Savings for kids

[whyohwhydidieatthatpie]

Just wanted to get a sense of what other people do in terms of savings on behalf of a child.

We are lucky enough to have a little left over every month, not loads but enough to save a bit for a rainy day. We have 2 DC (5 and 3) and at the moment we put £5 a month each into a savings account for them. I want to do this as I think that when they're older it would be nice to have a little fund to help them to pay for things like driving lessons, that even with a job would be a stretch for a 17 year old. I know that £5 a month isn't a lot, but it's what we can manage for now and in 10 years time will be something. We also put in any money they get for birthdays/christmas from relatives.

DH thinks I'm mad and that no one has savings accounts for kids unless they have oodles of spare cash whereas I always assumed that if you could put a bit aside then that was the norm? Who knows what might happen in the future, we may not be able to afford it then unless we save now. My parents were pretty well off when I was younger, but that was a bit of a distant memory by the time I went to uni and they weren't able to help me at all and buying books / a laptop / food was hard. I guess I'd just like to avoid that.

So, save or leave it up to the kids to sort themselves out? Wondering what mumsnetters do, is there some magic formula like a % of savings you designate for when the kids are older and more expensive?

We have bank savings account for the kids plus junior ISA accounts. Neither dh or I were given funds from our parents so we'd like to do something to help set our children up for the future e.g. uni costs, house, car, etc

DH and I put savings away for DC before we took on the expense of school fees. They have about £5k each from what we saved for them and DH’s parents, very generously, put £100 each per month into a savings account for them. Those accounts have about £8k each in them now. They will have a good lump sum when they are older to buy a car or maybe a house deposit.

If you can put a small amount away each month for them I think it’s a lovely thing to do and they will be very grateful when they are older.

I do similar to you; put between £5 to £30 depending; I use this from child benefit so each month I’ll buy whatever clothes the kids need from it and perhaps put aside a bit for Christmas and their birthdays then whatever is left is put in their savings. Growing up my parents used to put £10 in our savings a month and when I was 18 there was a decent amount that I then used for uni.

I put £15 per month in, my mum puts £20 and FIL puts £25.
I also put half of birthday/Christmas money in, half they can spend but half is saved.
They are lucky that family want to save for them too, I’m hoping it will go towards a car or house deposit if poss.
I had a small amount of savings from my dad when I was 18 and v grateful to afford a years insurance & a car, so I would like to give the same opportunity to my boys.

I have a 6 and a 3 year old, I do the same as you. I thought anything would be a help in the future for them & hopefully would teach them about saving as they grow up.
6 year old also gets £1 pocket money a week & can spend it as she likes. She’s saving it to buy Lego at the moment.

Junior stocks and shares ISA here, we put in £25 a month. I'd like to increase it but the regular amount is what's important for me.

I put a tenner a month away per child into policies which paid out at 18 and 21. They built up into quite a few thousand each.

I save £50/month for DS and have asked DP to do the same so he'll have around £25k when he's 21 for a house deposit or something.
My parents didn't save/have anything to give to me as a young adult and I won't be inheriting anything from them so I'm passionate about having this for my DS.

Thanks for the reassuring replies, I will show DH to prove that I'm not the only one who does this, and that £5 and the odd birthday present here and there will indeed add up to something useful!

@FurryScoob that sounds like a good setup with pocket money. I was thinking of doing similar next year. My eldest would think she's the richest person in the world with £1, I can imagine her eagerly saving it up for something amazing like new hair clips.

Our children have savings accounts for money from Grandparents. They have a few hundred in each that’s theirs when they are 18. They get to spend Christmas or birthday money.

We don’t save “for the children” and definitely not in their names. We save an amount each month into various accounts and investments in our names, but I don’t want to commit to anything for the children well over a decade in advance, nor do I want an 18 year old having unfettered access to that kind of money. When they are old enough I am happy to give them substantial help with uni or starting a business or house deposit or whatever, but I’d rather do that from money in mine and DH name, taking account of the circumstances at the time.

I used to save £25 per month per child, but now that I have one less set of nursery fees to pay, I'm saving £100 per month each. Although the accounts are in their own names, I have complete control until they are 18, so I imagine that we will take out whatever money is in there when they get close to 18 and decide what to do with it. I guess it will probably be put towards uni fees or a house deposit. It won't be handed to them to do whatever they want with it.

My kids have had ISAs since they were little. All birthday and Christmas money go into it plus a little more.
We're not well off in the slightest but they have a nice little nest fund there.

I'll say what I always say. Don't save in the kids name as then they get it at 18 regardless of whether your sweet 7yo has turned into an 18yo drug-addled layabout. The tax advantages of a junior ISA aren't worth the risk of your 18yo wasting it.

We haven’t saved anything directly for the DC. We could yet I would prefer it be in my name and if they need help later on we can see about it then

Mine both have an ISA and a savings account

I try to put £50 each per month.
And grandparents have added to it too.,
And small inheritance contributions etc

@TeenMinusTests ours is in the kids name but with our name on it too. I think we can withdraw it before they're 18 back into our accounts if we want to (will check that now though!).

We have Junior ISAs for the DC and put away £10 / month. They'll have access to this at 18. When they were a bit younger, if relatives gave them birthday / Christmas money, we'd add at least half to their JISA account and buy them something they wanted (book / toy) with the rest.
Now they're older (upper primary school age), they also have Santander current accounts so their pocket money or birthday money goes in there and they can access it to spend as they like. This allows them to save up for something big (DS recently saved for an XBox) or save money for holiday spends etc. Our monthly £10 still goes in the JISA for when they're older.

Yes, we save for our DS, we even started a pension fund for him when he was born that he can't access until he is 55 . We also save in a Help to Buy Isa and GPs save for him as well ... he is 20 now and, fortunately, very sensible with money and hasn't asked for access to any savings - but has also built up savings from his part time jobs, Christmas presents etc. He has had a discussion with an IFA about his pension fund (& he has chosen to study Economics at Uni)!

My parents were uber skint when we were kids. They still paid a little into a savings policy when we were kids which gave us a small lump sum when we turned 18. They also manage to find 50p a week for each of us to put in to our school TSB savings account.

It was always drummed in to us that saving was important. We were encouraged to save some of any birthday or Christmas cash. It is a lesson I’ve taken into my adult life and even as a student managed to save a little. As I became better paid, I put more away and always made sure I had enough to cover any shortfalls and it has been a godsend at times. I’m so glad my mum felt it was important to teach us this life lesson. I have a savings account for DD which we pay her child benefit and DLA in to. The way I see it, she will hit 18 and the government will decide she needs less help with her disability than she does now. She will be restricted and end up paying more for things like housing so if can have some funds available for her when she gets to that point, that will e a real help. We top it up a bit and her grandparents also pay in to it.

Even at £5 a month, that’s a little over 1k by the time they are 18. More than that, the life lesson for them is invaluable.

Tbh I don't think that £1000 will go very far in 18years time. But it's a good start.
I put £50 a month into each of my kids plus any birthday/Christmas money from family.

I save £10/week into a JISA for my 2 (1&4) and have since they were born. By 18 they should have £10k (maybe more if interest rates improve). Ideally I'd like to help with uni separately so they can keep it for a house deposit, but that will depend what our finances are like at the time, so it could end up as been presented as our contribution to uni.

Theoretically they could just piss it up the wall at 18, which will be annoying but once it's gone it's gone, so that's really their problem. They'll just have to re-save themselves like plenty of people (myself included) did/do anyway.

Mad not to!

Our children have savings accounts that any birthday and Christmas money goes into plus £50 each from grandparents (only grand children and will always be the only 2)

We also have an investment account for them that 50% of their savings goes into once a year and that is "growing" their money.

Tbh I don't think that £1000 will go very far in 18years time.

It will go further than nothing at all. It won’t de-value that much. It is a deposit for a flat rental, a course of driving lessons, a vocational training course, starter pack for moving home. Not to be sneered at and more than some teenagers will have access to as they start out adult life.

Ask anyone on here whether 1k would be useful to them right now?

Always saved for mine since birth. Hopefully it will help them with a house deposit as a stable base is important. They are free to spend birthday and Christmas money as they please as it was given in lieu of a gift so theirs to spend or save.

We have savings accounts for ours. I think we each put £20 in each and then birthday money (unless they are specifically going to spend it on something). I think that's pretty standard if you can afford it.

That said, my parents were generally very comfortable financially and no one saved a drop for me growing up. I have no idea where all that birthday money went!