If you save for your DCs how much are you aiming for your DCs to have in savings when they leave home.

[atticusclaw]

Just trying to work out whether to amend the DD we have going out of our account and into theirs each month.

I also agree with Request and also wish to add that, if you are saving large amounts for your children in their name, you need to be prepared that you will not be able to control what they spend it on - it's theirs once they reach age 11 and take full control of the bank account.
For this reason, we save £10 per month into our children's accounts and keep the rest in our own names, which will be available for them to use for what we consider to be worthwhile expenses

suedunome

but it won't be theirs if you suddenly need care, if you lose your jobs it will be counted as your income for benefit purposes, if you die etc etc

Not that simple.

claraagain - but the flip side of that is that none of those things might happen, but a delightful toddler may turn into a drug dealing teen with access to a substantial money pot. Agreed - not simple at all

We try to fill up each child's junior ISS each year (not always the case but we prioritise their ISAS above ours). That's £4k each. That's it and they don't even have their own bank accounts - most bank accounts yield precisely fuck all and so I don't see the point in opening one. If family give them say £20 for a birthday or whatever I pretty much pocket it and justify it as being a contribution to their ISAs. This feels wrong but I cant see the point in putting £20 in a bank account with no interest - will only be worth about £2 in today's money when they are older.

The accounts our DDs have are with the Coventry.
I don't know if that type of account is still available, though.

They are the beneficiary of the account, but it has an adult as the trustee.

The trustee can make withdrawals "for the benefit" of the child at any time. You would have to state what the money was for, or a cheque made out to the child would be provided (i.e. it can only be paid to them).

When they reach a certain age they can make withdrawals (14 I think) but they have to be countersigned by the trustee.

When they are 18, they can make withdrawals without a countersignatory.

The trustee can continue to make withdrawals as a sole signatory until the child is 18. This means, when they are 17 and a half, say, you can look at the situation, and if necessary, open another account in your child's name and move the money. You just don't tell them about the account!

I have no qualms about doing that if the situation warrants it. I'd tie it up in some kind of 5 year guaranteed bond, if needed.

Tax wise, it's tax free as the child is the beneficiary.

We have saved quite a bit of the child benefit for both DD and DS. Also, any Christmas and birthday money they received.

Like a pp, the plan is to provide a sizeable deposit when the time comes for them to buy. It has been dipped into for some child related expenses, like foreign school trips.

Both DCs know of the accounts, but have no idea of how much is in there.

We're not putting money into an account specifically for ds (and soon to be dd). We are saving for a house ourselves but we probably could afford to put some aside if we wanted to. I just heard far too many kids at my school (quite a posh school-I was definitely the "poor one") talk of "their money" that they would be getting when they turned 18. "They" would be buying a car, "they" would be booking a holiday. I also know of teenagers (friends of the family) who know that their parents are maintaining rental properties that will become "theirs" when they get older. It doesn't really teach them to stand on their own two feet.
Also, as pp have said the money almost invariably becomes theirs at 18. Most people here have earmarked that money for Uni/further education or a house deposit but what if they decide instead that they really want to invest in some mates ill advised business?? Or have a nice gap year? I think you need to reconcile this in your mind, which ,of course most people have when they chose to give their kids the money, but i know I'd be unhappy. Too much of a control freak maybe! Or I remember what it's like to be 18- I was a sensible 18 year old but still a numpty in many ways!
We have a reasonably high income so our kids will benefit from a comfortable up bringing, a very loving home and devoted parents. If they want money they can earn it.

I am the meanest mummy ever aren't I

We save £100/month for each of the kids, into a kids regular saver. Not using the CTF as I don't want them to automatically have access to £20k when they turn 18. Hoping it might offset uni fees or go some way towards a house deposit.

Why do people think that only 18 year olds waste money? There are hundreds of threads on here about debts. Getting older doesn't automatically make you money savvy. What if they inherit from parents or other relatives will people be turning in their graves if their DC book a holiday with the money they've been left? Nothing you can do about it then. You can only advise them.

We didn't save anything for our DS but we had our savings and when he went to university chose to spend some of them on DS accommodation, which was about £10K over the three years. If he had chose a different path, we may have helped towards a car for work or other training courses, or towards house purchase, depending on his circumstances.

As it was our savings it was still our choice, if DS had turned into a wrong'un, he wouldn't have got anything, you never know when they are young what will happen and we liked to have control over our money.

We put away CB each month for our DS, we spoke about giving it to him when he turns 18 but decided that it was too young ( we agreed that if we had been given that much money at 18 we would have blown it all) so he will get it at 21 unless he wants it for uni at 18. Also any gift money he gets goes in to his savings as he is only 8 months so he doesn't know what it is

It does, hence JISA's dontworry

The best investment advice here is a low cost tracker. £17k in 18 years time could have halved in spending power. CASH is a red herring in terms of safety, inflation kills.

oh and saving in your own pension should be as important I your mind as paying your taxes!