers and I am already teaching my oldest about stocks and shares.

Had nothing from my parents. I do not begrudge this at all.
DS will have about £70k by the time he is 18. I don’t feel bad about that either.

I think there are pros and cons for both saving and not saving for your children. I think every answer to the question posed by the OP is acceptable IMO.

We had £30k in an JISA for ds when he turned 18 it is a huge amount of money for us. He is 20 now and is very aware of the value of money, how easily it can be spent, and what this could do for him if he manages it carefully - he has put 12k of that in to LISA so far and has another £3k of bonus + interest. The rest he has in premium bonds until he can put into the LISA again.

We saved slowly and steadily when he was younger, then a couple of life events happened and we topped up with chunks such as I was made redundant, but found another job so put in £5k then, we also had a couple of small inheritances and decided some would be for his uni or house deposit added £5k twice, and an old 25 yr endowment policy we had on our first flat matured and we added another £5k then.

It was very little in the early says and without those chunks it would probably have been <£10k.

Nothing. I prioritised getting them out of a domestic violence situation and into a nice, safe home.

They want for nothing, they get pocket money and extra for extra chores. I pay for all clothes, shoes, phone contracts, anything else they need.

I actually prefer it this way. I want them to know the value of money and have to pay their own way by working for it.

Nothing. We have savings and will help them out as much as we can when they need it. We are fortunate we should be able to help them with their first car & put towards uni if they choose to go but they also need to learn to be independent like we were.

Something doesn't have to be the crime of the century to be something you should be ashamed of doing. It doesn't even have to be a crime (though taking money that doesn't belong to you could meet the requisite tests). Perhaps my standards are too high but I don't think it's right for the reasons I've said and I stand by them. Of course people will disagree just as many have agreed.

We have almost 2k saved for our DD who just turned one. We put £100 a month in and any money she received when she was born/christmas & her birthday. It's a savings account in her name, but having read this thread I might move it to a savings account in my name!

I don't think our plan is necessarily to give it to her when she turns 18, we thought we'd give it to her for things like driving lessons, first car, and towards a house deposit.

It's not something I even thought of doing!