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

It's sad that some people say they wouldn't trust their 18 year old child to blow it on holidays etc. how about you bring them up so that they don't do that.

Nothing. Well, a gift. But not a lifetime's savings. But she still lives here at 21 and has a pt job so she gets by, has a plan. When she graduates, she might like to give me some money

100/month only really consistently in the last couple of years. Birthday money and other money goes in there too. Pocket money is £1/week to encourage saving and understanding money. Money is saved in my name but on their behalf.

That's still not the only option. My children have savings accounts they don't know about. I used some of the money for driving lessons and university accommodation for them. They still don't know these accounts exist. Paying off my mortgage, with money given to my child would benefit me a lot more than it would them. And as for inheritance, the average age to inherit in the UK is 61. Are you saying your child has to wait until the are 61 before they get to benefit from the Christmas money their nan gave them when they were three because you spent it buying a house for yourself with it?

That’s right. He’ll appreciate that freedom 😊.

My child (one is now an adult) all have accounts in their own names that I have complete control over and they have no idea exist. They each have their own 'live' accounts they control as well.
The secret accounts I have dipped into over the years to pay for things like driving lessons for them or expensive overseas school trips. I am completely free to clear out these accounts if I wanted, even the adult child's. When I take money out to pay for something for them, I move the money to my account first.

I think the problem with this though is that life is so much harder for young people now than it was when I was young. Although money would have been great when I was young, I didn't need it. Young adults now have it much tougher.

Actually, I don't see anything wrong with blowing it on holidays. Switch language from 'holidays' for 'gap year travelling' and I don't think it's a waste of money at all.
I'd be super pissed off is they spent it on 'in game purchases' or other such shit. Going away travelling though, I don't think it's a waste of money.

This.

Well one lesson I'm going to take away from this thread is that if I ever give money to a child, be absolutely clear, that the money is for the child, NOT the parent.

Question for the posters using money gifted to their kids to pay off their mortgage. If the gift giver asked you to please put the money into your child's bank account for when they're 18, what would you do?
Do as asked?
Refuse the money?
Agree, take the money and spend it buying yourself a house anyway?

@Newmumatlast that's what I'm hoping to do, make being sensible second nature.

My dd had about 12k in her trust fund which she now has as she's turned 18.

She was fortunate that grandparents helped pay into it as well as myself.

She's used 5k to buy and insure a car and has split the remaining money into money for travelling/uni and money for a deposit/the future.

She's sensible and already adding to the savings.

I have told her it's likely to be the only large lump sum I'll ever be able to give her (while I'm alive!) so she needs to make it last.

I put £30/month + gifted money into JISA, I don't care of she spends it on travel. My mum sends £100/month for her which I keep on ISA under my name. We will start saving for her uni soon.

DD has 3k in an Isa. Shes nearly 10. 1.5k of that was a christening present from wealthy relative.

We save 25 a month but we stop it on occasion when things were tight. Hoping to put more in when childcare costs stop but until then we need food on table. We are also saving for private medical stuff for her as treatment not available on nhs. We arent pushing for university but as low income parents she will be on her own there. As was I.

Nothing. They'll have about 1k for their labour child trust funds and get a few hundred for thir 18th from us.

Any money I've had the last 18 years has gone to raising them!

Have you seen how low student loans are? My dc gets £4700 from September. Rent alone is far more than that. Yes she has worked since 16 and will work but our required contribution is £5500 a year.
They have adjusted the paperwork after a Martin Lewis campaign to make it clear that parents are expected to contribute.

We save £30 p/m for each of them and grandparents often add £50 or £100 on birthdays or Christmas. I’m hoping with interest and the occasional extra boost from us that it will reach £10k maybe.

I put away £50/month. I hope to give it to them when they turn 25. But it's also there as a back up for unplanned expenses, things like school trips etc.

In my opinion any amount of savings is a bonus.

Also remember, interest in normal bank accounts is low ish, 3 % to perhaps 5 5 %... If you look at stocks and shares isa you will get much more... We have savings split across both. I show my dc how money goes into various pots each pay day etc.
I try and work talking about investments into every day life.
I've opened a sipp for them and asked them to choose between 4 investments, looked at the top tens etc and looked at the sectors, where the countries invested in.

They have had bank cards for years and automatically save a little and spend a little.

@BirthdayRainbow in my experience the ones who blow it have come from less well off families and this is the first time they have access to a small ish amount of money and they are free 18!.. Sometimes, wasting it is a life lesson.

He will also inherit a couple of properties and some land his Dad has abroad ☀️

We don't add to their savings but they put their birthday and Christmas money in, all theirs at 18 to do with as they wish. Should be around the £6-8k mark. Would have been more had I used S&S instead of a rubbish interest rate CTF for years. In a better rate JISA and savings now.

Surely you’d only do a junior SIPP (pension) if you were incredibly affluent and once you were absolutely debt free yourself, perhaps mortgage free, had a decent pension pot, your own ISA allowance maxed out. Even then you’d firstly consider a junior ISA (but mindful they have access at 18). All before you’d consider a junior SIPP that they can’t access until they retire! Why tie money up until OPs current 2yr old retires?

So if you have two adults working 40 hours a week each on minimum wage (£48k ish household income) you'd be expected to contribute £3k a year towards your child's degree, so £9-£12k total.

That's a pretty hefty sum of money for the government to ask for and I think makes it clear that saying no household contribution is expected has no basis in fact.