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.

@countdowntofriday - you asked what people do to make their DC financially literate

Here's what we do (although they are both still in primary school so amounts of pocket money will change as they get older.)

Both DC get £5 a week pocket money. They take this to the bank and pay it in (although this was pre covid, now we just direct debit it in) . Any time we're in town and they ask for toys/sweets/Smiggle goodies we tell them they can have it, but they need to go to the bank and withdraw the cash. This has worked to stop most nagging for things as they like watching their savings grow. Occasionally they save up for something big (massive Lego, etc). Birthday and Christmas money goes into this account too. We get paper statements once a month where we go through and check deposits and withdrawals (do they remember what they spent their money on?) And they love seeing how they have earnt interest (although it's usually around 50p a month).

Once a month they choose a charity to give £5 to (we don't take this out of pocket money)

Our general idea is that they use some of the money to save, some to spend and some to give to those less fortunate than themselves. Sometimes it's used to sponsor friends, for school charity appeals (like red nose Day) or sometimes they will give it to a homeless person, or a children's charity in Africa. Our thinking is that our DC actually live a very privileged life and we want them to be aware that not everyone in the world has access to all the things they have. I think charitable giving is a good habit to get into.

As they get older (into teenage years) we plan to give then an allowance for all the things they want/need. So they will have to budget for clothes, makeup, Starbucks with friends, cinema trips etc. If they blow all their money in the first week then they'll have to wait till next month to get more.

As a family we don't hide talking about money/family finances. So for this summer holiday we said we had a £1000 budget - and asked them what they wanted to do with it? We could get a few days away in a cottage (cost x amount), or we could go on several camping trips (cheaper) and have money left over for zoo membership and lots of trips to the local beach with ice creams etc. So we involve them in planning how we spend the cash.

My parents never taught me about budgeting and it led to quite a shock once I had regular rent and bills to pay. I don't want my DC to be scared of going into banks or embarrassed to talk about money so we are trying to ensure they grow up with some awareness of it.

I'm not sure if we are doing it right, or doing it all wrong but my 10 year old is more financially literate than I was at 20 (although that's not saying much)

My children have about £500 each that they've personally saved from gifts, and have around £5000 each in a CTF. DH and I also save £200 per month for them in an account in our name to help with the living costs of uni. The plan is to be able to fund £5000 per year for student living costs.

Also should admit that my DM saved her child benefit for me when I was growing up. However at 18 I was completely off the rails and spent the lot (about £1200 from memory) going to Amsterdam with a boyfriend.

Both my kids will have the government trust fund money, about £300, but that’s it.

My DC just have their CTF which has had a tiny tiny inheritance added to it, dd has more because she was entitled to 2 government payments and she can see it on her banking app, I think it's about £800 and she will blow the lot when she turns 18 probably on make up and clothes 🤷🏼‍♀️

DS has about 2k, he’s earned it himself doing a paper round from 13 to 16 and then from working in a kitchen for a couple of months when 17.

He has just finished sixth form, his degree apprenticeship is on hold due to covid so he is looking for a job. Currently building a patio in our garden to fill the time. He is wearing his rather worn out trainers that he is still proud he bought with the money he earned as a 15 year old.

DH and I are very comfortable income and asset wise but we want DS to have a work ethic.

We will be helping DS with a house deposit, we may even buy him a house outright but we are not telling him.

My dc have a 2 litre jug full of loose change, I guess there must be over a tenner in there, does that count?

1yr old has £1.5k. Any birthday and Christmas money he gets will be banked. Unless he wants buy stuff when he's older

@speakout

I don't give children savings.

What happens when they reach 18?

My friends DS had £30K in savings- as soon as he reached 18 he blew the lot in 3 months on beer and cannabis in Thailand and Ibiza.

She had hoped it would help with a house deposit or University.
He had other plans.

I save for my children, but not in their names.

Must admit this was a big concern of ours but also...if we fell on hard times we wanted to be able to use the dc's saving to pull us out - that benefits them indirectly. We give them monthly pocket money and then they have Saturday jobs to top this up and save for bigger ticket items. Their financial education has come in fits and starts and in many ways feeling the pain is the best way to learn - they have screwed up in different ways - best make these mistakes in their teens while the damage is minor and the recovery is achievable.

My children don’t have savings accounts. My husband and I have a savings account but we will be using this to buy their first car, and at least £10,000 each for a house deposit. They rarely get money for Christmas and birthdays and if they do then they want to go to Smyths or save in a money box for a short term gift (oldest son recently saved for an Alexa for his room)

I also blew through my own money. £5000 in savings off my parents plus an additional £8000 in loans and credit cards at 18. Spent on holidays, clothes and beer.

My dad cleared all my debts but I had to pay him back every penny at £133 for 5 years.

I think most 18 year olds are too irresponsible for such an influx of cash. Not all, but most.

I think we are going to try and get a very small savings account for the DCs, with a passbook (DH and I have fond memories of our own passbooks!)
Does anyone have an account for the DCs that is their own and for which they have a passbook?

@drspouse

I think we are going to try and get a very small savings account for the DCs, with a passbook (DH and I have fond memories of our own passbooks!) Does anyone have an account for the DCs that is their own and for which they have a passbook?

I wanted my dcs to learn how to bank electronically because that is the reality of their financial future. They don’t use cash at all now - everything is contactless and it’s important they learn responsibility for that approach as it’s so easy to get it wrong and they did! Lessons learnt!

I think mine will learn that when they are a bit older. For the moment, we use a piggy bank (so they can see the physical money) and I think they relate better to paper totals, worksheets etc. - it seems more real - we found this during lockdown that they seemed to feel that something in a book or on a worksheet was somehow more real.

Im lucky in that 3 of my children got ctf from the gov before they were abolished, each have between £1300-1000, the youngest has as much as the oldest near enough as hers was automatically invested as I never got round to it, the older two had theirs with NatWest as it barely grew for years until I switched to the same place where my daughters is, now they all grow around £100 a year. We’ve put very little towards what they have in case they blow it at 18. The youngest has an Jisa but only £100 in. The oldest 3 have a different dad but the youngest is the only child and grandchild in the family so they all put money away for her, think she has £4K at 4yr and sadly probably more soon due to a bereavement.
I feel bad the older ones don’t have as much but their grandparents were not very involved and have only ever given them presents on occasions rather than money.
We’re not in a position yet to save for any of them so im grateful the youngest grandparents are.

@makingmiracles

Im lucky in that 3 of my children got ctf from the gov before they were abolished, each have between £1300-1000, the youngest has as much as the oldest near enough as hers was automatically invested as I never got round to it, the older two had theirs with NatWest as it barely grew for years until I switched to the same place where my daughters is, now they all grow around £100 a year. We’ve put very little towards what they have in case they blow it at 18. The youngest has an Jisa but only £100 in. The oldest 3 have a different dad but the youngest is the only child and grandchild in the family so they all put money away for her, think she has £4K at 4yr and sadly probably more soon due to a bereavement. I feel bad the older ones don’t have as much but their grandparents were not very involved and have only ever given them presents on occasions rather than money. We’re not in a position yet to save for any of them so im grateful the youngest grandparents are.

This must be difficult if one has significantly more then the others. Two of ours got the CTF and 2 don't have them, we've just tried as best we can to even it out over the years so they roughly end up with the same at 18, but like I said earlier one of ours totally squandered it on nothing !!

DD is 13 and has her own account with around £300 she saved from her pocket money over the years. That’s hers to spend as she wants to.

She has an investment fund which was set up at birth and the grandparents pay into it, my mum every couple of months and my in-laws have a direct debit set up each month. The account is in Germany and we as parent have total access to it. When she is 18 it’s hers and Whe knows about the account so it’s not that I can just drain it and use the money for myself, it is just that we could use the money if there are reasons prior to her being 18.

Here in the UK she has her child trust fund money, I hate the idea of not being able to access the finds and give an 18 year old access to money with no control so we just out in the original £250 and left it.

All money we save for her, which is around £250-300/months goes into my ISA. It is earmarked for school trips in secondary, gap year if she wants to, driving lessons, further education, first flat/house. All things which may come before she is 18 and it is nice to have the money available. Thanks to Covid I have no idea what the current value is but luckily we still have time before she needs any of it.

DS 7 has £15,000 and DD 12 has £26,000

We tend to save about £250 a month now for each of them as we are trying to ramp it up now I'm back at work full time

Gosh, they'll be able to buy their own helicopter when they're 18!