Children’s’ savings - in their name or ours?

[PyjamasToMyLeft]

We have about £10k saved so far for each of our two DC. We need to find an account with a better interest rate. But I’m wondering whether to put it in their names (as currently) or ours.

DH’s nephew got access to his savings at 16 and just drank it away. His single parent mother had scrimped to save for him, such a disrespectful waste. I’d like to think mine wouldn’t do that but who knows. Mine are currently 12 and 13.

Tax could be a factor but I don’t have an ISA at the moment.

I’d rather have some element of control over what it’s used for - for driving lessons, uni living costs, or later towards house deposit if we can afford to support them through uni at the time.

On that basis I think it’s better in our names?

I speak from bitter experience - your name!!!

Agree, keep in your name. What we want at 16 or 18 is very different to what we need at 25.

Only keep in your name if you're financially sound,

Otherwise it will be classed as yours if you claim benefits, go bankrupt, need care etc

Have a look at Martin Lewis site,lots of quite good interest rates at the moment. You could make a legal proviso that "children" cannot touch the money until reaching a certain age. Depends on the child,my youngest DD had a savings bond started by late FIL, at 16 it went into her name.... paper work signed by her, but I knew she would always be sensible.

I have savings in my children’s names which I hold in trust for them until they are 21.

One is already older than this. When he was 17 I took out some of it to pay for driving lessons. Then I used more aged 18-21 for university and to buy a car. Both of these with his consent.

That way I had some control over it and made sure it was spent on things I approved of. I would have been devastated if he had wasted it aged 16, it was considerable sacrifice over years to save it for him.

If he had been difficult about it , I would have taken the money out of the account , put it in another in my name and then given him the money for things that I approved of.

I know there’s always some smart arse cool parent who will come along and say “ If he wants to piss it up the wall taking his 10 mates on a trip to Marbella then that’s his choice “. Well that’s cool for them but not with my hard earned money , thank you very much. People who say this clearly have more money than sense.

Your name! And don't tell them about it. Use it to pay for things like driving lessons, flat deposits, unexpected bills. I also speak from experience and in-laws who insisted on handing over a sizeable sum to each of my dcs when they got to 18. 🙄

Thanks all, good to know I’m not an awful parent for being cautious about their potential choices aged 16 😉

Your name!

I have been professionally involved in some dreadful cases of parents trying to prevent access to savings because their DC had gone off rails - virtually impossible and had devastating results.

i have put the bulk of DC savings in my name and dish it out as appropriate. I don’t refer to it as their savings, rather money I have that I may use to assist them with big expenses if I feel like it!

I kept aside some in their names - so they had the opportunity to learn. 2 DC are 18+ one has saved and added to it, the second burnt through about £5k in a summer 🤷‍♀️

All DC's savings accounts are held in my name in trust for them.

They do all have a CTF with the initial government investment only that I haven't added to (the youngest has the equivalent amount I put in for fairness in a junior ISA). As they are worth diddly squat, they can spunk that up against the wall when they are 18 and hopefully leave the main savings.

We've decided not to save for our children but use the money to overpay the mortgage. When our children turn 18 we should be mortgage -free and can give them a monthly allowance to top them up. Depending on the ages of your children and whether you have a mortgage, this might be a better option than lower interest savings rates.

I’d save it in your name. Both for protecting them from themselves at 16 and also because things could change.

If your circumstances change you want to be able to access if for necessities if you need it.

I'll add the obligatory MN dissenting opinion! If it's in your name and things like death, bankruptcy, or divorce happen, there could be unforeseen consequences. In some cases, people might also have maxed out their own ISAs.

My own anecdote is that DD got her savings at age 18, and is now transferring £4k/year into a LISA and using a few more k as a 'buffer' for rent payments not aligning with student loan instalments. The rest remains untouched. Which I think is a good financial experience for her!

I've decided to save his in my name. He's judt a toddler now so not much in there yet and of course I don't know what he'll be like. I have always been cautious with money and a keen saver, but doesn't mean he will be. I used mine that my parents' saved for me with a deposit on my first home. I'd like the same for him.

DH gets annoyed with our DC as they don’t know the value of anything -it’s a classic case of growing up with nothing and wanting better for your own children, achieving that and giving them a good life, then wondering why they don’t appreciate what is their ‘normal’.

I think they will only learn the value of money by working hard and earning it, and having to budget. Access to a few thousand at 16 or 18 I think could undermine this.

We have a household savings account, anything for the dcs comes out of that. They also have their own accounts for birthday money etc. I was worried that a teenager would blow everything if we saved in their name. Though my oldest has turned out to be very sensible with money, but you just don’t know in advance. Youngest dc spends everything immediately!

Our mortgage is under control, but I can see that this would make sense for many people, especially at the moment.

As a lone dm my friend scrimped and saved and handed her ds 7k at 18. He spent it all on drinking and meals out in 10 months...

If you aren't likely to end up on tax credits or universal credit then as much in your name as possible.
I've had to move some into my teen DC's names so I don't get in trouble with tax credits. It honestly keeps me up at night hoping they spend it wisely. The only good thing is that they don't know about it and have never picked up the post or bothered to look at their own mail in their life so I can probably keep it hidden .

Or start pensions? That's another thing I might do for mine.

We're in a decent financial position, so in addition to savings we can top-up uni fees from minimum to maximum loan (as an aside, I'd advise every parent to look at how uni fees work these days, because there are endless threads saying "if only we knew earlier!")

DD knows that we can't do any more than that, and that it's up to her to judge best use of savings (including maybe subsidising an unpaid internship or a Master's). For me, that teaches her more independence than relying on the Bank of Mum and Dad, but I do see that opinions on this would vary.

I've got a bit in my sons name (he's 3 and there's just over £1k in his junior ISA) I'm going to try and teach him to be good with money but anything I save in his name I have to be happy in the likely event he decides to piss it up the wall. I also plan to (if we have enough spare cash) to start a savings account in our name for things like housing deposits or uni costs in the future.

I think its very difficult for an 18 year old who has just been given access to huge amount of cash to plan sensibly (I wouldn't have). It took me till my mid 20s before I started to be properly sensible with money (I'd racked up a fair bit of credit card debt up to the point) and my 30s before I got a mortgage and started to save so I'm going to assume my child has my delayed financial maturity...

Ha, I was explaining to DH last night how that worked and he was confused and then shocked.

I’ve saved it in my name for something deemed worthy by me aka a house deposit.
No way am I scrimping and saving for it to be pissed up the wall.

In their name but in trust seems the best option

Their name as under 16 so won't be taxed on interest unless an isa

Plus means doesn't come under an asses of yours if did divorce etx

Or have I got that all wrong

Mini blondes has a small savings account from me and I mean small but my dad /Grandad started an isa when she was born and put in it every year.

She's richer than me lol

Our eldest two are 2008 and 2010 so got the child trust fund thing which will probably be worth a couple of grand at 18 (we've never added to it). The youngest missed it so we'll make sure they get an equivalent lump sum at the same age.

Anything else we've saved is in our names and we'll offer lump sums as/when we choose.