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Original poster

Helping kids on property ladder

110 replies

Lm1981 · 26/11/2023 17:52

All signs are that house prices go up over the long term. As mortgage/rent make up a huge portion of wage are you planning any help for kids? Even if kids are still very young does it cross your mind of something to start now?

OP posts:
Geneve82 · 26/11/2023 17:53

i’m saving for both my children

no idea what for other than i want a nice lump sum for them both at 18. all in my name.

Geneve82 · 26/11/2023 17:54

basically i am up for helping them financially any which way i can

just like i was by my parents

CyberCritical · 26/11/2023 18:07

Same as @Geneve82 I'm saving now and have been for a few years for DD.

I have a JISA in her name which she'll get automatically when she turns 18, I only put a nominal amount in that each month so she'll have around £5.

Then I have an ISA in my name which is intended for her but will stay under my control till I know how best to distribute it and what kind of spender she is. I put more in this one so it will be a bigger amount, how big depends on what our financial situation is like over the next 10 yrs.

CleverClogg · 26/11/2023 18:11

The best thing we can do for our children, if possible, is to allow them to live rent free at home while they start working life and give them a chance to start saving for a deposit. I have prioritised being in a position to do this, ie, stayed in my reasonable sized property in a city, and postponed downsizing somewhere more peaceful, for the foreseeable future. I now have two adult children living at home, working and not paying rent, so it has panned out as I hoped. This is the best opportunity I can give them

TheNinthLock · 26/11/2023 18:46

We are doing as CleverClogg is doing.
DS is 24 and working (finishing an engineering apprenticeship but earning well). He has been living at home and instead of paying rent the deal is that he puts a minimum of £800 a month into savings for a deposit.
He is aiming to get a mortgage buy his own place within the next 18 months.
DD is 20 and at uni. She graduates in July 2025 and we will offer her the same opportunity her brother had - live with us whilst she gets her career off the ground and save her wages instead of paying rent.

Once both children are on the property ladder dh and I will sell our modest 3 bed semi and downsize, freeing up some money to fund early-ish retirement and having a bit of a safety net.

I appreciate we are extremely fortunate to be able to do so.

Regretsandregrets · 26/11/2023 18:47

My daughter lives with me and I pay all the house bills. I gift her £3000 every year and she adds £1000 from her earnings and puts £4000 in LISA to which HMRC adds £1000.
This will give her a tidy sum to buy a house. If she ends up inheriting my house this LISA can grow and give her more flexibility with her pension and retirement plans.

WhoNeedsFriends · 26/11/2023 18:48

Well I am putting into a savings account for them which they can have once they are 18. So it might be for uni, a car or towards a deposit. It will only amount to a few grand.

DahliaJ · 26/11/2023 18:49

I saved their Child Benefit and have a few thousand each ready for a house deposit.

Geneve82 · 26/11/2023 19:05

@@CleverClogg
The best thing we can do for our children

that is what you think is the best thing to do for your children, which is fair enough.

Others, as you can see from this thread, so things differently, and they presumably think that is their best thing they can do for their children

CleverClogg · 26/11/2023 19:06

Geneve82 · 26/11/2023 19:05

@@CleverClogg
The best thing we can do for our children

that is what you think is the best thing to do for your children, which is fair enough.

Others, as you can see from this thread, so things differently, and they presumably think that is their best thing they can do for their children

yes, this is the best thing WE can do for OUR children - that is exactly what I said

DiaNaranja · 26/11/2023 19:07

Yes, I've saved for both of mine since birth. Grandparents also pay into their savings accounts monthly, and any money they get for their birthdays and xmas, gets split between their hyper jar account so they can spend it now, and the rest goes into their savings. They're only primary age, but have over 20k between the two of them, and hopefully they will have at least double that amount by the time they need it. We needed a 50k deposit when we bought our first house, so I'm hoping this will go a great deal towards helping them out, whatever the market looks like then!

Geneve82 · 26/11/2023 19:12

apologies

that one sentence is “we” ie we as parents

but then everything else following the ie is “I”

so i assumed the “we” was what you thought all parents should do

Twoshoesnewshoes · 26/11/2023 19:15

Yes
agree, one of ours lived at home for a year rent free (welcome to stay as long as needed) to save in mid twenties.
we have saved money and put money we have been gifted away for them and pay into a LISA for all three.
we have £30k for the eldest, halfway there for the middle, and about £8k for the youngest, but he is at Uni so hopefully a few years away.

CleverClogg · 26/11/2023 19:18

Geneve82 · 26/11/2023 19:12

apologies

that one sentence is “we” ie we as parents

but then everything else following the ie is “I”

so i assumed the “we” was what you thought all parents should do

no, I just meant in our family - I actually meant my sister and I - that is the best thing we can do for our children - she is doing the same- we are both single mums

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 26/11/2023 19:19

Ours are welcome to live at home just paying a token rent.

We have 3 and won’t be able to give them enough for a deposit until we sell our house, which won’t be yet, so at least we can help them out by allowing them to save up themselves.

hattie43 · 26/11/2023 19:21

Geneve82 · 26/11/2023 19:05

@@CleverClogg
The best thing we can do for our children

that is what you think is the best thing to do for your children, which is fair enough.

Others, as you can see from this thread, so things differently, and they presumably think that is their best thing they can do for their children

Snarky comment and unnecessary

caringcarer · 26/11/2023 19:22

In July I gave my youngest son a £55k deposit so he could buy a 2 bed terrace that is about 3 miles from me. My DD lives 150 miles away South and DS 1 lives 140 miles away North of me so I was thrilled when my youngest son said he wants to stay living close to me. I helped older 2 DC but not as much. Youngest doesn't earn as much as older 2 and he's also single so only 1 wage. I decided to let him have some inheritance early. I have evened it up in my will.

Starseeking · 26/11/2023 19:37

I'm planning on gifting my DC investment flats which they can either live in, rent out or sell to buy a house.

I don't plan on telling DC the investment flats exist until DC are about 25/30 years old, so they've put a few years grafting behind them.

LovelyQuiche · 26/11/2023 19:43

I have 2 under 2 and am already saving £300 a month in an isa for when they’re older

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 26/11/2023 20:06

DH and I have both inherited money from our parents and will be giving DS money towards a deposit when he is ready to buy his own place .

Had we not received this money from our parents we would not have been in a position to do this - we only had minimal savings toward our retirement.

CyberCritical · 26/11/2023 20:11

DH and I were talking semi-seriously about this the other night, we live in a very standard 3 bed terrace with one child,it's a double fronted terrace and with a decent sized garden so if needs be it would be reasonably easy to separate into an upstairs and downstairs 1 bed flat if house prices continue going in this vein and DD gets priced out of the housing market until she's ready to share a mortgage with another person.

That way she'd get privacy and some level of independence as would we. We're in the fortunate position that we'll have paid off our mortgage in a couple of years so can use that money to extend and remodel.

Kilopascal · 26/11/2023 20:15

The best thing we can do for our children, if possible, is to allow them to live rent free at home while they start working life

Financially, perhaps. But I've watched my mid-twenties DS become depressed and isolated living at home. We persuaded him to move out to a shared rental and he is very much better and poorer! for the move.

Nomnomnom66 · 26/11/2023 20:41

We save around 80 pounds a month for each of our children. Hopefully by 18, they will have around ten thousand each.

CatamaranViper · 26/11/2023 20:45

The best we can afford to do is sell our house once DS is in need for a home.

Can't afford to save for him but I'm happy to downsize when he's older.

SaintJuliette · 26/11/2023 20:46

Not saving now (can't afford it) or through their childhoods - but both sets of grandparents have reasonably substantial assets and if we are lucky enough to inherit something, I would hope that we may be in a position to help the kids with a deposit at that point.

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