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

We're hoping to save 20 a month each child till it gets to about 3000 that we will gift them on their 18th. Hopefully it's used for good/something useful, or at least they have a great time with it and have some good memories - then in theory it could be a bit of a lesson in how quickly savings can evaporate if not being careful/life lesson so they're better with money in future. Who knows....

If all goes to plan we'll have the mortgage paid off by the time they're 18/going to uni so we'll have some extra money to support them as needed. It's my full expectation that retirement ages will continue to increase/economy will worsen house prices etc will leave everyone paying extortionate rent unable to save their own money will mean it'll be the norm for parents to keep working to support their children into their 20s/30s.

She’s got an account where all cash gifts go, think she’s got about 5k in there but otherwise nothing. We are ok for money and don’t need to save separately for her to pay for uni (obviously this may change but we spent a few years just throwing money at the mortgage as a priority). There is no way in hell I’d be giving an 18yr old a lump sum saved over years. I have no idea what Dd will be like at that point but I’d rather not risk it. There should be funds available for uni and a deposit etc (fingers crossed).

I’m a big fan of paying off the mortgage quicker, but theres no guarantee she’ll get that money back despite your best intentions. I just wouldn’t touch Dd’s money, it’s not meant for me it’s for her, if someone wanted to contribute towards paying off my mortgage I’d be delighted to take the money but it feels quite wrong to take what wasn’t intended for you.

We have saved nothing for our 3 and 1 year olds and that isn’t going to change any time soon. I don’t want to give them lump sums when they are 18 and might just blow it all, I’d rather save for myself and then help out as we can (Hopefully for first cars, house deposits, weddings, uni fees type things) for from that pot.

We will be starting JISAs for them this year as one of my grandparents died and very kindly left them a few thousand each so if there’s anything else like that they’ll get it but no big cheques at 18 from us.

We are considering starting junior pensions for them to give them a head start given how hard it is to have enough for a pension these days. But that will be low amounts here and there as we can afford it - our own pensions are more pressing problems!

£100 a month since birth. They get £150 each every birthday and Christmas from relatives, which goes straight to savings.

I don’t check frequently but DS 10 has just over £15k at last check. It won’t touch the sides for uni.

@Pringleeo your post made me smile.

two reasons, firstly (as in all things) you can only save what you can afford to save.

Secondly, I lived pay cheque to pay cheque way past my child's 18th. I'm way more financially comfortable now. Now my financial issue is keeping my current account below the limit where they'll have to go to probate after I die. It will just make life easier for them.

I wouldn't worry about how much you can save before they are 18. When you die, I don't think what your child will look back and remember how much you have given them financially, but they may well recall how much you gave them emotionally.

DS was 18 last year and he had about £1000 in his trust fund that’s the government set up. Which doesn’t seem a lot but he had about £5000 of his own savings when he started working part time at 16. I gave him monthly his child benefit when he started secondary school and it was his choice whether to spend on things like days out with friends or save it. Any birthday, Xmas money he took full ownership of too and could spend or save that. I might not have saved a lot for him in comparison to others but he’s become a real saver himself with the way we did things. Every wage he gets he’s always putting money away.

I think £5k by 2 years old is unusual op. DS is nearly 18 and he has around £10k in a CTF and then some money in a normal kids savings account.

Not all of this came from us though - in fact most came from birthday and Christmas money where we let him spend 50% and put the other 50% away. He's quite sensible so I'm not worried that he'll blow it on something stupid.

It's probably very cultural and seems to not be the done thing in the UK which is fair enough. Some other cultures look at things very differently and would see nothing wrong with this as all money is family money and a parent would never cheat their own child. But I think that with our culture being different here, yes people be shocked perhaps that a parent was paying their mortgage with their child's gift money even though said child would inherit in the end

I have about 3.5k for my dd2 but only because both her grandparents have been incredibly generous and given her £1k each. From now on the savings will slow right down, I think I'm putting in about £20 per month into her account.

DS4Yrs old -£8K
DD1yr - £800

I save £100 a month for her, so just slightly over the child benefit amount. Will save the same for DC2 (if we have one). Appreciate we are lucky to be able to do this.

😂

We couldn’t afford to save. Money was extremely tight when our DC were younger. They had around £500 in a regular savings account plus the child trust fund thing. They were given money by their grandparents which was a modest sum. My 19 and 17 year old have just bought their first cars using the money they were given/had saved.

DH did start them both off with a small private pension though that they can take over when they’re earning

I know literally no one who received a savings packet from their parents. Nothing saved for our two children. Financial assistance for them will be determined as and when they need it, if we can afford it.

YABU

It's not something I even thought of doing!

We have almost 2k saved for our DD who just turned one. We put £100 a month in and any money she received when she was born/christmas & her birthday. It's a savings account in her name, but having read this thread I might move it to a savings account in my name!

I don't think our plan is necessarily to give it to her when she turns 18, we thought we'd give it to her for things like driving lessons, first car, and towards a house deposit.

Something doesn't have to be the crime of the century to be something you should be ashamed of doing. It doesn't even have to be a crime (though taking money that doesn't belong to you could meet the requisite tests). Perhaps my standards are too high but I don't think it's right for the reasons I've said and I stand by them. Of course people will disagree just as many have agreed.

Nothing. We have savings and will help them out as much as we can when they need it. We are fortunate we should be able to help them with their first car & put towards uni if they choose to go but they also need to learn to be independent like we were.

Nothing. I prioritised getting them out of a domestic violence situation and into a nice, safe home.

They want for nothing, they get pocket money and extra for extra chores. I pay for all clothes, shoes, phone contracts, anything else they need.

I actually prefer it this way. I want them to know the value of money and have to pay their own way by working for it.

We had £30k in an JISA for ds when he turned 18 it is a huge amount of money for us. He is 20 now and is very aware of the value of money, how easily it can be spent, and what this could do for him if he manages it carefully - he has put 12k of that in to LISA so far and has another £3k of bonus + interest. The rest he has in premium bonds until he can put into the LISA again.

We saved slowly and steadily when he was younger, then a couple of life events happened and we topped up with chunks such as I was made redundant, but found another job so put in £5k then, we also had a couple of small inheritances and decided some would be for his uni or house deposit added £5k twice, and an old 25 yr endowment policy we had on our first flat matured and we added another £5k then.

It was very little in the early says and without those chunks it would probably have been <£10k.

Had nothing from my parents. I do not begrudge this at all.
DS will have about £70k by the time he is 18. I don’t feel bad about that either.

I think there are pros and cons for both saving and not saving for your children. I think every answer to the question posed by the OP is acceptable IMO.

£96k for the 12 year old and £54k for the 5 year old. My DPs gave me and my DS ISA’s and property at a young age with the fear of God instilled that if we pissed it all away and didn’t have decent careers everything else they had would go to charity. Needless to say, we both have decent careers and I am already teaching my oldest about stocks and shares.

My three all had 20k plus by the time they were 18. This was a mix of child benefit, birthday and Christmas money, money from grandparents. They have a lot more now but that is because a relative has died and willed it to them.