Parents - Bank accounts for your children

[platinum87]

Maybe showing my age a little but I think mine was a post office account called a POSB opened when I was 13-14 and, as many have mentioned, my pocket money/bob-a-job/newspaper delivery money all went into it to give me a little financial independence for things I wanted to buy.

I absolutely think that "everyday finances" etc should be a mandatory subject taught at school from 14+ to give kids a practical understanding of money/savings/loans etc.

What you say might make sense in the current year, however i was born in 1987, and i had some card at the age of 14. i only ever used it to withdraw cash, which i barely did because there was no money on it, and my pocket money was paid in cash.

I also worked a few weeks delivering papers which was paid in cash.

The only real use of the account was to get paid at a-levels some sort of allowance from the government, i forgot what it was called.

Finances are not a problem, the problem is a lack of forethought and responsibility. Math's at age 14 is already far more complicated than managing your finances.

Edit: My point is that, there is no difference between cash/bank accounts aside from the tech differences.

The best example is, the buses dont accept cash, you need to have an oyster card, or a debit card, or you can just **** off.

 

[Maccapacca]

I am waiting for our 'considerably richer than you' members to post and say all the things they are doing for their children, accounts, savings, trust funds etc and then say they will not going into details because it' is crude to talk about money.

Are you shocked that people who manage their money and plan have more money? Maybe there’s a lesson there

 

[Semple]

Yeah I'm sure back then you couldn't have a debit card until 16

They did a solo card if you were under 16, no idea if solo still exists though. Excluding a building society account which pretty much every parent set their kid up with. I think I had one setup around 13/14, can't remember if I'd seen a mate with one and wanted one, or if it was just a case of paying in pocket money etc.

 

[CD32]

On a sidenote..shop around for interest rates...I have quite a bit of money saved up & was getting 14 pence (!) In interest per month with my long standing Natwest savings account (at 0.01 %). Read about a Marcus account by Goldman Sachs at 0.4 percent a couple of months ago... opened one up & moved all of my cash across...my first full months interest came at £5.43. Quite a difference to 14p! There are higher interest rates out there but you're not tied to leaving you cash in for a fixed term nor any other restrictions with Marcus....thank me later..carry on!

 

[Mark Shaw]

Memory is a bit fuzzy - I had a National & Provincial Building society account as a child for saving. When I turned 16 I closed it and opened a Nat West Student account as I got some free record vouchers.

Both of my kids have the Child Trust Fund accounts which we haven't really done anything with, and a separate account that we've been putting money in to every now and again.

 

[theone8181]

We created a Go Henry account. https://www.gohenry.com/uk/

Find it ironic it's touted as teaching kids to be responsible when you have to pay for the account. Both mine have a savings account but nit sure if it's classed as a bank account, there's definitely no cards with it but you can deposit and withdraw from the app and they've had them since 3/4. Tbh I've no idea if new accounts hand out cards or if you have to ask, I've still got a chequebook and possibly even a paying in book.

Their saving ones are something like 6% and then get dumped into a low interest account every year so I take that and put it in a decent (relativly) paying Isa. Not sure what age I'd let them loose with a card, probably end up with half of smyths I'm the living room.

 

[Sirrel Squirrel]

You do have to pay for gohenry but it is good in the way it tracks what they're doing and it's a Visa card so they can use it anywhere.

 

[Vanquish-Storm]

Our newborn has a bank account, opened it at 4 weeks. Once the wife goes back to work we will open a junior ISA.

 

[Freefaller]

Hi OcUK, this feels like a real Mumsnet kind of topic.

How old were you when you had your first bank account, and for those of you with kids did you make sure your kids had bank accounts?

What's brought this on is a recent couple of conversations with my sister about my 16 year old nephew, who I was really surprised to find out does not have a bank account, and she's never thought to do it or prompt him to set one up.

AIBU???

We've got both our kids savings accounts (in the UK and abroad) as soon as they were born (for gifts etc..) but also just so when they turn 18 they'll have something to use.

They'll get their own accounts when they're old enough as soon as they're allowed.

 

[booyaka]

Opened accounts for both my kids when they turned 12. Both had a debit card.

At the same time we started to give them an allowance which allowed us to say "if you want it, you can buy it yourself" to any non-reasonable demand!

similar - Santander account, debit card - small amount of money in and can spend it how he wants....13 year old.

 

[ivrytwr3]

My kids have child trust funds, which they can't access til they're 18.

Same. We saved the money for them to be used for things such as driving lessons, help through Uni etc.

What i don't want to do is handover the accounts to them at 18. They may be better than me, but i know at that age i would have steadily blown through it, which isn't what it is intended for.

What is your plan when they turn 18? As legally it is their money.

 

[Em3bbs]

Already have savings accounts for my two kids which we set up when they were born, but as my eldest is starting secondary school we set up a current account for him for contactless payment at lunch/after school etc.

 

[jellybeard999]

Same. We saved the money for them to be used for things such as driving lessons, help through Uni etc.

What i don't want to do is handover the accounts to them at 18. They may be better than me, but i know at that age i would have steadily blown through it, which isn't what it is intended for.

What is your plan when they turn 18? As legally it is their money.

I'm in this conundrum - my current intention is to open a savings account in my name so I can control it until they need eg uni, house deposit, that kind of thing.

I still intend to open an account in their name, for them to save etc, but want to keep the above separate.

Interested to hear thoughts/ suggestions

 

[Resident]

Parents opened a post office account for me when I was born, which had just a pay-in book & required a 7 day notice to withdraw then at 11/12 RBS encouraged fresh seconday students to open an account, non-debit then updated to Visa Electron when I was 14.

At present both my kids are a bit young for cards (4 & 2) but both have savings accounts that we drop money in every month, as do the grandparents. Any birthday money/christmas money they get given gets split, half in savings, half to spend.

Both myself and my partner have pre-paid debit cards because we spend a fair amount online and we got them as a safety buffer (can't take what's not there) so occasionally when my daughter (4) wants to get some new clothes etc we'll topup one of the cards and she gets to use it at the tills

 

[Azza]

I'm in this conundrum - my current intention is to open a savings account in my name so I can control it until they need eg uni, house deposit, that kind of thing.

I still intend to open an account in their name, for them to save etc, but want to keep the above separate.

Interested to hear thoughts/ suggestions

I have an ISA in my name for my daughter.

If she turns out to be a terrible person (because of our actions or other), having £xxk to spend on crack or what ever as soon as she is 18 probably isn't ideal. Rather give it as a gift to say spend on a car or house etc that would be meaningful or useful.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

Parents opened a post office account for me when I was born, which had just a pay-in book & required a 7 day notice to withdraw then at 11/12 RBS encouraged fresh seconday students to open an account, non-debit then updated to Visa Electron when I was 14.

At present both my kids are a bit young for cards (4 & 2) but both have savings accounts that we drop money in every month, as do the grandparents. Any birthday money/christmas money they get given gets split, half in savings, half to spend.

Both myself and my partner have pre-paid debit cards because we spend a fair amount online and we got them as a safety buffer (can't take what's not there) so occasionally when my daughter (4) wants to get some new clothes etc we'll topup one of the cards and she gets to use it at the tills

Similar thing here - Natwest came to my school to get year 7's to sign-up. Cheeky business model but got me a Solo card from age 11 or however old you are in year 7.

I remember buying a Sharp GX30 on eBay and paying via PayPal. Something went bonkers (cash in/out timing error) and my account went overdrawn. I remember writing a heartfelt gushing letter to Natwest --- only to realise many years later that under 18s weren't legally allowed to go overdrawn and I could have just wrote a single sentence stating as such

I have an ISA in my name for my daughter.

If she turns out to be a terrible person (because of our actions or other), having £xxk to spend on crack or what ever as soon as she is 18 probably isn't ideal. Rather give it as a gift to say spend on a car or house etc that would be meaningful or useful.

Not Same. I do worry that I may over fund it and she becomes a baller at age 18. Hopefully she won't become a nutcase.

Edit: Fixed. I meant not same! It is in her name as I need the tax wrapper.

 

[LiE]

I have an ISA in my name for my daughter.

If she turns out to be a terrible person (because of our actions or other), having £xxk to spend on crack or what ever as soon as she is 18 probably isn't ideal. Rather give it as a gift to say spend on a car or house etc that would be meaningful or useful.

Similar here. I have a savings account I pay into for our son which I can then use to pay for big tickets when he's older. He also has another account his grandparents opened for him.

When he's at the age where he needs access to money for daily spending, he will have an account.

 

[LiE]

Same. I do worry that I may over fund it and she becomes a baller at age 18. Hopefully she won't become a nutcase.

Even if you do, you can just provide the funds (or the majority of them) for something like a house deposit, uni costs, etc. No way I'd just hand over a large chunk of cash to my son at 18.

My wife's parents saved up a lot for her but they never actually told her how much. Gave her £10k when we bought our first house together, it was very handy for the deposit. I doubt she would have the £10k if they gave her the full amount at 18.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

Even if you do, you can just provide the funds (or the majority of them) for something like a house deposit, uni costs, etc. No way I'd just hand over a large chunk of cash to my son at 18.

My wife's parents saved up a lot for her but they never actually told her how much. Gave her £10k when we bought our first house together, it was very handy for the deposit. I doubt she would have the £10k if they gave her the full amount at 18.

I misread his post. Mine is a junior ISA in her name, so legally she can use it for whatever she wants at 18. I agree though. I got a £2k gift from my Nan when I was young (she wanted to see us enjoy her wealth rather than it be divided once she was dead). I spent it on DVDs and a 7800GT.

 

[Freefaller]

I'm actually thinking that I will transfer some of their money into a pension fund. Not all of it. But to give them a flying start to their pension.