To not save for DC?

[AtSea1979]

We have a reasonable lifestyle at the moment, don't home own but tick over with a little spare.
Spoke to the bank, wanted to set up a saving account for the DC but their policy is it automatically gets signed over to them at 16 which I don't want.
Spoke to my parents about it and they seemed surprised that I wanted to save for them.
They never saved for me, I've always worked and paid my own way through uni/life. It got me wondering should I even save for them? Does everyone these days with rising uni/house costs?

Forgot to add - I would only save if I had the means too, but would not feel guilty if I couldn't...

I save for my kids and like others it's with university in mind.

I don't overly worry about them having money in their own name. I think if you teach them money management from the start they're unlikely to spunk it. And if they do its a lesson for them which they won't forget.

ExH and I were in the fortunate position of not having to rely on CB when DD came along, so we had it paid into an account in our names along with cash gifts from family for christening etc. DD (now 20) has just paid a car deposit and car insurance and still has some towards a house deposit when she finishes Uni. Amazing how it mounts up over the years.

Grandparents and other relatives tend to give money for gifts so we set up an account for it to go in, one GPs wanted to make a small monthly deposit in it. We add to it here and there, but if we are buying something big (be it a big garden toy, a class or meningitis vaccine) we will take some or all of the cost from it. We plan to put more in as he gets older, however I intend to save more in my own savings and earmark it for the DC, that way if we really needed it for something critical it is still available to us.

I used to think saving for DC was a good idea pre-DC. Now we have DC I think 'family savings' are a better idea - there for use in case of illness/redundancy etc, but also there to be parcelled up between them in 20 years time if we have a fairly easy life in the between time.

I have every intention of helping DC with uni / house buying in future but our money is in our names and not allocated until they are old enough to use it.

I am saving for my DDs (it's a very small amount right now, 1% of income per month (from my job not grants, etc)...plus anything we are gifted); my parents did for me and I would have been completely lost without their financial support a few years ago. We scrape by currently and I work very hard (single mum plus studying and working) but I personally feel it's important for me to save for them. If they don't need the money when they're older, hell I'll treat myself. Obviously I won't tell them about the money until it's needed.

Don't have any spare cash to put in ourselves but both dc have a savings account in their names for birthday and Christmas money.

Saving for your child and your child being independent and paying their own way are not mutually exclusive. It's often said in these boards -

whats the point of saving if it all goes to them anyway at 18 - this is Untrue. You simply save in a seperate account in your own name to give to them as you see fit

Or

id like them to pay their own way - this has nothing to do with saving for them. I have always been very very focused and motivated right from a little girl till my PhD and am in a very fulfilling career now. I obviously pay my own way. But my mum and dad have gifted me prevcious things - deposit on a house, university fees. I took their gift and worked hard with it. Didn't become a good for nothing wastrel. But their savings massively helped an already focused person further along.

That's how I see my role for DS. We save his child benefit completely in an ISA held in my name. His grandparents pay into that too. It doesn't automatically go to him at 18. I will hope he grows up into a motivated and determined person and a person to whom I can make a substantial gift of a solid something.

Hence we save.

We've never saved on a regular basis specifically for our dc, except that we put away birthday and Christmas money for them over the years - should cover their first car insurance I reckon.
However, I've always been a saver, and, by putting away what we can each month, and by overpaying the mortgage when we've been able, it then means we have cash now, to help out in little ways as and when they need it.

Nope I would never create a savings account for any of my children.

I had one and got the money at 18 and pretty much wasted it. If I'd got it at 27 I would have been more sensible but still, it just isn't necessary.

I would rather make a commitment to help them with a deposit on a mortgage when the time comes to buy a house than put savings in an account.

It just isn't necessary.

Both of ours have children's ISA's. So far it's mainly just been Christmas and birthday money (they're too young to spend it themselves) but we do contribute a small amount ourselves too.

It goes to them at 18, but chances are we might just 'forget' to tell them about it until they're older and less likely to blow it all.

My mum saved for me in one of her own accounts but I think most of it got spent on my driving lessons.

Forgot to say that i think if you can afford to save even just a small amount (not just for dcbut in a general 'family savings' sense) you should.

We have some savings specifically for college for DC in their names and my DM has done the same. They should have about £15,000 when they hit 18. We started when Uni fees were £3000 a year - obviously it won't go as far now!

Im saving for my DD. She has one account which I put a small % of any cash gifts into. This will be an account that she will have access to when she understands the concept of money (she is currently only a few months old) and will be encouraged to save some of her pocket money and cash gifts into.

I also save a small amount weekly and put the rest of her cash gifts into another account which she wont know about, until it's needed for something like a deposit or training fees.

My parents couldn't afford to save anything for me which is why I wanted to save for my children. We don't save loads £25 a month for DC1 and £15 a month for the three DS's. DH also has shares which he is going to cash in when he turns 40 to pay off the mortgage and give each DC £15,000.

Are you planning on buying a house in the future?
I'd concentrate on saving for that before thinking about savings for the children- if that is something you're planning.
Interest rates are next to nothing on savings at the moment.

I save for mine, helping them with a house deposit or uni fees won't make them less able to stand on their own two feet. That's instilled by being a good role model, teaching them well and ensuring they know education is the key to a good life.

Both my dcs have savings accounts. We live overseas and most relatives give dcs money for Christmas and birthdays and this all goes in their accounts. Dh's uncle is not married, has no children and has started giving them 3K each every other year. They have about 30K between them.
We save 50 pound each for them into a tracker and this is to help for university/further education/ house etc
My parents opened a savings account for me and I saved money from birthday gifts and various part time jobs. They didn't have to worry about the cost of university as it was free back in the 1980s and I had a full grant. I worked every holiday and graduated with no debt. My parents taught me how to manage my money and this was probably more valuable than setting up the account. I had access to the money when I was 16, but didn't blow it all!

I have savings that I have provisionally earmarked for my son but it's not in his name. The fact is that I don't know what the future holds. What if in 3 years time our house falls down and the insurance won't cover it? What if one of us develops an illness and needs specialist private health treatment to live/maintain quality of life? There are multiple things that we might need in the future that would ultimately benefit DS more than several thousand in his early adulthood.

There is also the possibility that at the point in his life where the money becomes legally his (like at age 16) he is at a point where he would just piss it away. While I know that a gift should generally come without strings, if I am going to spend the best part of 2 decades saving money for him I want it to go on something that I would have sacrificed for. So I'd hold on to the money until he wanted to buy a house and give him something to put towards the deposit or if he and a future partner needed IVF, etc.

I also have no intention of telling him about it in advance. I want him to learn how to stand on his own two feet financially and save up for his own first car, insurance, travelling money, etc. And maybe even work his way through college like I did, so he can pay his own way. Even expecting him to contribute to household costs if he lives with me while in college. (Though unless my circumstance changed for the worse and I actually needed his money to run the house, I'd add that contribution to his savings pile and eventually return it to him when I give him the money I've saved for him.

We never saved in individual accounts but saved ourselves along the way. All of that has gone on college as in lreland there is no loan system. My parents surprised me a few weeks before our wedding with a saving account they held for me. Come from a very big not well off family and it's one of the nicest things ever happened to me as totally unexpected. I was probably earning more than them then. Meant so much thinking of them making that sacrifice but they were brilliant savers. Not like me!

Tbh OP, if you don't own your own home I would focus on saving for that instead and perhaps set up a savings account for dc but in your name and pay in any money they might get fir Christmas/birthday etc. We have a savings account for DS which we pay in to every month, well actually we give him all our loose change and he puts it in his piggy bank. At the end if the month we pay it in. Amazing how it all mounts up. PIL's have also set up an account for each of the grandkids which they pay in to every month. The thing about it being in their name is a non issue IMO. They don't need to necessarily know about it, and at 16 you can still just tell them 'no' until they come up with a proposition for using the money that you feel is worthwhile.

You say you've made your own way in life. .good for you. So have most of us. But usually I think people want the best for their kids, or to improve on what they had in their childhood. Why wouldn't you try to give them the things that you've never had if you're in a position to? If you can't afford to save that's one thing, but to consciously choose not to is a bit tight IMO. You don't own your own home, maybe your parents saving for you would have helped you achieve this? Knowing how hard it is to get on the ladder these days (although I bought my first home pre credit crunch, age 18, but most friends my age with dc still can't afford to buy) I'm personally terrified of how difficult it will be for my children in the future and I want to help as much as possible. Hopefully the house prices thing will have come full circle by then.

We've always put the children's birthday and Christmas money into their own savings accounts - which are only signed over to them with my permission (bank's policy - so look for an alternative bank). As they're children's accounts, the interest is tax free. It's amazing how the money adds up and the money is so much more useful to them when they're 18 than it would be when they're 4.

Off topic but almost all savings interest is now tax free, as the limit on interest on savings has been dramatically increased. Even as a higher rate tax payer you now have to earn over £500 a year in interest to pay tax, which at current rates means a pot of around £25,000 plus in savings. A basic rate tax payer can have around double that in savings before paying tax (based on an interest rate of 2% which these days is quite high!)

www.gov.uk/apply-tax-free-interest-on-savings/how-much-tax-you-pay

When we had our 1st dc I set up a savings account and I did the same for the second but by the time we had the third we'd realised that even if we put £100 a month away per child it would probably only reach 23k (ish) which is a 10% house deposit and a trip to Ikea round here right now, it'll be worth less than that in 18 years time. So instead we plough every spare penny into paying off the mortgage. The house will be theirs eventually anyway. We can pay it off early saving 1000's in interest and if we continue doing what we're doing we'll be mortgage free by the time dc start uni so we can use those payments to help them or put them aside to save for a house deposit then. If the worst happens and our financial situation changes I'm sure dc would rather their money went on not losing the house than being kept safe for when they turn 18 so if you'd do that anyway it makes sense to pay the mortgage rather than save. For us it's about creating a wealthier family not just planning for an abstract future.

See, I have a different slant on it, with DC of (almost) 17 and 15.

And slightly differing circumstances excepted, as we home own.

We have put away a small amount each month since we could afford to do so, not quite since their birth, into savings accounts in their name but with my overall control.

About 2 years ago, I changed the accounts into their own names. DS is nearly 17, so has a debit type card. DD's, you can withdraw money.There's circa £3k in each.

They get £40 pcm each put in, but no other cash whatsoever from us.

We thought long and hard about this. Theoretically, they could both go out and blow the lot. I told them this, but also that I hoped they would be sensible and realise they can spend as they see fit, but it's also a brilliant lump sum for things they may wish to do or fund as they get older. It's theirs to choose to do with what they will.

In practice, 2 things happened that I recall. DS used his card to pay for game down loads, and spend a full months money in a week, was shocked at how the £3.99 here and there added up so quickly and didn't make the same mistake again.

DD gave everyone very generous Christmas presents one year, and again, also realised that a Jack Wills top is basically one whole months money.

I think it's taught them loads about money, but also that we trust them to make sensible choices financially.

However, if they blow the lot at some point, that's their decision to make and live with. But that will make buying a car or uni life or whatever a lot tougher.

Both are far more sensible that we were at that age.

Just throwing that into the mix.