To give an 18 year old 30k

[WhenSheWasBadSheWasAnOrange]

I have a huge disagreement with dh. We have set up a savings account for dd and plan to save £80-90 pounds a month for her until she is 18 (she is 19 months old now).

I have found a cash isa at a really good interest rate but the money would be in her name, we would not be able to access it until she is eighteen. Once she is eighteen the money would be hers and we would have no control over it.

With interest this money would probably add up to over £30,000. It would be there to help her get through uni, or money for a car or deposit on a house.

Dh thinks I am mad leaving dd this amount of cash when she is eighteen. He thinks there is a huge risk she will blow it on amazing holidays or a very expensive car (or god forbid drugs).

I am being stupid saving this amount of cash for dd?

Badgerina. That sounds very sensible, I bet you can't wait to tell him. I bet he will be very, very

Isn't this why you use trusts?

InkyBinky yes! It'll be amazing he's do lucky!

So, even

If you save it in your dc's name, the interest will be treated as your income for tax purposes, so that's perhaps something to bear in mind.

I understand your concerns - my uncle has left dd £200k for when she's 21, and I have visions/nightmares of it being pissed up the wall in 6 years time.

not after seeing my friend frit away 50k of inheritance money at that age.

but at 22, I would have used that £20k to buy my house.
(well, maybe not my house, because I hadn't found it at that stage, but a house in that price range, just so I didn't have to worry about a mortgage or making sure I had a steady job for 6 months in order to get a mortgage.)

my house was bought for £22k in 1999, when I was 23.

I was given about 6k when I started univeristy from savings my grandparents had made for me. I spent it all very quickly (having been working since I was 15 a good saver and by all accounts sensible)! It blew my mind and a massive hole in my pocket. Please be careful of letting her have access to the money, even if she's very sensible it's hard to get your head around having a lump sum if you haven't before. I feel terribly guilty 10 years on and wish that I had had more restraint. 6k would be very nice now!

OP, do you have a mortgage?

I've been really heartened by all the replies on here, together with the accounts of where large sums of money have had a disastrous effect. I posted on legal about my personal dilemma - dd being left $200k for when she's 21 in 6 years time. She (possibly) has pda, and might freak out with such a sum.

Anyway, most of the replies were 'it's just tough if she pisses it up the wall - she will be an adult', and suggested I had issues with her being left the money, because of concerns.

I've told her about it now, although there is always the chance that my uncle will change his will - he's nearly 90, because at least she has time to get used to the idea, and not suddenly hit 21 and find out "Yippee, I've got £200k to spend".

Time will tell.

Sorry I havent read the whole thread but this is an issue quite close to my heart.

At 18 I was pregnant with dd now at 22 I have ds and am married, DH is a teacher and we are not exactly rolling in it!

DH has some money in a trust that won't mature until he is 25. It is so incredibly frustrating. We are perfectly responsible people and were equally so at 18. Neither of us would have "blown" the money, we would have saved it for a house/paying off uni fees. I find it incredibly insulting that FIL would think we would.

If you raise her well she will have a sensible attitude to money anyway!

Responding to a very early post about child benefit being saved. Why isn't this benefit means tested? If you can afford to save it all, you don't need it. A nice govt funded nest egg for your dc....

Demented, it was for a number of reasons:

• A universal benefit is the cheapest to administer
• Historically, it was paid to mothers who might have no other income - therefore an element of control if a feckless father wanted to drink it all away!
• To 'bind' higher earners into the tax system by giving them something tangible 'in return' for their taxes

From April 2013, the benefit will be phased above a certain income threshold if either or both parent in the household earns above £x (I think it starts to be reduced at £50k and is fully phased otu at £60k, but that is from memory).