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.

I do a few bits as does husband. Essentially I save £50 of her child benefit a month and use the other £30 for any clothes/toys/crafts she needs.

I do savings and an investment bond but thinking of moving the savings to premium bonds as the rate is crappy and she *might win a million!

Husband also saves about £50 a month. She won’t get it until she’s 21 (the investment bond is locked in) so hopefully she won’t be blowing it on boozing then but can use for a car or towards a deposit on a house or something...I hope!

DS1 whatever he has in his child trust fund which was £500 11/12 years ago. And 25 cents of his own money in a "savings account" I keep for him.

DS2 has nothing. But I can see us being more well off over his childhood than we were for DS1. So I think he will have different advantages.

I have a half brother and sister, one born before the CTF came in and one born after! Dad and SM felt they ought to match it.

DH and I are in negative figures overall. Maybe one day.

I would never put significant amounts in my DC’s names - I was a “sensible” kid, but can’t say I wouldn’t have wasted money given to me at 18.

My eldest has what the government gave him (£250 ?) plus a few quid birthday pennies. The youngest we will match. We don't save in the kids names because I don't want them frittering away money when they're older. However, we will be able to see them through uni, buy them cars and deposits on houses so........

I’m saving in my childs name but I withdraw and reinvest money in premium bonds etc. When she’s a teen I’ll make sure there’s a only a few hundred in and let her practice with it. She won’t know about the investment bond/premium bonds until she’s about 21

Our dc have about £1-2k each (4 and 7). I'm guessing they might have about 5k when they're 18. It's not in their names. We haven't really thought about what we'd like them to do with it but as it's not a fortune maybe help towards driving lessons/first car.

We could afford to save a lot more for them but prefer to save for our own future. If we want to help them out when they're adults then we will.

My 5yo has £1500 saved in their name. I'm not sure what I will aim for savings wise. I thought it would be a grand a year but that's not been possible.

I dont get too hung up on it. I have savings in my name which would be used for their uni etc.

Op I don’t understand this. Some folks barely scrape by with their own expenses never mind saving for their kids, other folks are very wealthy and the kids have large amounts put away for them. There is no one answer. It is dependent on everyone’s financial circumstances.

This goes someway to explain why DH and I are poor compared to our friends whose parents helped them get on in life

Not really, millions have nothing from parents and are not poor.

None - I’ll give them a proportion of my savings or I’ll downsize once they get to a certain age.

I agree with speakout.

We opened a Child's ISA for our eldest not realising she would have access to the money saved.

When we realised this after in and lodged a complaint with the Financial ombudsman, we got nowhere.

S now she has around 9000 pounds saved up and she is 7 years old.

This is money we were aiming for her University or first properly and now it's at her mercy when she turns 18 if she decides to fritter away.

I am hopping she will be sensible but you never know, so be very careful as the bank doesn't always give you safe advice.

Somewhere between £200-250 each. Young teens.

My nearly 6 year old has just under £10k, some of which was a gift, and my youngest, will be 1 in a few months has nearly £2k, again some of it was a gift. We don't put in birthday or Christmas money that's for them to spend so it goes in their piggy bank.

8 months old £800

We each put £50 into premium bonds each month.

Might win, might not but there'll still be a nice amount when he's 18 or so.

Jesus. I had about £1,200 at the age of 16 😂 I thought that was great.

I only have £5k now and I'm 25, not 4!

Nothing. But neither do me amd my DH. Does that make you feel better?

DC1 is 18 and DC2 is 16 and both have in the region of £3k. DC3 is 12 and has £2.5k

Oh older 2 have also work ethic (obv some on this thread like that.)

She has her Junior ISA, which started as a Child Trust Fund, and which we top up £50 a month. She also has her NS&I account that her grandparents started for her, and her current account for her pocket money. She's not old enough yet to get a part time job but I'll make sure she starts looking when she is. It's not a lot of money but it'll give her a start.

My son is 6 and has about 3k in a junior ISA. I also have 1k to add to it which has come from when my Nana died. We pay into his ISA regularly and I want to increase the amount now.

DH and I have extensive savings ourselves so I hope that we can support DS with uni or whatever.

For comparison though, neither me nor DH had money saved for us as children. Both paid our own way through uni, paid for own wedding and had no help buying a house. We are absolutely fine - no damage done through not having childhood savings.

My parents were loving and supportive but they were crap with money and we were often skint when I was a teenager (it could have been avoided but as I say, financial management wasn't their thing!). I think it made me a bit anxious about money and savings and so I have always made sure I saved as an adult.

Almost 3, £35 in a junior ISA.

Interest rates are so poor I'd rather pay off the mortgage for now and release money for savings further down the line.

None. I can’t afford it and don’t feel guilty. Who knows what they would blow thousands of pounds on when they reached 18.

My eldest Who is 17 has £1000, but that’s what he saved himself through working. I doubt he’ll just blow that.

And if he needs more, he can work more.

My two have about £4K each in their accounts but DD is younger than DS, so not sure how that is happened - and they are treated entirely equally.

DS is now 'of age' so I am trying to persuade him to put it into an ISA he set up last year. He is also dabbling in bonds and stocks & shares!

Banks encourage parents to open accounts in children's names.
Junior Isa, kids savings, Rainbow accounts.

Be very wary.
My mother opened savings accounts for my kids, not a a huge amount, but they each had £2k by the time they were 18.
DD spent it on University costs, DS spent it on beer.

I was sensible enough to put nothing in my kids names. I have saved on their behalf and have money of they need it- for sensible things.

My two have a lot. If they’re not looking sensible closer to 18 I’ll transfer it to an account I have complete control of until they’re ready to buy a house / need uni funds / other suitable way of spending it.

But I don’t think you need to feel bad if you can’t save for children - my ex dh never had any savings from his family and is incredibly successful - giving support and a good work ethic is the most important thing.

DD is 6mo and has £400, some of it monetary gifts from when she was born but we also pay into it monthly. I never had any savings and I struggled to save our house deposit, to learn to drive, to get through uni whereas DH had savings and he had a good start on his deposit before we even started seeing each other. We have similar work ethics despite coming from very different backgrounds so I don't think that's a real concern to be honest. I just want her to have better than I did.

12 year old about 9k
11 year old about 7k
7 year old about 4 k
3 year old about 1k
11 month old about £50 🙄