I probably am bu and very nosey but...

[Ciggarettesuffragettesandboys]

Aibu to ask if you put money into an account regularly for your DC? If so how often and how much?

Me and DH put money in monthly (£40 each) and one of us thinks this is a good amount and the other doesn’t. I’m totally aware that it comes down to circumstances and income but just looking to gain some perspective really.

Hi that s what I was told when I set up savings accounts for my grand children...TAB Lloyds Halifax and nationwide...

I can’t afford to put any away 😞

I’m surprised you were told that by Lloyds Br1256. I used to work for them and unless something has drastically changed that is not how their child savings accounts work. We have multiple accounts with them too and it’s certainly not how ours are set up.

I have a similar experience to Br1256.

My mothjer set up a savings account in her/my sons name and has been saving since his birth. ( Raindow account at Royal Bank.)

When he hit 18 and opened a current account he had fulkl access to allhis account, she was automatically blocked from the Rainbow account.
He withdrew all the money and went travelling for a year abroad ( which wasn't a bad use of the money IMO, he was working for much of the time), but the point is no one had any control over that account except him.
It was only a couple of thousand in this case, but I am glad I didn't do the same.

The money I have " mentally reserved" for my kids stays firmly in my account in my name.
If he needs money then I will be happy to help him if it is for sensible spending.

I’m not disputing that they have full access from 18 if that’s the way the account is set up. Access from the age of 7 and full access from 16 is rare though, from my experience of working in the sector (in fact I never encountered access to child savings from 7).

We don’t. Anything we save will be worth Jack shit by the time they’re 18. They will get their education and university fully paid, probably house deposits etc. A few grand saved from £10 and £20 here and there won’t mean much in 15 yrs time probably so it seems pointless. They’ll be expected to work as soon as they are old enough but will never want for anything so no, we don’t save a thing for them. It’s all better spent now.

We don’t. Anything we save will be worth Jack shit by the time they’re 18

Not necessarily, I saved £25 each month and it was enough to pay the rent for a year when they went to university by the time the first one went and then the £25 top up carried on so there was enough for DC2 to have the rent paid. £25 a month for 18 years soon adds up.

Of course it all adds up in a low inflationary environment. Also, if you're saving over a long time, you can also afford to take a risk with stocks and shares, which should outperform cash.

Even if some value is lost to inflation, you still have a lump of money with 80/90% of today's purchasing power, which is a hell of a lot better than nothing, especially if you're like the majority that needs to save this type of money from income, rather than just handing out money that you've already got.

£30 a month goes into an account towards clothes, shoes, other things she needs etc. We can't afford to save for her for anything else. My FIL did put £1000 into an account for her when she was born and my granny gave a similar amount recently which we've put into a high interest account and she can't access either until she's 18