NOW CLOSED: Are you saving for your retirement or your child’s first home deposit? Discuss this topic with Barclays - £150 up for grabs

[AnnMumsnet]

Hello  you may have seen that this week Barclays have a big campaign to get people talking about home buying and money topics.

On Monday they asked "When are you too old to ask your parents for help?" and on Tuesday discussion focussed on whether (or not) "A home is still a home if you don't own it".

Finally Barclays are asking: "Are you saving for your retirement or your child's first home deposit"?

They say "We want to know what Mumsnetters think about home buying and money dilemmas - this time we want you to think about the future with your children. Our third question relates to savings and you and your family's future and the question is - if you're lucky enough to be making any savings these days (or plan to make savings) - "Are you saving for your retirement or your child's first home deposit?""

Please share your thoughts on this thread - there are no right or wrong answers and (as we've seen) - the question will mean different things to different MNers.

Add your thoughts and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one winner will get a £150 John Lewis voucher.

Thanks for all your comments on the topics this week  do continue to add your thoughts and we'll do the draw for all three threads on Tuesday.

Thanks MNHQ

PS Please note your comments  along with your MN name may be used on the Barclays pages on Mumsnet and elsewhere

[InMySpareTime]

We save £75 a month for each DC, one has an allshare tracker fund (low fees, good returns), the other has a CTF. DH saves 8% of his wages into a pension, doubled by his employer, which is just as well, because I am self employed and have no pension at all (earn too little). We overpay the mortgage and savings go out straight after payday.
Saving is tough, but it's pain now for gain later.
Could do with better interest rates though, to make saving more attractive than reducing the mortgage balance.

[Arcticwaffle]

I am saving for 2 things, retirement (public sector pension, though I don't really expect it to be that valuable in a few decades, + extra savings), and also saving - slowly - to contribute to university fees/costs for 3 dc.

Not saving for dcs' homes as I am more concerned that they go to university if they want to. I don't earn enough to save for house deposits on top of the rest.

[Oblomov]

I have saved a small amount. We put £10 into both ds's CTF. I saved more into ds1's initially. And its now worth less, after8 years than the money I have put in it. NOT HAPPY
I also saved some of the ds's CB into their normal accounts and because we have big family they get quite a bit at birthdays and xmas's. So they both have a bit.
The boys have more in their bank accounts than dh and I do (none btw).

So clearly, we are not a generation of savers, then, eh ?
I'm sure we all would if we could afford to. >

[mrscrimbobash]

We opened a child trust fund when our daughter was born, we try and put away what we can. (Which is not very much.) Her Grandparents will sometimes give her £100 at birthdays etc which we put into it.

It's a small pot, but hopefully something towards her first home in 20 years time! Scary thought.

I haven't even considered retirement. Scares me silly. I have no pension to speak of. We couldn't afford to put anything away at the moment, it would make things impossible. Definitely something to worry about at a later date.

[elizaco]

We're lucky that we are managing so put some money away into savings. Child Benefit goes straight into a savings account which we don't touch - the plan is that this will help with any higher education costs. We try and save as much as we can each month into Cash ISA's, as we are not home-owners - we live in a tied house with my husband's job, so will one day need to buy/rent our own home, so those savings are there to help with that. In the short-term, we are saving each month for next summer's holiday :-)

[Bicnod]

DH and I are both paying into pensions. Mine is private as I'm self-employed and his is an NHS pension. We aren't paying in enough really.

Can't afford to save for the DC at the moment - hopefully once they both start school full time (they are currently both in childcare when I am working which costs an arm and a leg) we will be able to start putting some money away. Will probably be for University fees rather than their first home deposit.

[Viviennemary]

The interest rate on savings is so poor now they are hardly worth having. So I don't blame people for not saving in banks or building societies. Putting it into a pension scheme might be a better idea. If I am in a position to help out when my DC's decide to buy a house then I will. But I am not saving towards that particular aim.

[littlemonkeychops]

DH and i have pensions via work, signed up when we first started our jobs so have never "had" the money to miss if that makes sense. No other specific retirement savings though, so don't feel that prepared but better than nothing i suppose.

DDhas a savings account, we don't get to add to it as much as we like but it's a start.

As for helping kids with house deposits, we'd like to hopefully be kn a position to in future, house prices and cost of living mean it'll be even harder for the next generation. It would be on the basis of matching what they save themselves though so they don't get away with not saving.

[clubnail]

I'm working towards freeing myself up for early retirement so I can spend some time with my DS before he flies the nest :)

[NowBringUsSomeFriggyPudding]

No savings being undertaken here, our outgoings far exceed the income. One day when the Dcs leave home, we hope to downsize, clear the mortgage and live life a little. There will be no help towards retirement or their first homes....although obviously that would be the ideal position to be in.

[Vixjax]

I have a pension through a company scheme but don't put enough in it to fully prepare for retirement. Can't afford to do more though. Save a tiny amount for our babies future- probably Uni rather than first house

[FrillyMilly]

Me and DH both pay in to a company pension every month and the company matches it. We have been paying in for 7 and 13 years respectively. DHs is a final salary pension and mine has a small final salary element. There is no way we are giving them up. I think ensuring we can support ourselves during retirement is more important than ensuring our children get on the property ladder. Whilst I hope to start making some sort of investment for my children, DH and I have worked bloody hard to get where we are with very little help financially from our parents so I'm sure my children can do the same if they have to.

[stephgr]

We're currently saving for university fees and if they don't want to go to university we'll use the money for vocational training or put towards their first home.
We're putting some money away for retirement but not as much as we should or would want to. Things are just too difficult...

[GetKnitted]

We're still saving for all the bits before houses and retirement :-/

[Snog]

Yes, we are saving for uni costs at the moment, and plan to save after this for a house deposit for dd.
Both of us have occupational pensions but are much more focussed on saving for our child than for our retirement...

[Meglet]

I'm 38 and have a couple of small pensions going (one via work and the other was set up by me), no idea how much they might pay out though. I need to investigate that don't I .

All the childrens birthday and Xmas money goes into their savings account, in my name so they can't touch it. I would like to have enough for driving lessons / car / insurance when they are older. Or I will keep it out of the way until they focus on Uni or need money to help set up their own homes. It won't be much cash, but I've set it up so they don't get it until I say so, even if that's mid 20's.

[ArbitraryUsername]

We only just bought our own house, so we'll be paying off our own mortgage before worrying about anyone else's! Both DH and I pay into our (allegedly) 'gold plated' occupational pension schemes. So hopefully that'll do for our retirement. We should have paid off the mortgage by then...

I'm not planning on giving any thought to how my 3 year old will buy a house any time soon.

[turnipvontrapp]

Saving for a rainy day and retirement but not enough! Will hopefully be able to help with Uni fees if they want to go but probably not house deposit.

[eteo]

I will not ask my family to help. If I can't afford then I dun buy.

Our house is our pension. We are saving it and hopefully we won't need to ask for money when we are old.

[MrsHoarder]

What we can save is for a rainy day, future childcare fees or to pay off a lump sum of the mortgage when it comes to look for a new deal.

[FamiliesShareGerms]

See, I made what I thought were sensible decisions when i started work at 22 to increase my contributions to my pension so that when I retired it would be sufficient for me and probably DH. Now, it has been steadily eroded by the government and is costing me more and more. I am beginning to wonder whether I should have bothered.

Surely any long term saving scheme like a pension should be reliable in the long term, or we may as well put notes under our mattresses and hope for the best?

We are managing to pay for our own house, but no chance of saving to buy another house/s. We do pay small amounts into the children's CTFs, though how much they will be worth in due course, who knows?

[spoonfulofnutella]

The very little savings we have are going towards a house deposit of our own at the moment. After that I'd say pensions as both of our pension plans have had to go on hold for the last couple of years. I'll always be happy to help kids out, if they choose to go to university I'll help towards that for example, but don't see myself paying the deposit for their first house.

[BlastOff]

Well I have a pension if that counts as saving for my retirement, but that's all.

I would consider saving for our dc's university fees, but their house deposit is up to them!

I'd love to be saving, but there is no way we can at the moment. Every penny counts.

[CMOTDibbler]

Retirement, yes. House deposit - my parents give ds a savings bond for Christmas and Birthday, and that will be his house deposit

[VainViolet]

saving a small amount every month in case they want to go to university.