AIBU to ask how much your child has in savings and what age they are

[Hmmmmminteresting]

I'm being nosey for comparison reasons I guess.
4yo has £2,300. I feel like in the grand scheme of things it's rubbish. Once we have paid bills, extra off mortgage, paid into our pensions etc he gets what's left which isn't a lot. That figure includes bday and Xmas money too but we don't have a big family.

DS has £2.5k in a bank account in his name. I’m reluctant to add more to one in his name just in case he turns into a rebel at 18 and wants to blow the money rather than use it for something sensible like uni, house etc.
I would like to start saving some more for him.

I have £5k of his in a bank account in mine and DH name. It came from MIL estate. It wasn’t directly left to him (she wrote the will when she only had one grandchild but DH and his brother decided to give each of the kids the same amount from the estate) so can stay in our name for now.

We do need to work our where best to put it
so he won’t blow it at 18!

@Strawberrywaffles sorry to tag you but the account where your daughter is a beneficiary and you sign the account over sounds exactly what we are looking for. Would you mind telling me who the account is with and the type?

Am I the only one whose jaw is literally dropping at some of these huge amounts? I feel like I've landed in a completely different world.

@Strawberrywaffles - if you feel you can share, I'd like to know to know too please.

It baffles me too. When we all know most of the country is in abject poverty brought on by the Tory government.

@WhatATimeToBeAlive I thought we'd done well with ours (we are not well off) but as usual, I am flabbergasted at how much money some people must have to save such large amounts for their very young DC.

Thanks for the advice on this thread regarding not putting everything in the child’s name! DH and I talked last night and said we will put a maximum of 5k in her name and save the rest elsewhere!

It baffles me too. When we all know most of the country is in abject poverty brought on by the Tory government.

Apparently not then!

@Strawberrywaffles I would be very interested too. It sounds like just what we need.

I save £100/month for DS (who is 2) and will do for next baby as well. It’s in a high (well, as high as you can get these days) interest bank account but I really need to sort out a stocks and shares ISA for him as over 18 years that should maximise returns.

My parents didn’t save anything for me and I’ve done pretty well for myself, but I’d like to be able to help out my children as things are so much harder these days.

We have family savings but the only money in the children’s names are very small amounts they have been given as gifts by my parents. Having seen the drama my parents had with my brother once he got access to ‘his’ savings, nothing would possess me to put money in a child’s name. When it is them that have earned it they can decide how to spend it. If I earn it I will choose to spend it on what they need not what they want.

I don't save for my DS, I think that unless you have absolutely massive amounts of savings yourself you are risking not having access to money you may someday need, which the family will suffer without. One day, assuming I have it, I'll gift DS money to buy a house or something equally important. If he wants to travel or buy frivolous things as a young adult, he can earn that money himself. I may help him when he wants to buy a car but that will depend on a lot of factors that I won't know until then and I certainly don't want to be putting money away now for something that I'll regret at a time I'll regret it.

On the other hand, DS has over the last year put away every cent of his €2.50 a week pocket money and all his birthday/Christmas/toothfairy money and every random coin and note he has gotten from relatives into his money box. He wants a Nintendo Switch and I said I wouldn't buy one, so at 6 years old, he set about planning to buy one when he was 8 or 9. He wouldn't even spend a Smyths voucher he got for Christmas until after lockdown, which is when I got him to admit he was saving for a Switch and told him he could spend the voucher as he'd almost certainly be buying in CEX rather than Smyths. I don't particularly want him to have a Switch, but I reckon that a child that young who can plan a multi year savings plan like that needs to enjoy the reward of that kind of sacrifice.

I feel that having taught him how to save and plan. And how to enjoy the reward and sense of achievement at the end of his sacrifice. Is multiples of times more valuable for him than handing him a six figure sum as a young adult. He knows the value of money. He knows that spending now means waiting longer. Since he was 3.5 years old I've been able to say 'yes' to everything in Smyths because the question was always, 'can I put this on my savings list?' and never 'will you buy this for me now.'

@blacktop

*Because DS got given LOADS of money when he was 1-6, I'm talking about £150. What else would I do with it? There's only so much money that can be spent. We used to use it for things like trips to the farm, water parks etc. But there was still some left. So it went into his bank account.*

Now he's older he spends it if he wants, and saves for big items.

I'm not really sure why you answered my question, i was asking people who didn't let their older children spend their money, not those who do. I was even specific enough to say I understand saving it when they are very little, but not as they get older, which is exactly what you have done.

I really do want to know why people don't allow their children to spend their gifted money, ever.

@blacktop for me it was a gradual thing.

By 10 I DS was receiving about £80 each birthday, which is a vast sum, so, he would be encouraged to spend some and save some. No way would I encourage them to spend the lot in something like Pokémon cards or similar, but wouldn't stop him buying himself a few packs.

I also don't understand why some people won't let them spend their own money

I think what my parents did for me and my sister worked out good for us. They saved money for both of us (set amount each) gave us money toward our first cars (we paid the rest) and then either money towards our wedding or house! I also had a little savings account that I put money in x

[quote NewModelArmyMayhem18]@WhatATimeToBeAlive I thought we'd done well with ours (we are not well off) but as usual, I am flabbergasted at how much money some people must have to save such large amounts for their very young DC.[/quote]
A lot of it is likely to be inheritance

blacktop my DS (19) has never actually wanted to spend any of the money that has been saved up over the years ... when he got cash for Christmas/birthdays it automatically went into his savings .. ..he's never been into Lego or similar, never shown any interest in collecting toys. From about 9 he had weekly pocket money (modest amount) if he wanted to buy a youth group and from 16 he bought his own trainers, T shirts etc from paper earnings. He knows the money is there and he quite likes seeing it mount up and know that he is well on his way to a deposit for his first home.

We had an interesting discussion recently when he was complaining about having to share my car ...I did suggest he use his own money to go out and buy his own but he realised it might be more sensible to compromise on sharing .

Sorry, don't know what I said 'buy a youth club' , meant 'buy anything'.

@whatatimetobealive

Me too - while I was aware that others I know have received a lot more help from parents and grandparents than I have, I have honestly just learned today from this thread that savings running to thousands for a toddler is a thing.

I've never had a penny from my parents nor have I inherited from anyone. Thousands of pounds from birthday money? Honestly for me this is a whole new world.

We save DS's child benefit into his own account. He's 3.

I would say it is definitely worth getting some money in the kids name if you can find a way of holding it back from them when they hit 18.

My father always talked about how the long hours etc were for me and my sister and how when we inherited we would be set for life. He has now divorced my mum after hiding most of the money in off shore accounts and married a significantly younger woman ( 30 years younger). I don’t see him anymore and now know there is no chance of me inheriting anything.

I 100% trust my husband and he loves his kids but given what happened to me I am very much a plan for the worst kind of person. So if you can find a way of protecting at least a portion of your wealth and earmarking it for your children the sooner the better. Men only tend to care about what is in front of them. I guess not squirreling it away for them till you inherit is one way. So help them with a student fees/ house deposit/ first car/ wedding if you can.

No savings. 11 months old.

Ds1 has £4.4k and Ds2 has 3.7k. I've stopped putting money in Ds1's account until Ds2 has caught up.

They've got a fair amount saved up in their money tins too.

Three year old, no savings, she hasn't even bothered to get a job yet.

Mine have about £10k each, both under 9 - in shares and investment trusts mainly so have gone down a bit in the past months but over longer term should be OK...Easy to prevent them wasting it as if they spent it behind by back post 18, far larger sums would be denied to them....