To ask how much you have saved/aim to have saved for your child when they reach 18?

[Pringleeo]

We have 400 quid so far and dc is 2. Friends seem to already have 5-10k!! This is not possible for us. Is this the norm to save so much? I know housing etc will be crazy in future so I would try and save more but just can’t at the moment

Friends seem to already have 5-10k!! This is not possible for us. Is this the norm to save so much?

Norm for whom?
I have never discussed how much I have saved for my children with my friends. What would be the point? We might discuss financial issues in broad terms (e.g. student finances, tax free savings, the best car insurance for a new driver etc), but actual amounts.

She gets a lot of birthday/ Christmas money and she is allowed 50% to spend on what she wants and the other 50% I make an extra mortgage payment

I wonder whether the giver knows that £ meant for your daughter is being spent on your mortgage.

I have an 8 year old.

When she was a few months old, we opened a junior ISA and a junior savings account, both with £300 each gift money we received when she was born.
Both accounts have a DD set up from our own accounts (1 each) and we pay in £20 per month.

One account is currently at £2400 and the other is £2300 ish.
I was hoping for £5k in each by the time she is 18

I didn’t say we didn’t need it, we’re cut corners so I can save for my child’s future

I really like this .

Nothing, I've never earned enough.

Ours will be around £15k each but if they blow it on BS stuff I will kill them! We have separate money that could go to Uni fees.
Me and DW both WC, scholarships to Uni, decent jobs now. Neither of us had a penny from family at 18 or anything saved for us.

I worked almost FT the whole way through Uni in hospitality, night shifts, bar work, early starts, chamber maiding, the lot.
I want our kids to work, but not 40 hrs a week the way I had to and we’re lucky enough to be able to spare the money to put away for them now.

£30k for dd 18. We lived overseas for a long time and relatives put money in her bank account instead of buying gifts. She was also very lucky that one of dh’s relatives gave her £3k every other year for about 6 years until he died.
we invested in trackers for her so quite a decent return.

That’s… controversial..
If I give a child money and half of it goes on the parents mortgage I wouldn’t be best pleased , a savings account yes, great idea, but the parents mortgage? The child won’t benefit for years, if at all.

I saved enough to pay there uni fees and ensured they both had skills/training/work ethic so worked from 13 and saved a lot themselves to cover living costs. This is representative of my families cultural atitude to debt rather than because we are rich.

We don’t yet have children as I’m only 25 but we’re TTC and have about £4K set aside for things they’ll need separate to general house/holiday/emergency funds. If we’re lucky enough to have a child we will then put £150 a month away to start and then reconsider with any salary increase/decrease. I got nothing from my parents so this is really important for me.

I don't save for them. I spend money, I could otherwise save, every month having them in clubs/activities.

I know, fingers crossed the market does not crash when they get to 18!

It would have been more, but it lost £5k over covid, which it's only just made back now.

They will each have about £1200 each at 18. It's the best I can do.

There’s a limit to who can claim so nobody is
claiming it who is excessively wealthy, maybe they just manage their money better.

We saved for a long time and were able to put aside a nice little sum for their 18th birthdays

its in premium bonds and they haven’t spent it yet

it can be very hard to save, we were lucky

This.

We save a token (£25 a month each) amount for the DC in their ISAs so when they're 18, they'll have a bit of money to do what they want with.

We however have a long-term saving plan (in our names) so if all works out we can hopefully give them a contribution towards housing deposits.

Mine had jobs as teens and saved their own money.

They all had about $5k in the bank at 18 as a result, and also something that was actually more valuable than money, the experience and high self esteem that comes from earning your own money, the habit of working, the mindset that they needed to work, and the references that enabled them to get jobs to support themselves when they were in university.

We stated saving for them in the hope that they'd be able to have a deposit for a house. Our deposit in 2006 was £12000. There should be about 9 for each kid at 18, which will barely buy them a decent 2nd hand car now. But if they're sensible, they can use it as a basis to hopefully save more. Who knows?

Nothing but they won't have university debt as we'll cover the cost of fees etc and they have a lovely life now. They go on school trips and lovely holidays with us. They'll be grand. They'll emerge from uni in a neutral position and I'm sure we'll give them something towards their first car/house

She's an only child and stands to inherit the property.

Putting it toward the mortgage is an investment of her money with a far higher rate of return than most other investments.

I save £50 per month into a S&S ISA for my DD8. Topped up a bit when we could. My DH daughter (my step-daughter) benefited from £500 per birthday from her grandparents. Sadly they are no longer around for my daughter (16 year age gap between them) so I'm trying my best to 'even things up' for the younger one.

Do what you can. You might not have loads available to save, but you do have time on your side. Very small amounts invested now will grow over the years.

Life as a parent is about teaching your children to use money wisely.

The people I know who live on the breadline were never taught how to build wealth, which is what this poster is doing for her child. It is a massively important life lesson.

I found out my Godchild's parents mother was doing this. I was appalled and set up a saving account for her myself and dropped contact with her mother. She said "she will inherit it" etc. But now DGC is 30 and moved to Australia and her mum remarried (DGD dad died before she was born), sold up and moved to Ireland so it was convenient minded bullshit. You have no idea what life will bring and if you have not been VERY clear with the gift givers I think this very deceptive

It's YOUR wealth she is building thou - not her own!