Do you save for your little one/s?

[cherryglitter]

lmao if someone gave me 50k at 21 i would be like OMG HOLIDAY/PARTIES/ETC hahaa.
i'd love to save for jake to have deposit on a house but we're not even on the property ladder ourselves yet

 

[vhal_x]

Yeah, I'm hoping he'd use it for a house, or a car, if he tried to use it on partying I'd be like, um, NO! Obviously he can do what he wants with it, but I'd try to convince him to use it for a house/car or something else that he will have to show for the money xx

 

[cherryglitter]

yeah if i had all of that saved for jake i'd be telling him what to spend it on

 

[discoclare]

We put 100 pounds per month into a child's savings account that I have control over.

The child trust fund money I put into a stakeholder account, so it's riskier, but likely to make more money in long term than the interest on her savings account. I didn't want to put all her savings into this account as it is riskier than a cash savings account, and also with the CTF accounts they go directly to your child when they reach age 18 and I wanted some control over some of the money!

 

[Arcanegirl]

I have £2 a month setup as a standing order from my account to Alexs and I save up all 20ps and cash those in once in a while. Its not much but its still something for him.

 

[Hayley90]

Yeah... £100 into his trust fund which we set up. then £20 into his ctf. and money for his schooling... although ive frozen that one for a few months over xmas x

 

[Baby France]

We put £10 a month away at the minute. If we can afford more in the future we will do.

TBH the child benefit shouldn't be going towards his savings.

can i just ask why? (in the nicest way possible!)

I just think that our country is in dires straights and if you can afford to put the whole of you CB into a savings every single month, every year for your child then you don't need it.

To think that there are OAP's out there who have worked their whole lives and struggle to pay for heating bills etc and then someone saves whatever money they get so their child can spend stupid amounts of money on say beer...then I personally don't think that that is right. And I understand that they may use that money for something more constructive but

We didn't claim anything the first year of Jacob's life because we could do without and we still put money away. When Emma came along we claimed and yes we still put a little bit away but we struggle.

Thats just my personal opinion though.

 

[tallybee]

My 2 have savings accounts, we don't put a regular amount in but if we find we can afford it we'll transfer some into them. They have both got a good amount in there. Until DH's ex shut their accounts, DH was paying £10 a month each into my stepsons accounts. I think it's a must-do to try and save something for them if possible, I was lucky enough to have parents who did this for me, and I was able to use it for things I needed for my first flat.

 

[discoclare]

We put £10 a month away at the minute. If we can afford more in the future we will do.

TBH the child benefit shouldn't be going towards his savings.

can i just ask why? (in the nicest way possible!)

I just think that our country is in dires straights and if you can afford to put the whole of you CB into a savings every single month, every year for your child then you don't need it.

To think that there are OAP's out there who have worked their whole lives and struggle to pay for heating bills etc and then someone saves whatever money they get so their child can spend stupid amounts of money on say beer...then I personally don't think that that is right. And I understand that they may use that money for something more constructive but

We didn't claim anything the first year of Jacob's life because we could do without and we still put money away. When Emma came along we claimed and yes we still put a little bit away but we struggle.

Thats just my personal opinion though.

I completely agree with you and the system is about to change to reflect that, so I also don't think there is an arguement here. CB was originally supposed to be universal so that there wasn't a stigma associated with those who received and who didn't. Societies attitudes towards benefits have changed since then and the current government is getting rid of CB for those who are higher rate tax payers. I'm sure that you are fully aware that this is about to happen.

I'm sure there are OAPs who struggle to pay their heating, but most of the ones I know say the government gives them more than enough for their winter heating bill! OH's grandparents both receive too much in the winter fuel allowance to pay their bills and save the extra to buy Christmas presents and buy the odd pint of bitter (in OH granddad case!). Neither are well off (one is an ex-miner and one an ex-cleaner). Also you get your house insulated for free once you are over 65. Some don't get enough, but they tend to be those who are well off and live in big houses, so they don't need it as a benefit anyway.

 

[Hayley90]

Yeah old people get an allowance - my nan got like £300 something last year, that was enough to pay her electric, gas and her turkey and thats in a 5 bed house

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

My nan does not get much at all

 

[Baby France]

My nan does not get much at all

Neither does my Gran

 

[discoclare]

Well it's gone a bit off topic! But this is what pensioners get to pay their Winter fuel, the pp was specifically talking about pensioners paying for their heating:
https://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/Benefits/BenefitsInRetirement/DG_179916

last year they did it where you got extra money on top of this for each week that the temperature dropped below zero. (I think it was an extra 25 pounds for that) and since it happened a couple of weeks I'm thought OH's grandma said she got £350 winter fuel allowance and OH's granddad would have got the same (they aren't a couple, grandparents on different sides of his family).

 

[buttonnose82]

Little Man gets 'pocket money' each week, just a tiny amount, when it mounts up we let him buy a toy and put the rest in his bank account, my parents and MIL also have little savings pots for him and when they give us that we generally put into his bank account.

we then have a premium bonds account that myself & hubby use too save for our children, it means we have total control and when the time comes that we feel they need it (towards a wedding or house deposit) we will then decide how much too give them, this way it also means that *IF* little man or future baby turns out too get into the wrong things like say drugs, then we have control of that money, where as in a trust fund or whatever we wouldn't have control and to think they might have a serious addiction and then have a huge load of money fall in their laps well ....... it's just not worth thinking about

So he will always have his account, but we have control over our savings for him

does that make sense lol

 

[dizzyisacow]

no but this thread has inspired me. i told dh we should but he said when we can afford it. we are still trying to keep our heads above water from our failed business. if it were up to me i would open an account and put as much as possible every month

 

[Hayley90]

Buttonnose, that is such a good idea... i just have an ISA but that is obv limited every year.

Can i ask who you have that account with? I dont even know what premium bonds are Im so useless at this sort of thing, my luck harrisons money will get pissed up at freshers week

 

[Squidge]

We put whatever we can afford to at the end of the month and also the money she gets from family at Christmas & birthdays go into her bank too.

 

[nickibrum]

I dont have LO's yet but I want to save for them. I worry about how hard it will be for them to get on the housing ladder when they are old enough... were going through the process now and its so hard!

I would like to think we wont use the CB we receive so it can go on savings, or extra special treats for them.

 

[addie140910]

We have started trying to save for our little one here and there as we can, but as she is not born yet, it is more important that we get ourselves in a better financial situation, and assure that she has the things that she will need when she is born in February.

I don't work, and so we are trying to pay off credit cards and things before she gets here, as well as not starve. (Not literally, we always have food, but have been having to put food on charge cards etc for some time now.) My hubby works, (he is a Soldier and works very hard protecting our country,) but single income families are not all they are cracked up to be.

I have about $285.00 saved for her at the moment.

 

[buttonnose82]

Buttonnose, that is such a good idea... i just have an ISA but that is obv limited every year.

Can i ask who you have that account with? I dont even know what premium bonds are Im so useless at this sort of thing, my luck harrisons money will get pissed up at freshers week

Premium bonds are backed by the HM Treasury so are 100% safe, you pay money in (just set up an account on the NS&I website) it has too be in chunks of £100 but think you can do £50 if you set up a standing order with them, they don't pay interest like a bank account, instead each £1 is allocated a 'number', once a money they enter all these numbers into a draw and you can win between £25 & 1 million every month (over a year they say it works out that you win equal to or more than what you would have got in a average bank account) If you win they either send you a cheque or you can just ask for it too be reinvested (which is what we do) and they just send more numbers, you can have a maximum of £30,000 per person.

It's fun because there is a chance of winning something every month, we have months and months where we get nothing, then we will win maybe 3 x £25s in 1 month! it's also tax free!!