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Original poster

How much money are you putting away for DC future?

92 replies

optimisticpessimist01 · 04/10/2020 15:08

DP and I don't have children yet but we are TTC. We were discussing how much money we should put away for each of our DC, whether we should do it monthly or yearly and when to give it to them (e.g. age 16,18, after Uni etc.)

What did you do/what is your plan for saving for your DC future? Or have you not saved anything at all?

OP posts:
carbhunter · 04/10/2020 15:14

We save £70 a month for our two dc, they are both primary school age and we have about £8k now. Hoping to up it as they get older the idea being that we will use the money for either uni or perhaps a flat deposit.
I didn't get any help from my folks abd I want to do things slightly differently with mine if I can. Friends who had a parental leg up are in much better financial positions now and I want that for my kids if I can provide it.

TeenPlusTwenties · 04/10/2020 15:17

My main advice will be not to put it in the DC's own names or such that they get automatic access at any age.

You have no idea how they might turn out at 16/18/21. They may be very responsible, or have had mental heath crises, or have a drug-addled abusive partner.
Nor do you know what family 'need' there might be before then.

Save what you can afford to save, and make decisions when the time comes not 20 years early.

firstimemamma · 04/10/2020 15:18

We save £25 a month and started at age 1 month.

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CraftyGin · 04/10/2020 15:19

none

HildegardVonBingen · 04/10/2020 15:20

none.
we have family savings, and if there is still plenty there I would be glad to help DC out with university/first job expenses, flat deposits, car purchase etc. however we are not minted by MN standards, nor do we have family to help, and so it would not be prudent for us to lock away money in the DCs' names and have less for us as a family if made redundant or in need of major house repairs or something.

MsKeats · 04/10/2020 15:23

They get my house and my pension -I aim to give it to them well before I die. Should be plenty for them.

neversayalways · 04/10/2020 15:26

Fil puts money aside for them in accounts in their name. I am concerned about them getting a lot of money at age 18, though.

We put £200 a month each for them - this is not in an account in their name though, so we could use it ourselves if we had an emergency/ lost our income etc. I keep a note of how much we have 'put aside' for them though, so we can give it to them when they need it, if we haven't needed to use it by them. I will give it to them for something to help them out in life such as uni/ training/ house deposit. (however, if they piss away FIL money I may rethink if I want to give them this money to effectively compensate for their recklessness with a large lump sum!).

neversayalways · 04/10/2020 15:28

@MsKeats They get my house and my pension

I don't understand them getting your pension? How does that work?

Sunnydaysstillhere · 04/10/2020 15:32

None

A friend a few years ago handed her 18 yo ds the 6k she had scrimped and saved since he was a dc. He blasted it in 10 months with not a thing to show for it..

ILoveMyMonkey · 04/10/2020 15:33

One child £50 a month but will up it when we can.

Hawkinsfirefly99 · 04/10/2020 15:34

My 2 boys got £100 a month each up until last month but now they get £75 because we're expecting no.3 in Feb.

OhioOhioOhio · 04/10/2020 15:34

Omg id be so angry if my kids did that. I bet your friend isn't in a hurry to help him again.

Triangularbubble · 04/10/2020 15:35

We aren’t saving for them, though they have accounts with a few hundred each from Grandparents and birthday money type stuff. If they blow that few hundred as a teenager I will regard that as a learning experience. We have family savings, which I would prefer to have in adult names - we might need the money, the children might not be responsible with it at 18 and I see no benefit to putting it in their names. When the time comes we will help with university, housing etc depending on the circumstances at the time. I see no reason to tie significant sums of money up more than a decade ahead of time.

trilbydoll · 04/10/2020 15:38

They have a bank account each that PIL put £10 a month in and any Christmas and birthday money goes in there as well, although that's fairly minimal.

We just save generally tbh we want to do work on the house, at some point I'll need a new car, dc will go to uni... we don't have separate pots earmarked, it's just generally saving up for expensive things that will happen in the future!

Original poster
optimisticpessimist01 · 04/10/2020 15:39

I know this may sound very daft, but I never considered not putting it in their names and keeping it in our names until we decided how and when to distribute!

OP posts:
Beekeeper1 · 04/10/2020 15:39

My adored stepdaughter (14) who I dote on and love to bits - £50/month into a savings account for her for when she goes to uni - she aspires to a PhD at Harvard in due course, hoping to win a scholarship. It is all I can currently afford, but I will be watching from the wings, in awe, as she reaches for the stars! She will also be a major beneficiary of my estate in due time.

fallfallfall · 04/10/2020 15:41

None, but we paid their uni debt in full. Help when needed. DS1 wanted help with first house, DS2 wanted help with first vehicle, DD needed help in other ways.

MimiSunshine · 04/10/2020 15:44

Yes we save about £30 a month for them. I also transfer half of any birthday / Christmas money they get (they can spend the rest on anything they want) and plan to make this the deal throughout their childhood.

Hopefully that way they’ll have an awareness and appreciation of the money and what it can do for them so won’t just blow it

Sara2000 · 04/10/2020 15:49

They have child trust funds which will be worth about £7k when they get to 18. Not so much that they can go berserk. My hope is it will pay for their first car with what's left to start them saving as adults. Other than that we have family savings and would like to think we can help them with house purchases deposits in the future, although maybe not a huge amount.. I have been thinking about starting pensions for them both. They will also inherit our house one day I hope. Neither DH and I have ever had any help or inheritance so its something I really want to do if we can.

LittleRa · 04/10/2020 15:50

Me and exDH both put £40 a month into a child saver account for 6yo DD (in my name and linked to my account) so £80 total. Our hope is she can use it to buy a car or towards Uni when she’s 18 (should be around £10k by then). I’m currently pregnant so will start doing similar when this baby is born.

Sara2000 · 04/10/2020 15:50

@Beekeeper1. Your DSD is very lucky Smile

NationalShiteYear · 04/10/2020 15:51

£70 per month each, but into a separate family savings account rather than their own names. I wouldn't want an 18/21 year old to have a cash lump sum, or for them to know about it and expect it. But it's there, and if we desperately needed it as a family we would use it to keep a roof over our heads. We've never had family help and I even though we're much more financially stable than our parents were, I think theres something to be said for kids growing up knowing they're expected to make their own way financially rather than knowing just how secure their safety net is.

ParisianLady · 04/10/2020 15:53

None.

We save for our future as a family and we anticipate they can get some when we die if we haven't spent it all.

And we have money earmarked for their private schooling (4-18) and uni if they go.

But they won't ever get handed a large lump sum, they can work hard for it like we did.

Bollss · 04/10/2020 15:53

About £25 a month and then grandparents do a tenner as well I think. We are aiming to buy DS a house either to live in / rent out but we will have it in our names until he is at least 21 and see what happens.

Sara2000 · 04/10/2020 15:53

When we started saving when they were babies we didn't really consider what they might be like at 18 and put about £100 per month in. We then reduced it and put more into family savings as they got older when we realised they may not be responsible enough at 18 for large sums of money. Not that we ever saved that much, but still. I am glad we have done this as DD is now only 3 years from getting hers and as lovely as she is I really wouldn't want her having a huge amount of money. £7k is enough to make an impact and start her off , but not crazy.