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Original poster

Pondering on what a difference a lump sum would have made to me at 18....what about you?

148 replies

Artdecolover · 18/08/2021 19:21

Disclosure: its 30 years since was 18 and obviously the world is a very different place!

My ds is 18 and off to university next month.

My dh and I opened a CTF account for him at birth which we started with those Govt vouchers and have been paying in small amounts every month since. It wasn't always much but we always put a bit in.

He is very grateful and today he asked me what I would have done with a lump sum at 18...

It would have utterly changed my life. I was brought up in poverty and didn't go to university. Money would have meant I could have taken resits (I needed to get a job and earn money), or travelled, or bought a car...all of which would have made such a difference.

What would you have done? Or are you glad you didn't get a lump sum at 18? Would you have spaffed the lot in ibiza??? 🤣

I'm not sad as such, but it did make me ponder on the main benefits of money : options.

OP posts:

Waferbiscuit · 18/08/2021 20:18

Can we stop using the phrase 'pissed it up a wall'? There are other ways to say 'spent it'!!

Toddlerteaplease · 18/08/2021 20:21

I got one from
My grandma. As did my sister. It was great to have a nest egg. And it was my house deposit when the time came. I'm very grateful to her.

Northernsoullover · 18/08/2021 20:21

@Waferbiscuit

Can we stop using the phrase 'pissed it up a wall'? There are other ways to say 'spent it'!!

who pissed on your cornflakes? Pissed up a wall means nothing to show for it. I think its a very apt expression.

Interested in this thread?

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General money

MrsSkylerWhite · 18/08/2021 20:22

I would have spent it on goodness’ knows what nonsense.
I wonder if young people today seem generally to be far more sensible because they’re paying for their further studies?
We worried about our youngest’s CTF (because my husband would have spent his on nonsense too) which he was unaware of until we transferred the money into his account. He spent it very quickly, on a high performance laptop with additional specialist software for his university course. We were so pleasantly surprised.

INeedtobealone · 18/08/2021 20:23

I got 10k at 21. I put it together with now DH's savings and we used it to buy our first house, this was 2007/8.

DS is 5 and going to have a sizable sum when he gets to adulthood as he already has about 5k. We save for him every month and my parents put money in his account every now and again. He's an only child too.

Newbabynewhouse · 18/08/2021 20:25

I'm now 30... at 18 I would have wasted a lump sum... I was quite young minded and would have probably spend it on treating friends to posh clubs and expensive drinks... and expensive clothes!

SoundBar · 18/08/2021 20:25

I got 2k at 21, absolutely wasted it on travelling to NZ where I promptly failed to get a job and got into credit card debt.

Young people eh

TartanBonnet · 18/08/2021 20:26

100% would have pissed it up the wall!!

ParishSpinster · 18/08/2021 20:26

I got a lump sum of £1000 when I was 18. I bought a leather jacket, a bottle of vodka, a nigella cook book, a few text books for uni then saved the rest and used it to pay rent when I eventually moved out a year later.

I wasn't given much support in terms of being sensible with the money - I was living at home and my parents told me I wasn't mature enough to learn to drive so I gave up on that idea, and told me that if I left home then it meant I didn't want to be part of the family so again I didn't think that was an option for the money.

I had (some) fun with the money. It wasnt life changing for me because it came with strings and guilt attached.

SpaceBethSmith · 18/08/2021 20:29

@Waferbiscuit

Can we stop using the phrase 'pissed it up a wall'? There are other ways to say 'spent it'!!

First time?

saleorbouy · 18/08/2021 20:29

I had a dear "Uncle" who when he passed away unexpectedly left myself and my silings £1k each. It was pooled into an investment and when we reached 18 it was split evenly.
We all chose to invest it again and each of us used it towards our first home deposits. Thankfully I was wise enough not to poss ir up the wall and I'm eternally grateful to home for my leg up in life.
It's sad to hear some of these stories of wasted lump sum chances.

BobbinThreadbare123 · 18/08/2021 20:29

I got some sort of insurance policy pay out at 21. Wasn't huge, just a few grand really. I was aiming to use it for driving lessons and a little car. My mum took the lot. My siblings got to keep theirs; both of them wasted the lot.

WorriedMillie · 18/08/2021 20:31

I wasn’t responsible enough at 18, I didn’t have much of a forward planning skill, I just lived for the moment. My parents were very generous in seeing me through uni, but no lump sums
They came later (20s, grandparents died). DP had been given a deposit to buy a flat, which we lived in for a couple of years, scrimped and saved to do it up. My grandma died and left me some money, which I used for more flat improvements and a new bathroom
These helped us sell the flat at a decent profit and buy a little house, same process of living frugally and doing improvements
Another grandparent died and left me money, which I spent on a new bathroom (see a pattern) and other bits and we sold the house at a decent profit, which enabled us to buy our current house
In a nutshell, I needed a bit of maturity and something tangible to spend the money on
DD stands to inherit a substantial sum when she’s 18, I wish it was set at 21+ instead (although hopefully she’s more responsible than I was…)

Newbabynewhouse · 18/08/2021 20:31

Something I don't understand (I'd genuinely appreciate people helping me get my head around this...) why do teenagers spend thousands on going to university when you can just apply for a government loan? .. is it because if your parents earn over a certain amount they don't get the loan and have to pay outright?
.. I lived with parents u til I was 25 and they earned a lot of money but I wasn't Interested in uni then so not sure if they would have had to pay (or me if I had the savings) or if I could have got a grant ? I am now in uni and have a grant but think this is becaue I don't earn over the threshold to have to pay for myself?

countrytown · 18/08/2021 20:31

these don't exist any more do they?

Starcar · 18/08/2021 20:31

I didn’t have any lump sum but I pissed my student loan away and fully expect I would have done the same savings bestowed to me. Though it definitely was to my overall advantage that I worked part time jobs at uni, I was really skint at some points and would have liked to have had money for all round greater opportunity and sense of security (as well as nice holidays and to learn to drive and maybe even have got a car). All my friends who got savings at 18 wasted it too. We’ve saved a grand (well 1200 as 100 a month) a year for ours... in an ISA in my name as 18k is a lot of money and we don’t know how sensible they’ll be then! It’s really great you've provided that for your son and I only wish you’d had it for yourself too. Sounds like you’ve done yourself proud though.

speakout · 18/08/2021 20:33

I would have squandered it.

My Ds friend inherited £25K when he was 18. It was gone in 6 months- he spent it on holidays, booze and fags.

EileenGC · 18/08/2021 20:34

Like you OP, I grew up poor and moved out after getting a uni offer abroad at 15. I was a very mature 15 but still shit-scared and without much money at all.

It would've helped so much. At 18 I was about to go into my 4th year at uni and was preparing for a move to yet another different country. A lump sun would've meant not being so stressed about finding a flat, knowing I could offer a decent deposit when I found one that I liked. I could've bought decent work clothes and paid for my friends to come visit my new city a couple of times.

If I hadn't continued studying the year after, as was the original plan, then I would've put it towards a house deposit or a car. No doubt I would've spent some of it on takeaways and holidays, but nothing close to pissing it up the wall.

countrytown · 18/08/2021 20:34

The loan I got was about 3k ish a yr (early 00s). My accommodation costs were more so my parents had to fund my living costs & tuition fees

tubbycustardtummyache · 18/08/2021 20:38

I got 2 inheritances, one in my early 20s then one in my early 30s, first was about 1k and second 3k.
I used the first to go to Galapagos and the second to go to Antarctica
Don’t regret a thing, I certainly couldn’t afford to go now!
Very grateful to the relatives who left it to me

Grinch48 · 18/08/2021 20:43

My DS had 5k on his 18th that I had saved for him in monthly with profits
I let him withdraw it but I kept 4K back so he could get a car at some point
I told him to blow a 1k on being stupid 😂 which he did
He also got another 3k from his grandparents when he was 21 so he used most of the money to buy a decent car

blahblahblah321 · 18/08/2021 20:43

We've got similar about to happen here - my parents have been paying into DS's CTF since he was little and he's about to turn 18 🙈. He's got about 15k coming his way, thankfully he's generally very good with money but I can't help but worry he'll spend it all on nights out

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 18/08/2021 20:43

I got about £1.5k I think when I finished uni, so age 22 left to me from my aunt. I used it to pay for flights and insurance to go and live in Canada for a year.

Still one of the best things I ever did!! It wasn't a fortune, only enough to cover the basics and I got a job in my second week there, its amazing how you can use an accent to sell yourself!!

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 18/08/2021 20:45

I got 10k at 18. It helped with a bit of travelling at university, university itself, some towards wedding, then house deposit... it basically started a good saving habit. I actually added to it in university.

DDs will get theirs at 18 (unless they need it earlier) and we hope to teach them to use it responsibly before then.

Marcee · 18/08/2021 20:45

I would have saved it in a savings account. Where it would have stayed slowly losing value over the years.

I went to uni. I was very prudent with my loan, I used it to for driving lessons as well as study costs.

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