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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:
carolinesbaby · 19/08/2021 10:33

If I'd been given a big lump sum at 18, it would have been taken into account when my student loan was calculated and disappeared.
If somehow I avoided that, it would have disappeared on nothing while I was at uni.
If I had had it at 21, I would have bought a car, and paid for my wedding.
If I had had it at 30, I'd have spent it on my kids.

carolinesbaby · 19/08/2021 10:35

My kids each have a trust fund with an inherited 50k. They're supposed to get it at 18. I want to stop that happening and then have it at 21 or 25, else it will disappear in university fees.

RainyDay2020 · 19/08/2021 10:37

A lump sum at 18 would have honestly changed my life as it would have meant I could have gone to university and trained to be a teacher like I always wanted to.

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General money
MazDazzle · 19/08/2021 10:44

I would have went on a girls’ holiday. All of my friends got a lump sum when they were 18 - granted, not a huge amount - but I didn’t and couldn’t afford to go.

We have saved for our 3 kids. Technically they will get it when they’re 18. They know nothing about the money though and hopefully they will use it wisely!

Hen2018 · 19/08/2021 10:51

I had no money at 18 and went to uni on a full grant.

I had never had more than about £50 to my name before that.

And I know I would have been absolutely stupid with it and spent it on rubbish. Thanks to a completely isolated childhood, I knew nothing about buying property, how to run a car or even how to write a cheque. There was no internet when I was 18 to research things like that and I had no adult to call on to ask. Well, there are plenty of adults who would have helped but I wouldn’t have thought of that or the right questions!

BuffySummersReportingforSanity · 19/08/2021 10:51

I would have spaffed it. DH would have done the same.

This is exactly why, while we have a small JISA in each DC's name, the bulk of our saving for them is held in a S&S ISA in our names.

Tinkerbellfluffyboots79 · 19/08/2021 10:55

My sons grandparents have been saving for the 2 of them since they were babies, no idea how much they’ve got but a bit anyway.

Eldest recently @ 19 (20 this month) learned to drive and has a good job and needed a car. Money was peddled for years As for driving lessons/car asks his dad. It’s been put in to a 21 account so no, it’s now for a ‘rainy day’ this kid gets nothing from his dad, never paid anything for him at all. I told him to pretend it’s not there and when he’s achieved his goals himself he’ll be proud of himself as his dad is useless. Grandparents are a waste of oxygen too, I think they’ve passed it to dad and he’s spent it.

I got some money which I used for a computer to do my uni course, was well needed and used.

InMySpareTime · 19/08/2021 11:26

DCs have Tracker fund accounts. They know about them and how much is in them.
Both plan to transfer £4K a year over to a LISA to get the Govt £1k bonus, until it's all moved over and they'll then use it for a house deposit.

Gladioli23 · 19/08/2021 11:37

I got given 10k by grandparents at the age of 18. It's interesting because they gave me the lot on my 18th birthday, whereas that wasn't the case with my brother. I was also left entirely in charge of what I was going to do with mine, whereas my brother's were put into a long term paper access only account and drip fed in over some years. There wasn't a specific expectation for me with what I was going to do with mine, though I saved it and used it for half of a house deposit. My brother's was definitely presented as a house deposit.

I think I would be pretty keen to save for my children in my own name as you just don't know who they'll be at 18. I hope they'd be responsible enough to be allowed a lump sum but I wouldn't be okay with it being wasted so not a risk worth taking I think.

BertiesShoes · 19/08/2021 11:54

Interesting!
He tried to transfer some money using the app and couldn't.

It sounds as if it is no longer in an ISA but a different account in your name. I have read on here that some institutions have accounts that can stay in parents name at 18, but they won’t be ISAs.

However, as a pp said, a JISA is governed by HMRC rules and must transfer to child’s name at 18, mine had to provide their NI numbers, so that the provider could ensure the adult ISA was registered with HMRC.

All logins that I had set up were disabled on their 18th birthday and they had total control.

TBH, we have found that involving them in their investments (they got a large inheritance at 18) has paid off, now 21 & 23 - neither have touched the original lump sum, it has grown significantly and both adding to it when they can (money that they would have used for travelling had Covid not hit.)

Howshouldibehave · 19/08/2021 11:59

I would probably have just spent it on crap at university.

I would much rather have had it later as a deposit for a house.

Original poster
Artdecolover · 19/08/2021 12:16

One thing that is coming over from this thread is that many of us felt totally clueless about money at 18/21.

I really try and talk my kids about money and what it means and how or cam be used

OP posts:
SpiesRUs · 19/08/2021 12:36

I was given a small lump sum to buy a car at 18, my sister was given the same but as she didn't enjoy driving, she didn't buy a car and wasted it all, something that she regretted later in life.

Grinch48 · 25/08/2021 21:36

I will add to my earlier post my DS will inherit around
150 -170 k once my parents house has sold
I actually asked my mum & dad to bypass me and give it to my DS as I’m am financially sound and that’s unlikely to change .
However my parents bless them put something in the will saying that although the money is for my DS a min of 50k has to be used for house deposit and associated costs . Up to 15k for a car & 5k to blow on whatever he likes . So there will still be around 70k if he needs more of a deposit
I love what my parents did as it means my son will have a huge start on getting a house and he can be stupid and blow some money on crap
So he can’t just blow 170k away on nothing

But the rest will be in a trust and as I’m a trustee it’s up to me when and how he gets what is left over 😂😂
I think he will be buying me lots of wine 😂

Brighterblighter · 25/08/2021 22:08

Grinch that's a great idea and I like how they have spilt it up so he can have some fun...

I drum it into my dd, older how we save for everything.. She sees me literally putting physical money away to save... But I also always say you need fun money money to spend without worries

Historyfan · 25/08/2021 22:09

I got £136 on my 21st
My ex got his hands on it and spent the lot at the local fair
I wasn’t expecting anything so when I got handed the bank book I was surprised
Turned out it was my pocket money from when I was a kid and wasn’t allowed to spend it-I had to hand it back over and my parents put it in a low interest account

They did save a bit for my lot-but again put it in a low interest account-but my mother reasoned that as they got a free comic once a year,it made up for it

They gave it to my lot when they turned 18-and they all spunked it away on crap-£200 worth of crap

ssd · 25/08/2021 22:14

Ctfs are so unfair. My kids just missed out. And they so could have done with it.

YerAWizardHarry · 25/08/2021 22:14

I paid my mums rent arrears with my first full time wage when I was 18 to stop us getting evicted Sad even £500 would have felt like SO much money to me back then

thecatsthecats · 25/08/2021 22:18

I'm planning to make two matched savings gifts for my future kids for driving lessons, a car and gap year travel. I.e. I will match whatever they save from gifts/work. Plus specific training courses post university.

Then try to save 15k for a house deposit for when they turn 25.

I really enjoyed living in the city centre, so wouldn't have swapped my years there renting for anything. I wish I had travelled more though, so I would definitely encourage a few months of travel after university before doing some business skills training before going into work.

whattodo2019 · 25/08/2021 22:55

I received £10k at 18. I continued to save at at 21 i bought my first house.

ComeonJulia · 25/08/2021 23:02

I got £1,000 for my 18th birthday in 2009, as well as car. I used it for a holiday with my boyfriend (now DH) and blew the rest.

When I was 21 I got 3k which I put towards our house deposit.

Notdoingthis · 26/08/2021 05:22

I was given £1k by my parents. I put it in the bank and it went towards living expenses at uni.

Grinch48 · 26/08/2021 08:12

@Brighterblighter
Yes I liked the fact that he can blow a few grand on crap
He probably won’t but it’s nice to know that he can if he wants to
It a huge amount of money to have although he is 27 it will set him up nicely for the future

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