Do you have savings for your DC?

[tiffanysaudrey]

I’m sorting out the best way to save for my little one who is due very soon!

I’ve been putting £2.50 a week in a seperate account to move into his own once he is born and also have a change pot. Any birthday or Christmas money whilst he is too small to know/want to buy toys will be saved also and I think me and DP will probably add some each birthday and Christmas too.

I want it to be a good amount for when he is an adult.

How much do you save (if at all!) any little tips to add little extra bits that won’t be noticed or missed but will add up?! If that makes sense.

I never had a savings account as a child but love the idea of having a little bit of money towards his first car, or buying a house or whatever :). Any success stories where little bits have added up?

We save £500 a month for ds (3yo). Dh is a high earner and were currently in the ME, paying no tax or rent etc, so it's well manageable. He also has about £3k in premium bonds from great/grandparents. We plan to be here for another couple of years yet, so even if we can't afford to save the same for him when we repat, he'll still have a good nest egg for a house etc. We don't expect him to use it for uni (if he should choose do go that way), as long as we are able to afford that for him, we will.

Best thing we did was open a child savings bond for our sons only £10 a month then when they were 16+ ready for a car at 17 there was £2000 there. We did same for grand children. Just bought grandson his car and insurance last May, really worth doing

Every time I have a £2 coin I put it in my sons money box. It adds up. I seem to get a lot more of them since I made that promise!! We also save most of his birthday money etc after letting him buy himself something as a treat.

Stocks and Shares Child Trust fund since she was a year old initial £250, plus £100 per month. She will be 15 soon last birthday there was £44k in there.
Over 18 years stock market always out performs savings.

Just want to add for OP - Literally no one I know at all has had a savings account from their parents, so please don't feel you are not doing enough compared to all these kids who seem to be turning 18 and walking into 40k!

Anything you do will be beyond appreciated I am sure.

I put £50 pcm by standing order into a savings account then other little bits here and there including any money he gets as a gift. When he is 21 it should be well over 10,000 which is a deposit on a house or a car outright.

No, but we are older parents, we prefer to help them with what they need now. We’ll be dead soon and what’s left from our savings will go to them.

DC1 got a house 10 days after his 18th birthday as we already knew which city he’d be studying in and 3 flatmates’ rent means he’s going through university at no extra cost to us.
DC2 will get the same when the time comes to go to University or an adjusted half share of our assets when we snuff it.

No state assisted savings schemes for parents in Italy, I’m afraid.

My two should get around £6k when they're 18.0ther than that we hope to fund university and contribute to house despots when the time comes. How much will depend on when we sell our family home as we hope to downsize and give them a nestegg but it may not be possible. I'd also like to start a pension for them. Sounds bonkers but I think it's sensible.

ErickBroch thank you! These children are so lucky to have that amount saved for them but I can’t see a plausible way of getting DS to that level without making massive sacrifices and we’re not even low earners!

Tbh I’d be happy with anything for him even if it helps him buy some furniture or what have you 😊. I was impressed with the £100 I’d saved for him during pregnancy haha! I guess long term it all adds up in the end x

Suki great idea re pension!

We have children’s savings accounts set up and then a standing order of £20 each from both of us each month. We put any significant birthday money from grandparents in there too. Currently, my 5 year old has more in her account than I do!

If it's savings that you don't intend to dip into, then go for a Junior stocks and shares ISA as the stock market usually out-performs other cash savings over time (and you're looking at 18 yrs +)

DD has a S&S ISA that financial gifts go into, and I also pay a small monthly sum into a pension for her. Both are currently on a far higher interest rate than any cash savings or bonds accounts.

Honestly it adds up no matter what you save as it's over 18 years.
My son is four months old. I've saved all the money he was given when he was born plus he gets ten pounds a month from grnaparents and I save 80pcm for him.
My dp , his dad, hates that I save this much for him as he's a baby. Go figure. But I ignore him as one day he may need the money or we might need it for him!

£20 per month into each of our (two) DCs' child trust funds. That should be about £4.5k when they turn 18. Will probably try to top them both up to £5k at that point to ensure they both receive the same.

yes, we set up a bank account for ds when he was born, we randomly put money in there, he got a small inheritance and family have put bits and bats in. I don't know what the balance is though. Probably less than a grand at the minute (he is 2)

but he also has a trust fund which we put £25 a month in and will either get what we put in or more, back out when he turns 21.

My elder two have child trust funds but my younger two have nothing. I chased them up recently and DS1 has £750 and DS2 £850, they 11 & 10.

Really should sort it but I always forget!

We saved the child benefit every month but in the last few months it's gone on bills  I wish I had put it into something we couldn't access or at least put something into an ISA in DS name rather than my savings account.

We’ve just set this up for our imminently arriving baby - £100 a month plus top ups from any gifts from grandparents etc. We’re investing it into a medium risk fund and using our ISA allowances.

Just child trust fund and junior isa here. GPS give £100 each birthday but that’s it.
I’m not that comfortable with them getting £5 k or £10k at 18 that is entirely theirs to use as they choose. Would be very easy for them to just ‘piss it up a wall’ .

Both DC do have their own savings accounts and put pocket and birthday money in it periodically.

We have our own family savings as well.

we have junior isas for each child. i want accounts that are theirs, even in case something happens to us as parents. nobody but the boys can touch that money, it is definitely tvere for them

Yes £17k but it's in my name.
It's for a house deposit when DD18 is at that stage.
She had £1k of it for her 18th and pretty much frittered it so keeping a tight rein on the rest

@MissSueFlay I would love to do what you are doing for my DD. Are you able to pint me in the right direction so that I can do this too?

I save £25 a month for both of mine. I also have a jar that all my 10, 5, 2 and 1 pence coins go into, it's then split between them when there is enough to bank it. It adds up.

The bank accounts they have are special childrens ones which means they don't pay tax and have high interest rates (I think about 5%).

OP, it’s ok if you give them nothing. I had nothing from my parents. My mum used to childhood bank accounts which she had saved into to feed us when my dad left her (pre child maintenance enforcement). She could never replace what she took but it was al to keep us alive and I am thankful she did that.

£25 a month for two DC. Plus any birthday money or little windfalls get thrown in.

These are ISAs in their name. They are 3 and 6 now so hoping for 5-10k by the time they are 18. I hope they will spend it on driving/education/worthwhile travel but I obviously can't be sure they will. They will have to understand that I won't replace it though!

I do also hope to be able to help pay rent/uni if applicable on top of this.