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.

No. Our son is 4. We have a savings account with a hefty sum in that we use for the house, holidays etc. He will be given the account when he is 21 with whatever is in it.

You don't need to tell them that they have that money. Just tell them when you think it's appropriate. 21?

I opened an account when my DD was born and set up a direct debit for £25 a month. This year she turned 18 and started uni and there was just over £5k saved in the account. She's been told it's hers for whatever she needs it for (but not to be blown on nights out, make up and taxis 😂)

The current plan is to leave it for now as she wants to do a study year abroad.

No, but grandparents do.

I just give them pocket money.

It would’ve far better to invest the money. Putting it in savings is as hood as burning it. £40 a month in investments will be shell of a lot when they are twenty. Time is on your side on this one.

None.

I have saved family money- which attracts bigger interest rates.

Kids get money when older as they need it.

Be careful saving money in your child's names- you may think it will be spent on University or a house deposit- they may have other ideas.

When they each 18 you will have no say.

One of my son's friends had his parents put money into his savings account.

There was £20K.

As soon as he hit 18 he spent it in 6 months on tattoos, holidays and booze.

I haven't saved a penny in my kids names.

When we had just the 1 dc, we used to put £40 in his act per month. Now I'm on mat leave with ds2 I'm putting that into his account instead to catch up. So currently ds1 is getting nothing!
But ds1 (age 2) has £2500 in savings and ds1 (8months) has 1500. Once he's caught up and I'm back at work I'll probably do about £30 each a month.

I never had any savings from my parents and came from a very poor single parent family, but I got a saturday job at 16 and managed to fund my own driving lessons, buy my first car and insurance etc so I am not worried that without these savings they won't survive. It's more of an added bonus.

I put in £10 and then any birthday or Christmas money

If dd needs something and I am struggling I will use the money. I never had anything like this myself and was fine when I hit 18 but thought it would be good to save something. Hoping that as time goes on and they want to spend birthday or christmas money I will increase how much goes in although I will try to encourage her to save some of the money if there is no real need for anything

Money is in an account where it gets interest but can be withdrawn if needed

I am rubbish with money but it seems a bit bonkers to me to arbitrarily divide it up like that when they don't yet know about or have access to it. We have savings, and when it comes time our kids need something that's a big investment (car etc) then it'll be there for them, but what's the sense in 'earmarking' it this way?

I ask because my parents did this for me and my sister, but when they divorced and mum was on her uppers she emptied our accounts and I don't blame her a jot because money is no use to children who barely know what it means. I mean by the time toddlers today want driving lessons it might be flying cars in the Glorious Socialist Republic of Corbynia I jest of course but just doesn't make sense to me. Probably there's some really good tax reason or something and I'm going to look a total dolt.

No, and I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't save in their names like that, I would put birthday money in an account or hold it in cash for them depending on the amount, but we save for the family and organise our money accordingly. We will hopefully have money to help them with their studies, or to take driving lessons, but it is our savings, I'm not putting a small sum in their name on a monthly basis, just because. It doesn't make sense to me, it's micromanaging and over complicating things and doesn't seem useful.

It’s great to save whatever you can for them, some people will be able to save more and some less - or none at all - so whatever works with your income. Even small amounts all add up.

We put DD's child benefit away for her and she has ad hoc money in from grandparents etc. For being born and Christmas (she's 5 months old).

Also, the account is in our name so she won't get automatic access to it at 18. We'd like it to be for a house deposit, assuming they're attainable in another 20+ years!

My grandparents put £100 a month into a savings account for each of my children.
We cannot afford to put anything away for them at the moment but do have money boxes around the house that all our change goes in and when they're full we put that into their accounts too.

Surely it depends on your individual financial circumstances as to what is a ‘reasonable’ amount to save? Presumably if you are on minimum wage and living close to the breadline it will be hard to save anything .

Agree with a PP uthat a pension plan for your child is an ideal investment if you can afford it. We started a pension for our DS when he was born, using the CB ( we are lucky in that we did not ‘need’ this money ), he is now 17 and the pension pot is building up nicely, obviously he cannot access it for years. We do not save anything else specifically for him but his grandparents do & he is in the fortunate position of having had a house deposit saved for him. He also understands the value of saving and saves most of his birthday and Christmas gifts plus part time earnings; not surprisingly he has chosen to study economics at University .

We thought about it but decided it made more sense to use any savings to overpay the mortgage. This means we'll pay it off sooner and have more disposable income when they are older to pay to support them at the time. The amount we save on interest on the mortgage is more than we would get on any savings account and we already have a bit in stocks and shares ISA so don't want more higher risk stuff.

We do £50 a month it's just in mine and DH name though and will be given to her towards a house deposit. Won't just be given to her once she reaches a certain age.

Any money over £20 so Christmas or Birthdays goes into their accounts.

£20 or less they spend on toys/sweets etc for themselves.

We don't do anything either although I do put all the 50 pence pieces I get in a jar for them to put in their banks!

They only spend a little of their Christmas and birthday money and the rest goes on their accounts.

We buy Premium Bonds for them occasionally

you might be better putting it into a pension pot, and getting an extra 20% from the government.

We helped our son as far as we could.

There’s currently another saving scheme for children to help them with their first home deposit, can’t remember the exact details but the Governemnt add a specific percentage to the saved amount, might be worth a look.

I don’t save anything at the moment but he gets very generous amounts at Christmas and birthday.

My auntie did it for me and I bought my first car with mine.

We saved £30 a month for DS plus birthday money, we gave it to him at 18 but told him he could either have it then or we would carry on with the £30 until he was 21 if he wanted. He chose the carry on until he is 21 option .

Hopefully he will finish Uni and get a job and the cash will help towards a house deposit or rent deposit if he has to move to a different area for work, when he leaves Uni.

We obviously bought him other presents for his 18th as well.

@EnglishRose13

What is the share save scheme, please? It is an employee one or a bank one?

We spend all our spare income on school fees so not saving anything on the DC's behalf, although DC1 has a legacy CTF and DC2 has some premium bonds. DH's parents are putting £100 per month per child into a savings account for them. We looked into setting up pensions for them but I was worried once we stopped paying in, there is a risk the management fees eat into capital if it doesn't perform well enough to self fund.

Either way, they should both be in a substantially better position that DH and I were in at 18/21.