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 think the purpose of this thread is to boast about how many thousands your two week old has already saved for their pension fund.

Lol so true

I think it must be. 😂😂

bloody hell, is a lot here.
They have child trust funds with a stonking £450 each in them, I guess.

16yo has nearly 2k, meagre pocket & earnings (mostly earnings).
12yo has about £800, mostly earnings, some meagre pocket.
I am extemely impressed with how much they have earned.

I'm not going to put numbers on here it doesn't help anyone, there are a huge variety of incomes.

But to anyone baffled as to why you would put money in the child's name and not your own... obviously you do this if you have other savings so have already utilised your own ISA allowance.

Christ this thread has made me feel awful 😩

DC’s account currently has £45 in it and we have feck all in terms of savings too
We own our own home/cars etc but currently (especially right now mid covid furlough etc) we just don’t have the spare money to save

To this who feel awful, stop being ridiculous. It's a discussion pure and simple.

To those who said threads like this are to make others feel bad, also stop being ridiculous. I get £64 per week carers allowance and threads discussing money and savings only make you feel bad if you let them. Read them for interest like all threads or skip past the thread. If you are a person to make comparisons or worry or be envious then move on by.

You always get a few people with cats bum face on threads discussing money, income and savings, why?

No one is forcing you to read or to disclose your own info....

I don't actually let it make me feel bad but my opinion is still the same

Our 5 & 7 year old have around £13,000 each but only because an aunt died and left them £10,000. The rest is made up of birthday and Christmas money.

Our 12 year old has £2.20 as he spent the rest of his tenner on Roblox.

He'll not go without.

Bloody hell £2,300 for a four year old! Prince George is seven and he's got millions.
What are you doing?

To begin with, we opened ISAs in our names as grandparents had given them a reasonable amount of money when born. Like many others, we were concerned about the possibility of them wasting it all at 18.

However, we have been trying to teach them about judging what is more "worthwhile" to spend money on and to be able to account for what they have spent.

We have now done a U turn and now opened junior ISAs for them - due to the way the economy is going and how benefits are calculated, we do not want the savings in our names. Even though we viewed them as ringfenced for them, we do not want to lose everything we had saved for them.

There have been some horrible reports in the financial pages where people had saved and saved for house deposits only to lose their job and their chance of buying their own property.

My DTs (2.5) have about £1600 each. We save £10pm each into a JISA for them to spend when they reach 18 (probably on drink and drugs) and £50pm each into an ISA in my name which we’ll use for house deposits/uni/other grown up expenses when the time is right.

I didn’t receive any magical money when I turned 18, and I’ve turned out ok I think I do feel a bit under self inflicted pressure (particularly as there’s two of them the same age) to put some away early so when the large expenses roll round we’ve already got the money there for them.

It’s not a fortune, it’s more than some and significantly less than others, but it’s the best we can do for now. If our financial circumstances change for the better I’ll save more, if the shit hits the fan I’ll save less!

They had about 1200 &1600 dd5 ds8, and have a lot less now, this was mainly birthday money and coins I'd saved. I used some to pay towards their part of our Disney trip but it's cancelled and I've not put it back yet. I'll pay it back from a student bursary I'm getting and I thought it was quite a lot since I have practically no savings but apparently it's a very small amount.

DS 23 months has about 14k in an investment account. My parents gave him 10K when born and we put away about 2 and the rest is what the investment has grown by. We are also saving monthly for him.

It’s in an investment account in his name and will be used either to fund uni or for a deposit on a flat. We will continue to save each month for him whilst we can until he’s 18

They had about £10k each on reaching 18 but then each inherited £25k a couple of years ago which got spent on house deposits/furnishings/driving lessons/car/holidays/a wedding/first baby/deposit for a rental property. Doubt there is much left but they're all on the property ladder now and kind of sorted financially for now. They all work.

I am astonished at these amounts. Are you not all concerned at what an 18 year old can do with several thousand pounds?

My DS is 8 and has about £11k in a junior isa. Monthly DD from DH and I and PIL. He knows about it and immediately said he would use it for a deposit on a house -sensible chap.

Precisely £0. We're focusing on getting ourselves into a good financial position and paying down our mortgage. GPs are focusing on enjoying their retirement and spending our inheritance ! So poor tyke isn't going to start life with a trust fund, I'm afraid.

@drspouse

I am astonished at these amounts. Are you not all concerned at what an 18 year old can do with several thousand pounds?

What me I supposed don with DS16s money? It is his after all. It was inheritances and gifts mostly.

I’ve guided and supported him and had lots and lots of conversations about what he is going to do with the money. But at the end of the day, if he losses it up the wall, then there’s very little I can do about it.

@drspouse

My DS gets DLA but we absolutely do not save it. It goes on things like his ADHD assessment, a specialist babysitter, breakages etc.

That’s what it’s for though...?

Yes i thought DLA was for day to day expenses that people might need when otherwise they wouldn't?

DS(5) has about £13k in his Stocks & Shares ISA. The money comes from grandparents’ birthday/Christmas gifts, a lump sum when his grandmother died, other cash gifts.

We also save into a SIPP and a university fund in my name, and some cash gifts go into these instead to avoid DS having access to too much money at 18. If he doesn’t go onto further education then we may use the money to help with a house deposit.

@purpleme12

Yes i thought DLA was for day to day expenses that people might need when otherwise they wouldn't?

I reading back, there’s a PP that has been saving the DLA for when her DD is 18 not really what the benefit is for...

DD has a junior ISA but I only put a small amount in there as it will be legally hers when she is 18- so I’m thinking that will be more of a gap year fund. There’s no way I’d let DD loose at 18 with all of her savings in one of those!

Instead I save into a account where she is the beneficiary and we can sign it over to her whenever we feel she is ready. She is two years old and I have so far met my target of 1k a year. I would only allow this fund to be used for something like education, or a house deposit. I am very proud of the fact I have been able to save for her and I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep it up but, my parents gave me nothing and I think it’s so important. I’ll also make sure she understands the value of it, how hard we had to work and how lucky she is.

She also has a large inheritance from DH’s Grandma, we’re not quite sure what to do with this yet as investing seems very risky right now. We probably will though as we will lose too much if we leave it in cash savings.