Savings for more than one child

[Savingsquestion]

Hello

I have a DS and am due DS2 soon. I currently save monthly for DS, but the amount varies depending on how the month has gone. I plan on doing the same for DS2.

They will be gifted this when they turn 21 if they are sensible enough not to waste it but will not know about the savings before then.

If you have more than 1 child you save for, how do you plan on seperating this?

A. In 1 account, which will then be split into however many children you have so they have the same amount gifted to them.
B. They each have their own accounts which will then be given to them regardless of whether they are different amounts.
C. Other. Please let me know!

I'm saving for 6 grandchildren but I put the money into one account and will give some of it to each one when they reach 21, won't be loads probably about 5k each.

I intend to do eg 10,000.
Give DS1 £5,000 at 21 then DS2 £5,000 when he turns 21 and any difference to be split after DS2 receives his.

Thank you, it's good to know someone else is doing the equal split as I wasn't sure on the norm.

Invested for both same amount each month into a child savings account. We have a 7 year age gap and ds24 got slightly more at 18 than ds who has just turned 18 due to the way investments grew etc. they were in separate accounts. I doubt not think it matters how you do it. Both dc were delighted and surprised to receive the money.

I saved the same amount for my DS’s. Both were building society children’s accounts that had to be transferred over to them once they were 16. Any birthday, Xmas or inheritance money also went into their accounts. They both had similar amounts for when they passed their driving tests, so they could get an average priced £10,000 car each.

We have separate accounts for our 2. The same amount goes into each one each month. It should roughly work out the same amount when we give it to them, we haven't decided yet what age that will be though.

I'm doing one stocks and shares ISA split between two, when the first one is ready for a house deposit we will cash it out and split it 50/50 (but hold to to the seconds deposit in an interest bearing account until they are ready). That's money we've saved and gifts from grandparents on birth. Then separately premium bonds for each where Christmas/birthday gifts while they are young go and they can spend that as they like from 16.

I'm going to top up either child if one has more than the other at 18

C.
We have one saving account and 3 children.
We won't hand them any cash but we support their studies.
We have 2 at university and 1 to start secondary.

I don't really approach saving like that. I have savings in general not specifically set aside for the children. When they become adults, we will see how we are doing financially and give them as much as we can

We put £100 aside a month for each child into a separate savings account and then gave them each £25k on their 21st

We do both A and B. We have individual savings accounts for them that we and family save into regularly. Then there’s a pot which is earmarked for our DC which we save into but it’s not a children’s savings account. That will be used for house deposits and university.

The obvious problem with keeping it in parents names is the tax

Depends how much you're saving. We use mine and DH's ISA allowances and that's more than enough for us but obviously if you are saving above that, tax might come into it

It's a trade off really in that I prefer to have money under our control rather than in the kids names because we can then make a judgement on what they are like at 18

I saved in one child's name. They took all
Of it.

Never save money in children's names.

This.

We have one account that we are saving into for both kids (this was a long debate - my husband was a really responsible teen and thought we should open an individual account in both of their names that they would receive automatically at 18 - I was a little party animal and so successfully argued that that was way too much of a risk!).

in addition they both have premium bonds in their own names where we’ve put financial gifts to them from family members. Most of the family gifts are from my Mil who is really into premium bonds and wakes up at 2am on the days when the draws are announced and checks the numbers of everyone in the family.

I’ve 3 kids. Opened accounts when they were born. Put in £25 a month, any birthday money they’ve had to to being about 7 (when they started asking for it). They’ve also had a couple of inheritances so will all get a decent amount (youngest likely to have less as missed out on an inheritance and a few other bits)

We put a set amount into a junior isa for each of them

This another reason why I wanted one account for both of them - I was also the youngest child and got the least (which was even worth less because of inflation) so I wanted the flexibility to make it fair for my kids.

That does sound a bit unfair.

But, in our case, we put set amounts in each account every month from birth until they turn 18, so they will get the same

My parents save/d for grandchildren until age 18 (instead of plastic tat style presents). They have 12 grandchildren, and so far mine are the only ones to all get their money, about £2500 each while I think is pretty generous given their large brood (I'm one of 6, all but one had kids).

Dd1 has spent her money on decorating the flat they bought last year (she's 25). It looks stunning and they got some high end kitchen stuff like a bean to cup coffee machine.

Ds (23) went to Australia. He's considering emigrating and 3 weeks travelling around and meeting up with friends was an excellent experience for him. He's not decided what to do yet but has some options now.

Dd2 (21) bought a car with a wee bit of help from the bank of Mum and Dad. She has to drive for work and also had a painful hip condition (now sorted with surgery) so couldn't walk much.

My parents were careful to keep the money seperately and have actually upped the amount they're saving for younger grandchildren due to COL but I'm 100% sure they're being totally fair!

I would just keep it in one account and when it’s closer to the time see what you feel is a good amount to gift. Doesn’t need to be in their name right now.

I have it in an ISA at the moment and intend on either opening a new one for the baby or put both childrens money into the one currently open.

The only reason it is in my name is I want to make sure they are responsible with it. Ideally the money would be spent on a deposit, car, travelling etc.

I save/invest money in a separate account, in my name. It would make more sense to do it in their name in JISAs but I can't invest in their names due to their citizen/tax status so unfortunately it's not tax-sheltered (our own ISAs are maxed out with our own savings). I plan to give it to them when they are adults but I haven't decided exactly when.

The money is invested in higher risk equities as it has a long time to grow and I can ride out any volatility.

The one thing that baffles me about so many posts about saving for the dc (not just this thread) is the age 18 always mentioned. Giving the dc the money when they're 18 or saving for them until they're 18...as if they'll need a huge chunk of cash at 18 or as if all responsibility and support for them ends at 18.

We have one account for the dc but have zero plans to dip into it at 18 for any of them tbph. Or to stop saving for dc1 as soon as he turns 18.

When I think back, there were times at 18 or 20 I thought I needed money...but now, at 38 I realise I really didn't 😂