How much money did you put away for your children in savings?

[BeanBag21]

Context: I grew up cared for by a single parent living hand to mouth, so did my husband, so I don't know how much is a realistic or suitable amount to put away for our kids, who are only 5 and 18 months.

I know it largely depends on income and circumstances. Like most people we have mortgage/rent to pay, food, baby stuff, bills, insurances, etc. We're paying off some debts but this is due to be done in a month.

But those of you that do have a savings account for your child(ren) - how much do you put in/how much was in it when your child was able to access it? Do you put in every month or just as and when? Do you put money in at the expense of luxuries for yourself, things you don't need but want?

Or did you not put money away, and instead spend that money in one go on things eg driving lessons, a car? I have no idea what most people do. I moved out from my family's home with £60 to my name so this is all very new. Thanks.

We used to put the money that Grandparents / Great Grandparents gave them at Christmas and birthdays (and a few gave when they were born - particularly dc1).

Once we were able to, we focused on overpaying the mortgage, so, now they are adults, we now have more disposable income than we otherwise would have, and are able to support them as and when we feel it is right to.

Mine all got PT jobs and earned the money for their driving lessons and for their first cars (and insurance).

My eldest received a small inheritance when a relative died and my youngest who wasn’t born for many years later doesn’t have that privilege.

I put away £5 a month for each which isn’t massive and will be worth pennies when they hit 18 but it’s more pennies than they’d have if I didn’t. I do try to top up when I get extra cash which isn’t often at the moment. Their dad who earns quite well puts nothing away each month for them and I always feel quite sad about that.

Neither of our parents saved for us but his mum throws cash at him at every opportunity and I feel really uncomfortable with her doing that. We will never be in a position to do that for our kids so my £5 pm it is

We were lucky and had grandparents give £500 to ds when he was born. That was in a children's bond in national savings.

I worried about this too and in the end I set up an account that was well spoken of in reviews of children's accounts, and started saving with a direct debit of £1 a week. We both had an income at that time but it was low. Ds was about 4 when I started.

Over the years whenever I could I increased the amount I was putting in it. I had a mental rule that I could only take money out of it for ds's shoes and dental bills, but I never did. Grandparents added to that too.

The answer is I don't know how much you should save but I know anything at all is better than nothing.

We put the money we got for their child trust fund into a stocks and shares ISA invested in a FTSE 100 tracker. £500 grew to £2500 by the time she was 18.

I put away £10 a month for my DS since birth- he’s 20 now and I will have just over £3600 to give to him on his 21st. I wouldn’t have given it to him at 18 though, he’s said himself that he wouldn’t have been able to spend it wisely! He’s matured quite a bit in the last few years.

I am mainly focusing on overpaying the mortgage so we will be in a financially stronger position when they reach adulthood.

However I do put £20pcm away for each child. And a few gifts from grandparents etc. It's not a lot but it will give them a bit of a boost to University life. In the main I wouldn't be keen on handing an 18year old a huge sum as they have so much to learn about the world still.

I save the child benefit for them (will be divided equally between them) and save money given as gifts at the moment. Also pay in £10 per month to each child’s accounts.

Child benefit could be about £30k in total if we don’t use it. I didn’t get into the habit of spending it when we started receiving it, but obviously if I needed it for the kids now I would use it.

We saved nothing for our children but we made savings a priority - and overpaying the mortgage. We saved our money in our own accounts. No way would I be saving money for my already well-found children so they can access it at age 18 or 21 and potentially spend the money I struggled to save on crap.

Money other people gave them went into their accounts (like communion money etc). That is theirs to do what they want with.

That said, their grandparents gave each of them about USD20k at age 18 - ostensibly for a car (none of them needed a car) but in fact each of them put it into savings/stock market. I suppose they could have cashed the check and pissed that against the wall but by then it was fairly clear they weren't going to do that.

I'd save/put into retirement/pay off the mortgage. That will give you the flexibility to pay for driving lessons/help out with other things when the time comes.

My sister (in Ireland) saved the child allowance in accounts for her children for years. her son spent it within a couple of months of accessing it with nothing to show for it.

Thank you all. Varying amounts and I appreciate the honesty. Thank you for making me feel so much better about this. I thought people would say they were putting like a hundred away a month per kid and we couldn't do that. Very reassured to know some people do £5 a month or £1 a week or something. I expected people would say that was pointless to sage but it adds up over time! Anything at all is better than nothing. I will start at £5 a month each and see how we go.

Appreciate the advice to overpay mortgage etc. Will bear this in mind!

DS is 10 months and I’ve put £50 into premium bonds for him each month since he was born. Provided he doesn’t win, that will be £9,600 by the time he reaches 16, but I might move it before then as I think it’s an awful lot to have at 16. Plus DM has been adding to it every now and then so it will likely be more. I received broadly the same amount when I turned 21, and I bought a car.

It's very much dependent on what you can afford. We have 1 DS and have saved £50 per month for him (plus some monetary gifts have gone into there). He's 13 now and has nearly £10k, it does add up. I'm hoping it'll be enough for a house deposit when he reaches that stage.

Save whatever you can afford but I would try and make it absolutely set that it goes in each month and you don't dip into it. We've been very tempted to use it over the years but never have.