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

[ifso]

no I think you may have missed my point Chipping

in such times when clearly so many posters don't have savings etc, Barclays seem to be rubbing salt into wounds, all in the name of research, winning a competition and giving profile to their banking brand

it would be different if it was, say Debenhams or John Lewis actually asking, rather than a bank which hasn't exactly helped millions of people to get out of debt etc etc

[IceNoSlice]

Both DH and I are part if company pension schemes, but our more immediate financial aim is to renovate our home (and pay off the mortgage).

DS has a junior ISA with money from his DGPs. Hopefully that will increase over the years, and will be used towards uni fees, wedding, first house etc. Although we are not planning to tell him about that money until that time comes. I agree with the other posters who have mentioned the importance of kids learning financial self reliance, budgeting and the value of money. If he's gone off the rails a bit at 18 (please God this won't be the case) then he won't get the money until he's older.

[willyoulistentome]

Savings? Retirement? Sorry what??

Barclays, are you interested in LENDING me some money to replace my car that died this week???

[MegBusset]

We have savings but they are for lean times in the future (both self-employed so cashflow can go down as well as up!). We don't save into a pension, I don't see the point when a) you can lose everything on the stock market and b) we still have mortgage debt to pay off. We don't save regularly as such, we have an offset mortgage so any spare cash sits in the bank and reduces the interest we have to pay. If DH gets a big payment then we might stick a few hundred into the 'savings' account.

As far as the DCs go, the first job I guess will be to get them through university, if they want to go. After that it will really depend how things go financially for us and them, they might get high-paying jobs and be better off than us, they might go abroad or not want to buy a house, we might be broke by then.

We didn't get any money from our parents for our first deposit, we both worked multiple jobs and scrimped and saved for years.

[ArbitraryUsername]

Well, doesn't the discussion show quite how out of touch Barclays are and, because of that, the real need for them to do research about it. Maybe the threads will help them to understand quite how far away their idea of how things are is from the actual reality for most people.

That said, some people are still in a position to save. There are people on this thread who save money every month both for themselves and (separately) for their children. People's circumstances can be very different.

I'm sure MN are very glad that Barclays want to pay them to ask quite stupid questions on the site. Everyone at MN towers has bills to pay too.

[pofacedalways]

They don't care Arbitrary Usnername. Banks put profit over people and any 'caring' image is just advertising. I am pretty appalled at this fake attempt to encourage discussion for advertising purposes.

[ArbitraryUsername]

Well they might not care (and I'm not daft enough to think they do), but it does expose them to have no grasp of reality. That's probably not what they were hoping to get out of this.

It's a bit of a marketing fail really. Barclays: we have no idea about your petty little lives, so we'll ask really, really stupid questions.

I didn't read the first thread. But the outcomes of the two I have seem to be:

1. Renting is shit. Buying a house is also shit and only seems like a good idea because private renting in the UK is so unbelievably shit that people would rather have to deal with (and pay for) their own property maintenance.
   
2. Barclays are so out of touch that they don't realise that pretty much everyone is worried about affording their own house/affording to live in the present day that questions about saving for retirement or buying your kids a house are just silly.

[worldgonecrazy]

I have only minimal savings for DD. She is very fortunate in that she is the only grandchild so she has all the property in the family going to her. However, she won't be told this, and she will have to work just like all her family have done. It would be nice to give her a bit of something as a deposit for her first house - which she will have to buy herself, though I'm sure we'll figure something out when the time comes.

We come from a family that has a strong work ethic and I'm hoping that will rub off on her. We started making her work for her "pennies" as soon as she was walking.

[ifso]

It is so fake Pofaced, exactly that. Eugh. Sickening.

[pofacedalways]

And people are commenting for the chance of a voucher at Christmas time for 150 quid, and when you think of the profits banks make at the expense of so many, I just find it sickening

[MrsHoarder]

Sickening? Really? Its quite clear what Barclays want from the thread and posters can decide for themselves if they want to participate.

Are you also sickened by my giving a nice soundbite to a tyre company in exchange for a £50 draw (which I won, otherwise I would have forgotten)? It is not as though Barclays are trying to trick anyone, it says in black and white at the top that your post might be circulated wider.

[ArbitraryUsername]

To b honest, I'm not commenting for the £150. I'm commenting because the questions are worth commenting on (although not for the reasons Barclays imagine they are).

Does anyone think better of Barclays after these threads? Really?

Anyone thinking: 'hmm, actually, I'd love to pay Barclays a small fortune in interest. And I think that would be so much fun that I'll do the same when my kids are old enough to want a house'?

[CarlingBlackMabel]

It has never occurred to me to save for a home deposit for DC.

Our pension is a priority, really, because we are in low paid jobs with no company or employers pension contributions at all. My aim is to have enough to live on and not be a burden on DC in old age.

Next, our priority is to try and make DC as financially independent and self sufficient as possible, so we do manage to save a small amount which we hope to be able to use to support University.

We will have a house with the mortgage paid off, so if (IF!!??) we never manage to save for a house deposit, they will at least inherit a modest house in zone 2. If we haven't had to use it to fund a care home.

I do prioritise DC future over a luxurious old age, the deck of a round the world cruise ship is unlikely to be my main residence.

[TrillsCarolsOutOfTune]

I'm saving for my house deposit actually.

[48Hours]

Dh has a pension which he pays into direct from his salary.
We have no savings and struggle to get through each month in the black.
My parents still help us out financially when needed fgs
I don't know what will happen in the future, it's all a bit shit really especially for dd who will in all likelyhood have to self fund everything herself with little help from us.

[BigBoobiedBertha]

We are saving for our retirement (no pension, just ISA) as we need to something to live on when we are old. Not that it is a great deal at the moment and there is a lot that needs to be done to the house to stop it being a worthless money pit so it won't be a great deal for some time to come.

The children can pay for their own houses just as DH and I did when we became adults and therefore needed to be financially independent.

The other way I look at it is that if we are saving for ourselves and our old age, we won't be a burden on them in our dotage and they can't have it both ways - both a deposit and parents who have enough to live on! I would hope that I have brought them up properly and they won't want to ask us for money just as I wouldn't dream of asking my parents for money.

And no, I'm not commenting on this thread because of a £150 voucher is being waggled at us. I won't win it will I?! I am answering it because Barclays are doing market research and it is an interesting topic of conversation. I am sure they are very aware that they won't get any marketing benefit out of this (how would that work then? It isn't like we are all going to start banking with them because they asked a couple of questions is it?!) but that doesn't mean that they don't want to find out more about the demographic that is covered by Mumsnet. I suspect they will be quite surprised that so many people aren't saving at all, let alone thinking that far into the future but how else would they find out if they don't ask?!

[pofacedalways]

Mrs Hoarder yes I do find it sickening because

a] the banks and their greed were responsible for the financial crisis

b] in the current economic climate lots of people would find 150 quid a godsend at Christmas, including me, and I find it distasteful that MN are doing business with a bank under the guise of discussion.

[pofacedalways]

I don't believe it is market research - IMO it is advertising under the guise of discussion and I think that is a fairly reasonable opinion.

[MrsHoarder]

I agree that it is advertising, but that's fairly clear. But the thing to remember is that participation in a thread is voluntary and not policed for truth.

So anyone who wants to can pass comment without revealing the whole truth of their situation or making themselves vulnerable. I'd object if there was an invitation to discuss actual figures with proof, but that isn't the case here. There is no compulsion or intrusion beyond posters' personal boundaries.

Who should MN get advertising from if not big corporations (who are all much the same morally, whichever field they're in)

Also ok amazed mnhq are letting these comments stand they can't look great to advertisers.

[BigBoobiedBertha]

Well you'd have to be very guillable to fall for advertising like this. I think most people are a bit more astute than that.

[Offred]

I'm not sure even Barclays are stupid enough to think this mumsnet campaign makes people think "oh Barclays are not like other banks they care about what I think about important issues that concern me" are they?

[BigBoobiedBertha]

In fact the more I think about it the more laughable I find it that anybody would believe this advertising. Advertising what?! For advertising to be effective you have to be pushing a product. We all know Barclays name but without a product you can't call it advertising.

[Sam100]

I work part time and pay into the company pension scheme - i put in 5% and the company matches. I have done this since going back to work but have no idea what kind of a pension that might actually give me when I retire or how many years I will need to pay in for!

We have tried to put some savings aside for the kids in the CTFs and save £10 a month for each of them. But this was intended as a contribution towards possible university education rather than towards a house. We rented until we could afford a deposit on a place and assume they will do the same. We have not had any financial assistance from our families.

I am replying for a chance to win the £150 - it would come in very handy for christmas . I might have been more forthcoming about details if it was in the form of an anonymous survey. Was quite surprised to see it as a thread.

[pofacedalways]

Banks are different to other companies, you must see that. They are collectively responsible for a global catastrophe. Now everyone is saying they are commenting because they want to not for the chance to win 150 quid. I find that odd. Even if it is true, Barclays dangling the voucher as a way to get lots of comments and cash in on the MN brand is I think distasteful.

If MN deleted comments that were unfavourable, I would be GOBSMACKED. Have been on MN for 7 years and it is against its very spirit of rigorous debate.

[pofacedalways]

BigBoobie are you serious? Because they are not pushing a particular product it isn't advertising? Ummm...of course it is! They are advertising their brand, their image, cashing in on the MN brand - which at the moment is very on trend.

Do you really, really think Barclays haven't done this for the advertising? Er, Ok then...