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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you have savings for your DC?

123 replies

tiffanysaudrey · 05/11/2018 13:29

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?

OP posts:
Chrisinthemorning · 05/11/2018 17:30

We put £50 a month in an account for DS. If he gets money for birthdays/ Christmas that goes in there too. We keep maybe £10 back for him to spend but he doesn’t- probably gets too much already.
He has some premium bonds from Christening presents.
My parents gift him £3k a year via a pension too - advised by accountants. He’s 6.

AlbusPercival · 05/11/2018 17:33

We were lucky to have been given our house deposit.

We want to be able to reciprocate for DS. So are saving hard.

He is almost 2 and currently has £4500 in savings

MrTrebus · 05/11/2018 17:35

Pension! From £16 a month minimum and a real long term investment. You can start a pension for a child that is 1 day old 😄 I also save the child benefit into a child's ISA they no one can access til the child is 18.

www.legalandgeneral.com/retirement/our-products/stakeholder-pension/

AlbusPercival · 05/11/2018 17:39

Mountainsided - completely agree with you.

DS money is in my name, and if I was ever in your mums position would spend it without a qualm.

PlainJane007 · 05/11/2018 17:41

I really recommend saving anything you can - you may need to dip into it earlier than you think for things like school trips at secondary school (£1000+) or activities that get expensive when they get older.

sansou · 05/11/2018 17:43

Original CTF’s plus £100 pcm transferred to JISA’s invested in the stock market. My DC are 15 & 11 - their JISA’s are worth approx 48K & 44K. The bulk of birthday and Christmas money from family have also been added but we’re only talking £50 or £100 at most not thousands so the overall growth year on year has exceeded my expectations!

CherryPavlova · 05/11/2018 17:46

We set up ISAs for ours that matured as they reached 21 but we haven’t just handed over money as a gift. It has been to support house purchase by providing a deposit and furnishings. We’ve also money set aside for weddings and to pay off university costs if they get at least a 2:1 or equivalent. It remains our money though.

Didsomeonesaybunny · 05/11/2018 17:49

I’ve opened a children’s savings account for my DD. I deposited £1,000 to kickstart the savings and have since deposited money that she received when she was born.

I’ve set up a standing order and will deposit £250 per month (some of this will be part of her maintenance from her dad)

I will plan of giving her the money to buy her first home (deposit)

peachypetite · 05/11/2018 17:51

My parents did this for us and it meant when we were in our mid 20s we had enough for a flat deposit. As we grew up we added to it with our birthday money, money from our Saturday jobs etc and I am so so grateful.

Mentounasc · 05/11/2018 17:55

We didn't specifically have Accountinformationen the DC, but concentrated instead on having our mortgage paid off by the time DD1 turned 18 so we could pay her way through uni. She'll be graduating with no debt, which is a great start. DD2 will get the same.

Mentounasc · 05/11/2018 17:57

Eh? Autocorrect went berserk there.

MeteorMedow · 05/11/2018 18:02

DP (soon to be DH) and I haven’t started our family yet but I’m already concerned about their financial future.

As an economy we don’t have a clue where we’ll be in 20 years and how much help it’ll take (by that point) to get them on the housing ladder, take internships...etc.
(I know these are ‘unfair advantages’ and will hopefully have been irradiated by then ‘in a perfect world’ but it took a six figure cash sum to get us our terraced house - Not even London!)

We’ll save what we can (about £500 a month- between hopefully 3 children) but are unlikely to be able to help our kids the way our parents helped us.

Weedsnseeds1 · 05/11/2018 18:13

Could you maybe use one of the cashback sites? I use one when I pay for work hotels, flights, any household appliances etc. You get a bit back on each purchase and it all adds up.
If you are more organised than me you can get quotes for e.g. car insurance and they can offer quite a bit back if you make a purchase e.g. £50.
I probably get around£400 a year for purchases that I have to make anyway and could probably get more if I put my mind to it and bought more stuff on line rather than in shops.

Deadbudgie · 05/11/2018 18:19

DS has about £120 a month plus birthday and Christmas money from when he was little put into his account. So he has about £8k in his account, he’s 6.5 years old. I think it’s really important to save what you can. Life is so expensive for kids just setting out, driving lessons, house deposit, university, car etc. Whether it is 50p a week or £50 per week every little helps.

NerrSnerr · 05/11/2018 18:22

We currently can't save on a monthly basis as everything we have (and probably more) goes on childcare. We do put all cash Christmas and birthday presents (about £150 per year per child) into premium bonds. We do try and add a bit extra if we can. They are 4 and 1 and we have about £1000 between them. It's not much but it's better than nothing. We are hoping it'll help fund driving lessons or help towards university.

BackforGood · 05/11/2018 18:29

Tiffanysaudrey It is absolutely fine not to have saved anything. It is fine to have saved regularly and it is fine to have saved loads. This is going to be so related to people's budgets.
When my dc were little, we needed the child Benefit to do those trivial things like buy food, and clothes and shoes and turn the heating on. I can't help thinking if people can afford to just be putting it by, then the threshold for who can claim it is probably too high.

What we did was look after any money they had for birthdays and Christmas. Gave it them as they turned 18. It does start to add up if you are also savvy with moving it into slightly higher interest rate accounts. They never missed it on their birthdays / at Christmas as, of courser they had other new things to play with, but they have certainly appreciated it now they are struggling to find the money for their first car insurances.

BlueJava · 05/11/2018 18:32

I put aside £40 a month each (twins) into an account, now they are in their teens they have control of it. They decided whether to pay in birthday and xmas money, sometimes they sell old clothes/books/toys and top it up. Research to get a good child saver rate - The Sunday Times Finance Section usually has recommendations.

Merryoldgoat · 05/11/2018 18:35

No spare money to but my husband’s aunt puts £50 a month for each of them in a savings account - they have about £1400 each- they’re 5 and 8m.

19lottie82 · 05/11/2018 18:35

To all the people that are saving for your kids, do you still have mortgages? And what are you actually saving for?

I have 2 DSDs and my DH and I don’t have any savings eat marked specifically for them. Although we have savings and will help them out in the future, should they need it.

NoNameIdeas · 05/11/2018 18:38

Sorry to gate crash the post but looking at setting up a stocks and shares isa for our 2 year old - he currently has some premium bonds and then some money in my own isa - any recommendations as to which to go for? Thank you!

KanielOutis · 05/11/2018 18:38

I've only just got into the habit of saving myself, after years of being in debt.

tomhazard · 05/11/2018 18:39

When my dc were little, we needed the child Benefit to do those trivial things like buy food, and clothes and shoes and turn the heating on. I can't help thinking if people can afford to just be putting it by, then the threshold for who can claim it is probably too high

I agree with this. I'm surprised so many people can afford to put it aside and it begs the question of whether those people need it...our CB is spent on shoes, coats and to contribute to food and bills that benefit our DC.

FairfaxAikman · 05/11/2018 18:45

When DS was born my DGF put £750 into an account for him. This was to bring him in line with my niece and nephew, who both started with less but have had a small amount of money added every month.
DS will get the same and any birthday and Christmas money will be added to it by us as I'm a joint trustee on the account with DGF.

AlbusPercival · 05/11/2018 18:46

@19lottie82 yes I have a mortgage. Saving so DS has option of getting one

combatbarbie · 05/11/2018 18:48

We all have a 25yr saving policy which we pay £25 a month each into. Min payout is £7.5k it's on track for around £9k according to last statement.