Share with Teachers Assurance your thoughts on children and finance: you could win a £100 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

Teachers Assurance, a friendly society and provider of savings and investments for children, has asked us to find out from Mumsnetters the attitudes or plans that you have for continuing to financially support your children, even when they’re all grown up.

They say “we know that, at the moment, you’ve probably got your hands full with a young child and understand that it may feel like you’ve got plenty of time until they’re old enough to need financial help for the things they want to buy or do. But children grow up fast and soon enough, they’ll be experiencing the later costs of life such as university fees, a first car, or finding a deposit for their first home”.

So, have you made provisions for your child’s future? Maybe you encourage your child to start saving from a young age instead? Or perhaps you’re planning to gift them some money on a milestone birthday? Please share your thoughts on this topic on this thread and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 Love2Shop voucher (additional Teachers Assurance T&Cs* apply).

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may be used by Teachers Assurance in further marketing material.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

*NB Standard MN terms and conditions apply – see here.

**Prize draw closing date: 20 November

DD has a child ISA and I pay in a little each month hopefully this will go towards her wedding or first house.

We have 5 DC, I'm a SAHM and DH earns a very average income. We are concentrating on providing them with a good standard of living just now and ensuring we don't overstretch ourselves or get into debt etc. DH and I have some savings but the children don't. Xmas or birthday money they receive gets spent on things they want or need. I realise that planning for the future is important but I would like to think that this is as skint as we'll ever be, with me at home and them all little.

We don't put money aside for our children, but we don't spend their child benefit money - we are saving it for them as a lump sum when they buy a car, house etc. They are only 4 and 6, so still very young but we do teach them the importance of money and not wasting it. On their 5th birthday they start receiving pocket money and it is up to them, within reason, how they spend it. However, big lumps of money from birthdays etc, are often put into their bank accounts.

We couldn't afford any savings when DD was a baby, but are Ina better position now she is 3 so we are starting a regular savings account. Not sure what to make the conditions so doing some research and will read this thread with interest.

PILs also have an account for her. I am thinking we should be aiming to have enough to support higher education, if she wants that.

Our son is 3 weeks old. So far we've opened an ISA in our names, but which will be solely for savings for him. We'll probably put around £100 per month away, along with Christmas/ birthday/ ad hoc money (the former two until he's a bit older and will be able to choose what to do with it). We're not planning to give him the savings at a milestone birthday, and so decided against a junior ISA (despite the significantly better interest rates) as we'd rather have some say in what the money goes towards, such as a house deposit/ wedding etc.

In terms of teaching the value of money, I am very lucky that my parents were, and still are, very generous (helps that I'm an only child!) but this has meant that I've not been very good with money and saving until recently because I've never had to be. For my children, I want to make sure I get the balance right and will encourage him to save himself. I'm toying with the idea of taking him to set up his own account when he's old enough to understand and will encourage him to save part of his pocket money, which he can then withdraw when he wants and for what he wants (eg a larger toy that he wouldn't ordinarily be able to afford/ doesn't want to wait until Christmas or birthday for)

I currently put money into a bank account each month for not of my girls and then periodically take it out and put into premium bonds. We have their winnings on Premium Bonds set to auto reinvest. I also try and put £1 a week into a money box in their room. They are currently 2.5yrs and 6 months so will slowly teach them about money and savings as they grow up.

For my DD we have a child trust fund that we pop £25 in each month. I have the same for two godchildren as a small nest egg when they turn 18. My DD was also given a smallish sum from her grandparents which is saved for her. Other than that as she is an only child I hope to downsize when she is older, to then buy a small flat for us to live in, and use the rest for her as a deposit on a house. I do think about opening another savings account for her which I keep forgetting to do!

Im 17 and have a7month old DS. I have put £25 of my monthly wage in an account for him since birth. Also just in case he does spend it all in one go, I have put an additional £20 in another account that he wont know about unless he is in desperate need of money.

DD (3) and DS (10 months) each have a junior isa. We put all their Christmas and birthday money into it. Grandparents are putting extra in too (most of the money in there to be honest). We are concentrating on paying off our mortgage, then we'll (hopefully) have more money available when they need it for house deposits / uni fees / weddings.
DH has a small long-term investment account that we have jokingly referred to as the "college fund". It lost so much money when the high tech bubble burst that he couldn't bear to close it. Maybe it will have made some money in 15 years' time...
We haven't started teaching DD much about money yet, though I will often explain that we can't have that because I haven't got enough money, or it's too expensive, and "no you can't eat that yet - mummy hadn't paid for it."

We have CTF's for both our children and pay into this monthly.

They save money in their own piggy banks, both pocket money from us (that we regularly forget to give) and also money given from Grandparent. The piggy bank money is cashed in and the girls take it on holiday and use it as their holiday spending money - last year it was £30 each. I love the idea upthread of taking their own money to the gift shop when you've had a day out and might try that - but will need to remember to give pocket money more frequently first!

We talk openly to them about things being too expensive and saying "we can't afford that" to begin to foster ideas about budgeting. I dont want my children to grow up expecting to buy a limitless amount of stuff and always expecting to be able to buy things.

Do you know what I haven't even thought about it yet. I would struggle to pay into a pension let alone worry about financing my ds's future. I will cross that bridge when I come to it but other than paying for a few driving lessons and maybe a deposit on a car it hasn't occurred to me he may count on me for anything else, was rather hoping he'd stand on his own two feet by then

I have been saving £30 per month for my son since he was born. I used to save birthday and Christmas money up until he was about 6 but couldn't get away with it after that because he wanted to spend it He's got about £2600 at the moment. He's lucky because he also has £500 in the child trust fund, which I assume will have a little bit of interest by the time he gets to 18. I also bought him £100 of premium bonds when he was born. No wins yet, but I live in hope!

DC of 18 and 16 here. We have invested as much in their names as we are allowed for tax purposes since they were small.
Interest rates are so pitiful that it's difficult to demonstrate that saving pays.

Both have had savings accounts of their own from about 8 years old. From 14ish they got Lloyds current accounts with a debit card and a relatively good rate of interest. I have also helped them to move their money around to show them that in banking loyalty does not pay.

Student loans and tuition fees are a huge issue. We thought long and hard about whether to pay these up front after a lifetime of teaching the DC about managing money not borrowing it. In the end we have decided they will take the loan as in the short term it makes financial sense. Will reconsider later.

We were going to set up new ISAs for them under the new rules, but the rates are insultingly low. A none tax payer can do much better than an ISA.

Another who one saves monthly for DDs. I hope to add more when they are older and I can work more. We will see. I add birthday money etc if they get it there. They will need all the help they can get I think.

This really worries me as we don't have the money right now to save on the children's behalf as we are trying desperately to save up for a deposit to buy the house we rent. I hope by the time they get to an age where they want a car or go to uni we will have more spare cash to help them out but equally DH and I stood on our own two feet from a young age and hope we will teach our children to do the same. They do both have their child trust fund and neither go short but I don't think it does them any harm to hear that we can't afford stuff on occasion.

Being a teenager and young adult is expensive. Driving lessons, university, buying a house etc. My mil is saving a bond of circa £40k for my unborn daughter for when she turns 21. We will save little and often for her so she has enough for driving lessons.

DS and DD both have accounts that they don't yet know about. They've built up quite a nest egg from grandparents giving them birthday and Christmas money as well as presents - lucky things.
I hope that DH and I are teaching them the value of money. They've seen us both work hard and I often tell them if we can't afford something. I don't want to burden them with financial worries, but I do think they need to learn the value of saving up for things and not borrowing heavily.
That said, we would like to be able to help them out financially when they're older, onto the property ladder, for example.

DD is only 2, so doesn't have her own pocket money yet, but I plan to start giving it as soon as she's old enough to understand. Having my own money and realising that once I'd spent it it was gone (and my spendthrift sister still had lots left!) was the best way I could learn the value of money. I'm so glad I learnt that lesson young and intend to do the same for DD.

She has a large piggy bank which she pays into from her toy sales!

Us saving for them isn't realistic, but at least we teach them to budget with regular, reasonable sums of pocket money.

We've always encouraged our kids to save but its tricky at the moment with interest rates being so low as it is hard to show them the advantage of saving. We don't stop them if they want to spend their money but we do like to get them to think twice about what they spend it on so that they don't regret their decision.

We try to explain how, by saving, they can buy a bigger or higher value item than if they keep spending a pound or two here and there. They've even clubbed together in the past to buy joint toys which i thought was great because they are learning to contribute together towards something and then share the item.

We have maxed out the kids isa accounts (or whatever they are called ) and have set up other saving accounts for them. However, we think it's just as important to teach them the value of money despite having a privilidged background.

I haven't started saving yet- basiclly because I'm not working. I'm usually a very conscientious savere, but seeing that this is probably the poorest we'll ever be it seems silly to start saving now. All birthday and Christmas money is set aside for DC

I save the grand sum of £5 each for the DC's (8 & 6) every month. But all their birthday and Xmas money is saved up, they're only allowed to spend vouchers. They don't need more stuff, the money will come in handy when they need driving lessons. TBH I'm keeping a tight rein on their money but I'm a LP and want to try and make sure they can start adult life with at least a driving licence under their belt.

They have a CTF each which I have never added to, personally I don't trust 18yr olds with money. I'd rather it was held back until they started Uni so it's not frittered. They have another saving account that is jointly in my name so they can't get their hand on that until I say so.

I intend to increase my hours to full time when they head off to Uni so I can use some of that cash to support them. It won't be a lot but it should help.

A little bit sporadic here. Our eldest has a CTF, a younger two missed out on that but we have ISAs for them. However recently we have not been able to pay into them regularly. I am very aware of the benefit of compound interest so will try and save just a tiny amount each month.

I think the concept of finance is much trickier for children to get their heads now around than when I was small. My mother used to pay for groceries with cash and get money from the bank. Now everything gets paid for with a card and if I want some money I often get it as cashback with the shopping. This confuses the children no end!