To have spent 12 years of child benefit?

[FullMoomin]

Having a panic attack.
I've just calculated that over the past 12 years of spending child benefit every month I've spent over £20,000!!!!!
I should have saved this money for DC!
If I had saved it, I could give it to them.
Turns out all my friends have been quietly saving theirs and now have a nice big monet pot to give their DC when they turn 18!
Now I feel horrifically guilty that my DC wo t get that, when all their friends will.
Oh help, really panicking.
I will never, ever be in the financial situation to pay £16,000 back to them.
The money goes in to my account each month and first it got spent on nappies, food, supplementing my reduced income, then when they went to school it got used for school uniform, new shoes, clubs, food, etc.
Suddenly 12 years has crept up on me and I haven't saved a penny of it.
Only 4 years of CHB to go now and then it stops!! I feel like I've seriously failed my DC.

@mandlerparr I know you aren't going to listen, but all those people have not saved all of their benefits. maybe they all have some money saved up of differing amounts, but they definitely didn't save all of it every month. Not without consequences.

Why the assumption that someone couldn’t possibly save £80 a month without consequences? Really strange thing to jump to. And how on earth is a family saving in any way similar to a family spending on holidays and trampolines but getting evicted or being in debt?

Because it is meant to be spent on the kids. Like I said, they may have saved some, but I don't think they all saved all of it.
But, hey, maybe the parents both lived very frugally, bought a small fix it upper home for cheap and put in the sweat equity, both cooked from scratch, both worked opposite shifts full time to avoid childcare, both worked close to home and used public transportation only and bought most things second hand and children and themselves never had any issues or needs that cost extra and they used cloth diapers that they hand washed and just did everything well and rarely or never had any emergencies. but all of them? I don't think so.

@mandlerparr you have a very, very narrow experience if you think there aren’t plenty of families who can save £80 a month without living incredibly frugally.
Many families can save this and more with ease and without living like the weird over the top frugal lifestyle you are implying.

But it already has been a life changing sum of money? It paid for nappies, school essentials etc. Things that your children needed and would have suffered without.

It’s good you received thousands of pounds to help you support your children, and it’s right that you used it for that.

Not struggling to understand that a household can have a 100k income and receive child benefit.

It just doesn't seem very progressive that families are able to save a benefit and then transfer that wealth to their children - I don't know what proportion of recipients are in this position (probably a fraction).

Sorry, yes I know about the high income charge (which is totally flawed and a whole other discussion) what I meant was means tested where its based on whole household income with a tapering approach.

I don’t understand - if you have decent salaries then why are you claiming child benefit??

The vast majority of families claim CB. There are statistics to prove it too. Something like 7.5 million families in the UK and approximately 89% of them claim CB. Are you honestly telling me that 89% of families cannot afford to save for their children?
It would seem that the 11% of families who don’t claim CB are all on MN.
Those of you who aren’t eligible really should have a look at your finances. I recommend Martin Lewis’ website or Dave Ramsey.
Don’t be jealous of those of us who are good with money!
And if one of the reasons you can’t save is because ‘I live in London’ well 😂

Never said people arent allowed to save. But if all of it is being saved it as a matter of fact isn't being used for what it was intended for

Most people claim cB. They’re obviously earning below the threshold?

@villagelife77 haha yes let's flip it around. Why are high income people claiming it @ConsuelaHammock evidently the same reason as low income people or much lower and they can spend and save on whatever they like.

It doesn’t matter what it should or shouldn’t be used for! As long as the children are well cared for it really isn’t anyone business how CB is spent. Mine goes into my current account and is used for general household expenses. I save more than the CB. Should I not be able to claim CB?
What if instead of saving I spend my money on a new lease car or an annual holiday? Can I claim CB now?

You highlighted exactly what you spent in on , in your Op & like others have said, it’s exactly what it’s meant for. Unless you had excess and were wasteful , which from your post isn’t the case.

It’s crazy the number of people who seem to think it’s fine to earn £X, claim CB and spend their entire income but there’s something wrong with a family earning the same amount, including CB but managing to put a fairly small sum aside each month. 🤯

@ConsuelaHammock that's what I don't get. Many people save wheather it be from there wages, gifted money or CB. Its bugger all to do with other people!

I’m sorry if I’m sounding stupid but honestly why would you claim child benefit if you are high earners?? My understanding was that if you were above a certain threshold then you would have to pay tax or even pay back in full any benefit that you claimed? We opted out over 10 years ago as husband is a very high earner (I have been at home for 16 years). Sorry if I’m wrong x

If they can afford to save it and match if pound for pound they are the unreasonable ones for taking money they didn’t need.

Don't be ridiculous. It's intended to help you bring up your child. You could say the same about any ongoing, but not totally necessary, expense e.g haircuts, make up, meals out, clothes for going out in, second car, holidays, clubs. Cut any of those out of your life and you could have had thousands of pounds over 18 years to give your child at 18.

Point two - 18 year olds don't necessarily do the sensible thing with large amounts of money. Mine spent her child trust fund (from the government) in weeks, on nothing much. I'd rather keep the money and give / buy / pay for things that are worth having - which is what I've done. I have savings if they need something in particular that I feel is worthwhile, meanwhile they can work to earn their own money to spend as they see fit.

@villagelife77 it's been covered already a million times. Each person can earn 48k EACH and still claim CB. That's the real issue here not a tiny percent who may save for a bit and then stop as things are tight.

I couldn't afford to save it. Instead I spent it on the children. That's what it is for after all.

@elkiedee It's not insanity to point out that if you dont need it and can save it then it does rather suggest that what the government was aiming to do through child benefit has a net which is too widely cast. Perhaps the criteria should be even more stringent for when it is tapered so instead of 50k it bites sooner and use the saved tax for other things the country could do with them money for. It's not necessarily that people who get it should pay it back more that the government could look to adjust it again. And then those people would either choose not to get it paid to them or else would but would pay back the sum they are required to by the taper as is the case now

@villagelife77 I’m sorry if I’m sounding stupid but honestly why would you claim child benefit if you are high earners??

For the most part posters on this thread seem to be referencing “high earners” as those still actually entitled to CB.

In some cases the lower earner or non working partner might still claims CB as it goes towards their national insurance contributions and then the amount is recouped from their spouse’s salary.

Exactly
family 1- income £70k but spend it all every month and don’t have any left to save. Children are well looked after and have lots of EC activities. They drive a newest car costing more than £157 a month in payments. They deserve CB

family 2- income £70k. Children are well looked after and have lots of EC activities They drive an older car which they bought outright and are happy to drive it for as long as it’s feasible to do so. They are saving £157 a month for their children to go to university. Don’t deserve CB!!

@Newmumatlast It's not insanity to point out that if you dont need it and can save it then it does rather suggest that what the government was aiming to do through child benefit has a net which is too widely cast.

But you aren’t actually understanding what it was intended to do. It was a universal benefit initially, similar to a tax break for working adults with dependents at home. It was only capped in 2013 and the value of 50k then was a lot more than today. The “net” is actually narrower now than it ever has been in terms of CB.

@Hufflepods I think both is a problem. If it's not needed for essentials, whether saved or squandered, it suggests it isnt an effective or useful tax spend