Need to plan at to give at least £100k per child to set them up in early adulthood

[TulipLavender]

I have very young DCs and I'm currently nowhere near a high income but I've been thinking a lot about future financial planning.

What the impact of AI, unknown or insecure job market for younger generations, cost of living etc., I feel like I should prioritise saving to help provide some support for each of my DCs to help pay for uni costs and then support with later house deposit. I'm also expecting that they may need to live at home long into their 20s.

So I'm thinking i need to plan to be able to have £100k available for each child. Even this seems like it may not stratch the surface with unknown future uni costs and house prices but it will be a struggle to achieve this savings goal.

What are your thoughts around future financial planning for yoru children, do you have a target amount in mind? Would you prioritise this over paying a lot for things like holidays now?

YABU - its too much to give and need to reprioritise enjoying life more now

YANBU - with such unknown futures for our children, they will need at least this to ensure they have a safety net and support with getting on their feet

You said you need £700k to live anywhere in London, as people have frequently pulled you up on. If you live in London you know that’s bollocks.

I was a single mum to five. Never mind not being able to save for them, I couldn't even pay the bills at the end of every month! Everyone telling me that they were saving for their kids uni fees and saving to give them a house deposit - it all made me feel horribly inadequate and as though my kids were going to be condemned to lives working NMW jobs and living in shared houses.

You know what? All but one went to Uni. They got grants and loans and worked their way through and got good degrees. They are all now working in good jobs, four of them have bought houses and the fifth is well on their way to one. I haven't contributed a penny, because I can't. But it really hasn't held them back in any way, and I wonder if planning to give your kids a huge amount of money is even wise? Or am I just jealous...

@Bambamhoohoo I agree with you re trades. Often quite physical, so working into your 70s which today's youth will likely not to do may not be practical. Plus a lack of sick pay, maternity/paternity, employers pension contribution etc.

The push to get more and more young people into uni has been devastating for our economy and their prospects.

That's way too simplistic. An educated population is a good thing. The economy never recovered from the financial crash

So much this. A highly educated population is desirable and allows us to compete globally. We shouldn’t just be churning out manual workers. We need to think too.

someone said to me once should we really desire no art no music no dance no design no culture, but let’s all have the ability to throw up a wall for £500 a day. Is that really what we want this country to look like?!

Have we got an educated population?

Yes

Have we got an educated population?

Based on MNs there is room for improvement! 😆

I am sorry this grates and acknowledge that my AC are now old enough to have children of their own, who are also setting out in the world with no cash handouts but the same assets as I outlined that my children had.
I think the principle holds good in any era ... that children need the security of love and encouragement to stand on their own two feet and deal with the challenges that they are presented with in their time. They will be in the same boat as those around them.
I have a little bit more money behind me now .. and only a little by today's standards .. because my mortgage is paid off and I am widowed, so only one person to keep. But my AC are very clear that I should spend any money I have on myself ... that they are not looking for handouts ... that they expect to support themselves.
The idea of trying to accumulate the vast sum of £100k per child to set them off into the world is ludicrous .... as someone upthread pointed out if you work your tripe out to achieve that, then your children do the same (or more) then when does anyone get to live!?

Sorry ... the wrong quote was linked!

But i agree with soupyspoon .... University is not a good option for many students. It saddles them with vast debt and still leaves them jobless.
I was lucky to have my university education at a time when proper grants were available ... made possible by the fact that only a very small percentage of young people went to university. I do not think that was a bad thing. Other courses, often paid, like nursing were available.
When I left uni I could take my pick of any number of jobs and had no debts.
My AC all went to uni and I am not sure what this achieved for them. It demonstrated the ability to apply themselves to a course of action and basic intelligence, and also was interesting for its own sake (important I think) but they left with loans to pay off and still had the challenge of finding jobs. Two of them worked for free in their chosen field to get a foot in the door... and we helped support them through this phase.
My newly graduated GS is in the same boat .... living back at home, lots of student debt, highly qualified but can't find a job. He would have done better down the vocational route.

I didn't save for mine because when they were little I had no money. If you can put something away each month do it. If they are little you have plenty of time and it all adds up.

I've just looked it up. When I went to uni 5.7% of young people went to uni compared with 37% now.

It does explain why grants were possible.

It’s different to when you were younger but that doesn’t make it bad.

the UK is under further educated in comparison to many similar countries because we don’t do post grad masters as commonly as other countries do. If that was the norm that would be another £15k on the loan.

our universities are also cheaper or comparable to many internationally. Our children are saddled with anything other high income countries aren’t.

This is Mumsnet. She'll be on in a minute to tell us that she earns 100k a year but this isn't a high income these days.

What is AC?

People are tripping over themselves to tell you life will be miserable, they will blow the lot and not to do it.
Best way to stay broke-dont save !

Firstly I would secure my finances

Budget
3-6 months savings in an ISA
Then longer term savings -personally I prefer PB as I like the thrill each month.
Max your pension

Now look at S&S ISA for DC but in your name

None of this will mean you have to live on beans
Most of the " experiences " people go on about are crap anyway.
Omg can't live without eyebrows/ coffee/ nails -dross basically
You can save for holidays if that's important to you but there is always an alternative to quick but spendy daily stuff that eats your money.

Make coffee at home, avoid deliveroo/ just eat, meal plan, do own nails etc

2 coffees per day =£7

£7 × 365= 2,550

2550 x 20 = 51150

Add compound interest est 6-10% in a S&S ISA and you are laughing
Obviously can go up or down

The issue we have currently is that we have been conditioned to think spending on crap = doing well
It's the opposite

AC = adult child/ren

Ive already said i earn less than the national average wage which is 37,500 but also that it costs someone on the national average wage £66 a week if putting extra into their pension to save £200k in 20 years.

Doing it in an ISA costs about £350 a month so definately not easy but not impossible.

Thanks this is along the lines of what i was thinking. Im not going to live a life of desperate poverty but making choices to prioritise future savings over daily spend that i can find easy cheaper alternatives for or just do without.
What is PB though?

Yeah. Inspired by this thread, I just boosted my ISA savings by £100 a month. I’m going to switch from Tesco / sainsburys to Aldi and will be able to cover that no bother (I spend about £175 a week now and throw whatever I want into the trolley, so cutting £25 won’t be too hard).

PB = premium bonds

Yes Premium bonds @TulipLavender

Choose your pain 😁
The pain of budgeting or the pain of regret
IMHO you can make easy swaps and prioritise financial security.

Today instead of buying a meal deal sandwich £3.45 while I was out...

I got 3 nice rolls from the co op for £1.25
I had ham , butter and a fresh lettuce from the garden

That's lunch for today and tomorrow and I popped the extra roll in the freezer.
The £2.50 I would have spent ( in addition to £1.25 and the other bits from my shopping budget) went straight into my savings account

So it was convenient, the rolls were lovely and I had a nice lunch

I do think this compulsion to " treat" all the time is emotional spending and there are strong correlations between poor MH and spending.

Disclaimer
Also I completely get that it's impossible to save if you are scraping by.

Good luck !

Why does everyone assume people drink multiple shop bought coffees or have their nails done or have takeaways.

We have none of those.

Neither do I but many people fritter money on non essential things
You can't get away from the fact that we have a multitude of convenient things to spend money on that we can do ourselves or cut out all together if we wish to do so

Lots and lots of people do - every other shop is a nail bar, beautician or coffee shop, all stuffed full of people