How much are you putting away for your children?

[Pinkdreams]

I have a 10 month old, I've recently opened an NS&I account and have started depositing small amounts in here, my plan is to continue to do this every month and then give it to my daughter when she's older. At the minute I can only afford to put £50 a month, which would work out around £10,000 when she is 18 (probably won't give it her until she's older), this got me thinking, besides inheritance, how much if anything are you planning to give your DC's when they're older to purchase a house etc.

I would save to be able to provide them with things they need in the future, like tutoring, university, help with rent/deposits, first car etc.
And to be financially secure if something happens to your income whilst they are still a minor, a safety net so you know your basic needs will be met even if you lose your job would be very reassuring.

I would never put it in their name and hand it over in a lump so you had no control.

@PensionMention will you do this in the hope that you survive 7 years so don't need to worry about any inheritance tax concerns ?

Yes I think I will be cautious of this, I don't really plan telling her about it until she's in a position where she is sensible and may use it for something like towards a house deposit or even travelling

What's S&S?

Stocks and shares

@Wells37 I really like that idea of not asking for board so long as DD saves a decent amount. Although a long way off (DD11) that's a brilliant way of doing it.

I save £300 per month for DD currently, but not in her name. She's got just over £20k. In my head £5k is hers completely at 18, left unofficially some from both grandparents passing (not in a will, but just know they both wanted her to have something). The rest stays in my name as I don't want her to have it all at 18. And if my world went to shit with work I would possibly need to use it.

She gets £10 per week pocket money. (£5 from me and £5 from her dad). Lloyds bank automatically opened her a savings account with her card account. Interestingly, she's got nearly £200 saved. She just tucks money away each week into savings.

I save £50 each (2 DC) into a savings account and £25 each into a Junior ISA. So £75 each. Both accounts other name but I can access the savings account so I might move to an account in my name.
They'll each have around £15k when they're 18 but the money is for one of 3 things 1) driving lessons and car 2) travelling/gap year 3) uni costs. Appreciate the latter could be used on anything but I think that's fine. They'll know that I won't be funding 1) or 2) if they choose to squander it all on crap.

We’ve saved £50 each for ours since birth so will have about £15k by the time they’re 18. We’re not intending on giving it to them outright. Ds might need a car as likely to go via the apprentice route and we are in a small town, dd is likely to go to uni, so we could potentially give her a small lump sum each year to manage herself on top of what we’ll have to contribute monthly.

DS is 14 months, he has £8K in a JISA from PIL which will be his money when he is 18 to spend as he wants.
Separately we have set aside £15k from our savings and currently topping it up by £375 a month, but saved in our name. We should have £130k by the time he hits 18 which will cover uni and a house deposit. We are older parents, our currently aim is to retire when DH is 60 and DS will be 16. This will be the only savings we have set aside for him, and unless he wants to live with us in retirement we won’t be able to support him after school financially.

I save £200 a month per dc towards uni/house deposit. Gps had offered to help
pay towards school fees but we have decided they are too expensive now (may reconsider at 6th form) & we have an excellent secondary state option so they save that money towards house deposit. The plan is to get them on the housing ladder asap

Parents and in-laws helped with uni costs although DH & I both worked but costs are extortionate now. We funded driving lessons ourselves. About 70% of our wedding was covered by parents but the main help was 6 figs towards house. I really would like to do the same.

Just remember that if money is not in your childs name, if you were to be made bankrupt, that money will be deemed yours and will be gone.

A JISA each which has a £9k limit annually and is tax efficient. They know it's for big expenses like car or uni or gap year when they are older.
Will convert to ISA once old enough.

A SIPP each for longer term and to take advantage of government top up. They've seen the benefits of me saving from a young age and I want to encourage them to do the same. They like the fact that these pots grow in the background.

I contribute monthly, so the money goes before I notice it's there. My parents also give grandchildren money every year for tax reasons, which goes to one or both pots.

TBH if I was genuinely worried about bankruptcy, saving for the kids would be the last thing on my mind

Junior isa for all birthday and Christmas money. Judging by what the older one got, that should be about £10k.

And we've recently started saving enough so he should have £20k for uni.

We also save in a stocks and shares isa in our name but for the kids - worth considering if saving over a long period of time as it will have have better growth. For us it is over 10-15 years. I've kept it in our names as want to be able to decide when to give it to them, as I think this would vary by child as to what they need and when they're responsible enough to have it.

I put £10 a month in my youngest daughters saving as her sister got inheritance as a baby. Their dad puts £25 in each a month.

Nobody has a crystal ball. You could be saving for your child for 15 years and then it happens. Nobody plans to go bankrupt.

They are currently 9 and 5. At the moment they have -

1. £19000 from my dad in a vanguard stocks isa held in my name. Dad will grow this by £3k a year as long as he's alive.

1. £280 a month regular investment by DH and I starting this month (!) in a joint investment account in our name.

1. The one in their name (which we don't "count" as we've assumed it may be wasted by them however well we raise them) is £50 each each month since birth in a junior isa by DH's parents. They reckon it will be £15k each when they turn 18. But as it's a junior ISA we aren't counting them in our preps

Can''t afford to save anything at all ☹ I would love to be able to but other things keep coming up each month which means I just cannot afford it; am basically living paycheque-to-paycheque.
I am a single parent and I don't know if DC dad is saving for them either; I highly doubt it.

We have a 15 month old who we've been paying £200 per month into an ISA for since he was born so there's around £3k in there currently which he can access when he's 18, and he also has an easy access savings account which he can access when he's 16 that's got about £400 in and that's just been £10/£20 transfers here and there. His money box (which he is of course too young to use yet!), has around £100 and that's where we put any money that's sent to him from family. Our daughter is due in July so we may have to refine how the savings are split from then so that one doesn't end up with more than the other so it may well mean we have to reduce our son's so we can pay into them both equally which I'm absolutely fine with, I didn't have a penny saved for me growing up so I always think something is better than nothing!

And if I may just add to that, I was also brought up by a single parent who had absolutely nothing extra to give to me and if anything I am most proud of the fact that I independently saved for all house purchases, savings, everything on my own as an adult! It definitely added an extra layer of determination and independence to my character and I always say that I'm so glad and proud to be able to say I did it myself. Oh and my parent was absolutely amazing and not once have I ever cared about not being given any money, the love, care and attention I was given vastly outweighed it. I'm sure your children feel exactly the same

We do not have money saved in their names but would hope to be able to pay house deposits from our savings
We paid for driving lessons
For the past 6 years we have been £1100 a month to each DC for Uni so not much saving getting done !

I was SO poor when my kids were young, as a single mum. I couldn't put away a penny for any of them, in fact I lived in my overdraft for most of their lives.

To reassure you, they are all grown up now and all earn several orders of magnitude more than I do. They are all (bar one of the five) buying houses, and one of them is aiming to retire at forty. So my not saving for them hasn't held them back at all.