Helping children with house deposits

[Underling564]

I have older teens and am concerned they may struggle with housing given house prices/rent etc.

Do you save towards helping children with house deposits? If so, do you save in their name or your own? Is there anything to be particularly mindful of?

Also if you have saved for them - have you told them?

Yes we did. We will with youngest one too.

We didn't save separately or specifically nor did we promise them money. When the time was right andvthry wanted to settle somewhere, we looked at what they had saved, considered alternative funding available (like forces help to buy) and partners ability to contribute plus housing costs in their areas. We then just gave them an amount towards the deposit and helped with things like solicitors fees, moving costs and furnishings.
On moving to second house we gave them a little assistance to bridge the gap. Things like carpets and curtains and paying for a dropped kerb for parking or buying an additional parking space. Just things to make life a little easier.

My DD is very far away from flying the nest (she's 2.5) but we have been saving around £100 a month for her, along with any additions from family. It's invested in a S&S ISA in my name, as I didn't want her to have what would be a large sum at 18.

DH and I have decided we won't tell her we have it. Whenever she is in a position to start thinking about house ownership, we will see what it is in the account and then have a conversation on what we can provide.

We will help both our DS. They don't know it yet. The money is in our names.
Whatever you do, make sure it's equal.
SIL got £10k for her house deposit, DH got nothing.

I was saving £100 a month for DS1 and DS2 and then spent it all (and some) on a new kitchen. At Present I am not saving for any of my 3 DC but hope to start again soon ☺️

Mine are 3 and 1 so long time away from buying houses but we've set up bank accounts and we save some money for them. Nothing massive, but hopefully when they're older it'll help them in some way.

Currently saving 250 euro a month per child, aged 4 and 1. It won't be for a house deposit. it will be for university or some form of training/education. I dread to think what college fees will be by the time they're 18. Or if they choose to study way from home, rent etc.

@Alarae .
Please do some research on that.
It seems many children who are never told they are going to get money blow it because they have no skill's.

It's better to prepare the child.

lifetime isas once they hit 18 but I didn't tell them til then, just saved it separately

When they leave home you'll suddenly have a lot more disposable income. So I wouldn't worry too much if you can't save from birth .

My DS has money put away each month that he doesn't know about.
It's surprisingly hard to keep a secret! Especially once they hit the teenage years and have accounts in their own name as some banks then show their savings accounts automatically on their profile.
It's easy to think when they are young that they will be good with money but some people just aren't and there is always the risk of them blowing it all or spending it on something you didnt have in mind.
I'd save under your own name and only mention it when they need it and have shown they are worked towards their goal on their own too.

I save monthly for my DTs to an isa in my name. I’m not comfortable with tying it up in their name in case life changes and I need to use the money to support them or if they turn out to be doughnuts who’ll blow it all once they turn 18 on cars and drugs. I save a small amount a month into their junior Isas that they can use for the above when they hit 18 😉

Yeah one DS and lucky enough to be able to help him with 40k. Initially we said we would match whatever he had saved, but during covid he saved so much by living with us, we couldn't keep up! We were so happy to get rid of him by the end of lockdowns too, so we are all winners!

Didn’tsave as they were growing up specifically for them but what was saved was used to pay off Mtge. Have been getting housekeeping of them both since they got part time jobs and that will be returned to them when the time comes. Dd is unaware of our intentions and moans everytime she pays 🤪. Ds has clocked on we might be saving some of it.

Oh and we certainly didn't save it in his name. To quote upthread, at 18 my boy certainly was an enormous doughnut! Much better aged 26 when he bought his flat

I plan to her her. I pay £50pn into a S&SI. I also have a LISA (under 40's one) that I'm paying in the max per year- 4K then gov tops it up to 5k. Can only cash in when I'm 60, but I plan to give that to dc.

We hope to be able to help them out with house deposits. At the moment we haven't saved anything towards it because our savings were going towards a house extension, but now that's finished we'll start saving for uni fees / our retirement / house deposits.

We will help as much as we can afford at the time, no savings but we both earn, so I hope we can support with some aspects.

Yes we saved and gave them a substantial sum four years ago when they were 22 and 20.
We didn't do it at the same time as house purchase but it was made clear that's what it was for. We would have held back if either of them had been reckless with money but they weren't.
We told them about it and they were taught financial awareness and money management from an early age.
One bought a house at 24 and the younger one is now 24 and has the money invested plus considerably more that he has added to it.

We are saving money for them (currently in my name) for a house deposit. Started from birth. We have saved this in my name. We let the eldest use some of the money towards a car (as he has a physical disability and a car gives him more flexibility and freedom).