To NOT save money for my DC in their own account?

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After a conversation with a friend, I genuinely wonder if IABU here. Obviously lots of people aren't in a position to put money aside for their DC, but I was wondering if we are alone in being in a position to save for them, but deciding not to. My reasons are as follows:

1. I want them to learn to save for things themselves when they're older, not inherit money as such until they've learnt some money management skills

1. Other costs and essential things can be met from our savings account in the meantime. If we want to give them money in the future for things like school fees and a house, this could (in theory) also come from here. We're fairly good at saving ourselves and saving in a kids' account would come at the expense of our bigger savings account

1. I'm worried that they'll be like some people I knew at uni who got their savings accounts and blew it on booze etc

My DC are 2 and a baby. The 2 year old has a tiny bit of money in an account (50 quid) as it was gifted to him, but I haven't even opened an account for my baby yet as no-one has given her money.

AIBU?

DD1 and DD2 had saving accounts when they were little we could not afford to put alot in but financial gifts from family and friends were save in there. If DC are giving money to save by relatives where does that go OP?

We pay a very small amount each month into an account for DC and DP gave each a few hundred when they were born which is in there. It should be enough to pay for a second hand car OR a decent end of A levels holiday (probably not an entire see the world gap year). More substantial savings stay in our name.

Annie we're banking gifted money, although only my oldest has received any yet! TBH though people in our family don't tend to give money as gifts, but if they do in the future, it will just be put in their own accounts. We just won't be adding to it

We are banking DC's piggy bank money & gifted money from GPs into their bank accounts.

They add up to quite a bit over the years.

puds11 Can I ask you what you mean when you say your Mum stole from your bank account?

If you would rather not say then I understand

I put all the child benefit aside for my two, £75 a month each. I haven't told them about it though!

Hopefully it will pay for living costs at university, a car, that sort of thing.

My DC have an account each. Money given when they were newborn and all birthday (except £10 to spend on toys) and Christmas money gets put into it. Over the years it's built up quite a bit. We save ourself to pay for cars, weddings etc.

I put money into DS's CTF every month because I like the fact I can't access it and take the money back and it can't be touched until he's 18. I'd like him to be able to buy a car or use it to help travel at that age if he wants to.

My mum saved a small amount for me when I got to 18 - they were very hard up at times so I really appreciated it even at that age.

Yanbu.

Known a few people that come into money when they are 18, a new car, a trip to Disney world and fancy clothes and its all gone then a few years later they have massive debts.

DS knows I save for him. It isn't much, but what I am trying to do is help him learn about saving up for things. He gets £1 for every year of his age - currently £7 but half of that goes into his bank account. The other half is his but has to cover birthday/Christmas presents. He loves nerf guns but I make him save up for those himself.

It is working because he was asking for something, but when I said it would have to be paid out of his own money then he put it back. I am giving him options on financial choices when the decision is in pennies and the choices are sweeties or nerf guns. When he is @ 13 or 14 I will be giving him money for the bus fare rather than getting him a ticket, and it will be his choice whether to get the bus or walk (both doable if he gets into the most likely school). Hopefully when he is 18 the pennies I am saving for him will not be wasted as he will have made the 'instant gratification' choices already.

He doesn't know about the National Savings Certificates I got in his name from the money he was given for his Christening, or the trust fund with the government £250. They won't be worth that much when they mature, but hopefully it will make things a bit easier with driving lessons etc.

I think we all do what we can for our kids and try and make the best decisions for them. I hope that what we're doing will help ds manage money. I think everyone on this thread is trying to do the same.

btw if you don't save into Kids' Accounts, what happens to money given to kids? In my case it is a fiver here and there, I've always put it away, tho now ds is more aware I just insist that he saves half.

Here's another perspective.

In my case, DS has, under my control, money that otherwise would now be with his dad, in all likelihood, or would have to be split.
From the money exH took and is not contributing to DS, DS has a nice start anyway, which I could use, should DS need it, without depending on twat.

DS has both a child trust fund and a building soc saving acc. The former is "for training for a job" the later is "funding your hobby" . If he is given money gifts he\we deside how to split it. His hobby requires kit that can be costly, he can see in his pass book if he can afford the item he desires or if he has to save more.
His most recent spend was a second hand racing bike. He is very carefully. with his bike because he saved up for it and if he brakes bits he will have to replace them.

Children's savings accounts rates are rubbish TBH. DD has one but when she inherited some cash when my gran passed away I decided not to put it in her account. I have it in a savings bond as even with the tax on the interest it's a better return.

When the bond expires I will look around for the best option at the time. The cash is still hers but in my name and I'm making her money work as hard as I can for her. When it comes time I will put it in an account in her name but the age that will be will depend on how sensible she is at the time - 17 would be ok for driving lessons and a car, but not if she would just waste it on clothes and nights out with her mates.

We don't have the money to put money in a saving account, really struggling at moment but one day I suppose we will but I hope we are in a position where we can just give her money if she needs it (driving lessons, first car, etc)

Alis - the trouble is, at 17, my ds's PT job (he's doing A-levels) pays him £3.82 an hour (then he has to take of return train ticket which is £5.40...so a 6 hour shift only nets him £17 odd). It takes an awful lot of hours to save up for just one driving lesson, at £22 per lesson. Then of course you have to buy the licence, pay for the theory test, pay for the actual test on top. My ds is paying for his own lessons, but he appreciates the fact that we saved most of his birthday and Christmas money over the years to give to him now, to help him along and gave him 10 lessons as a 17th birthday present.

Entirely depends on your own habits surely? It's not something I can say yabu or not.

I like the fact that if in kids name I CANNOT touch it. Means it is protected from me or dh. Ever. The kids won't know about them either. I'll choose when they get that info. It's irrelevant as I have no money to save but if I did I would do it that way. But then I know it's best for us this way.

A number of people seem to think that you can have an account in your child's name but not tell them about it when they turn 18. No you can not.

The bank will correspond with and send statements to the account holder. At 18 that is your child.

The reason for this is it prevents fraud by parents taking advantage of the child's ISA allocation for their own benefit. If you could retain control of such an account post-18 you could use their money or prevent them from accessing it. That is not consistent with being able to take advantage of the benefits of a child's saving account or ISA. The government takes a dim view of tax fraud.

Lottie - that's true of an ISA, but not of a normal savings account.

There are some good children's regular savers accounts around I believe, which are easy access.

Like some PP we save for our DC. They both have a savings account and a junior ISA. ISA gets their child benefit in (split equally) and will be their lump sum at 18. Savings acc gets any money they are given and the contents of money box which we often put a couple pound here and there in to. That's for them to dip in to when they are old enough to decide they want to buy something.

DS is only 8 weeks so he's only got a teeny amount so far but should hopefully equal out by time each is 18.

We have a current account for each DC in their name, an isa in our name for each and have bought a BTL which will be paid off by the time they hit 18. Hoping ISA will do uni, BTL house deposit. Current account only has a small amount in and will become their current account. They are too small to know about any of this but will only ever know about the current account. I guess DH and I are currently in the position to do this and would prefer to have it ear marked and paid for. I went through uni and came out debt free due to timing and the deposit on my first home was 5% so I was able to buy it when I was 25, can't see the children being in the same fortunate position if DH and I don't contribute heavily.

We save for the dcs in our name, they should have enough to pay Uni fees or put a deposit down on a house.

We do this because...it's under our control whether we feel they will need the extra help or not - it's hard earned cash and it will not be paid out for the benefit of holidays or being pissed up against a wall. It will be given or not depending on need.
Secondly if dh lost his job or we became ill, after the insurance was spent and if we still hadn't got on our feet, we would use their savings to live, enabling them to stay in their outstanding secondary school - no point in investing in their future after 18, if it gets fucked up before then.

So essentially we save for them in our name because we get to control the money, I don't pay tax, so the cost isn't too high, but the control is worth it. They have their child trust funds but we pretty much ignore them.