Saving for a child versus house deposit as a single parent

[Happymum23]

Hello,

Whats people’s opinions on saving for their child and if so how much do you put away?

One of my goals is to buy a house before my child goes to secondary school, to ensure we are in a better area than we are now and LO go to a good school. LO is currently three so got a good few years to get an morgage deposited. It’s just me as a single parent and I don’t know if the right thing to do is put our savings together to get us a nice home and then save in bulk for their own account for when they are older as I wont be saving intensely for a house.

what’s everyone’s views ?

House first. It's a nice 'extra' to save for your child, but not a necessity if you are on a lower income.

My parents had little money as we were growing up - think very little heating in the house and no treat food (we got an ice lolly every Sunday but that was it). They did not save any money at all for us to have as adults. When we were 16-18 we got part-time jobs. When we were 18-19 we moved out, either to live-in employment or to uni (loan and grant supplemented by part-time work). When we finished education we got jobs and lived in house shares. We are all now late thirties and absolutely fine financially. We did not need parental help because they raised us to be self-sufficient and hard working.
They did own their house (bought before they had us) and this not only was better for us growing up (because mortgage is cheaper than rent and the housing is secure) but also I'm so glad for them that they own their house now they're retired.

Putting a secure roof over your child's head should absolutely be your number 1 priority Savings for a child is a bonus but not needed. I never got money from parents and I managed fine and bought my own car and home without help. It actually makes me appreciate everything I have as I earned it

Get the house, it’s an investment and will build equity depending on where you live

House

A house IS saving for your child as the hope is it will one day pass to them

You may be able to save via a LISA (if you are under 40) so can get a 25 pc top up from the government

it’s also important to save for your own pension

all these are more important than saving for a child, and 1st priority is an emergency fund eg 6 months expenditure

A secure roof over the DC head is more beneficial than future savings.