As a parent or guardian, you will want to provide the best future for your children that you can. However, your child’s financial future is hard to predict. By opening a savings plan for your children you are providing them with a safety blanket and helping them to start their adult lives with savings to put towards those more expensive and important items, which can take years to save for.
By planning early and making the most of our own finances, we can plan to accumulate savings for children. Whether they are your own children, or a grandchild, niece or nephew, it can make a big difference to their future. Whether this is with university tuition fees in mind, or to help them with the costs of buying a home, saving regularly can help to build a nest egg for them when they need it.
If you start saving from when a child is born until they turn eighteen, you could be presenting them with a large lump sum on their eighteenth birthday, ready for them to begin their adult life.
When a child grows up with a savings plan, they can see for themselves how a small sum can grow and it can encourage them to manage their money responsibly and avoid running into debt as soon as they start earning.
Our children’s savings plans
Our children’s savings plans allow you to start saving from just £10 a month. If you feel you are not sure whether you can afford to put the money away every month then compare £10 to other things you pay for monthly. What would £10 pay for and what benefit would you get from it? Would adding £10 a month towards your child’s future be more beneficial?
It is important to bear in mind the average costs of your saving goal in order to reach it. Our infographic can help you to discover if you are saving enough for the specific saving goal you have in mind for your child’s future. It can help you to see how much you need to save each month and over how many years, to get you started.
According to research Shepherds Friendly undertook, 81% of parents believe that saving for a child is somewhat important; however, only 24% of parents speak to their children about the importance of money regularly. When opening a savings plan, it is the ideal opportunity to have a discussion about money with your children.
You can discuss with your children how to open a savings plan, what to do with it and why it’s important to have savings; along with the likes of tax and interest in order to explain the benefits of a tax-efficient savings plan.
Teach your children about finance
With the digital age has come electronic banking and contactless debit cards. Children are watching their parents swipe their cards or hover their phones across machines to pay for their shopping, rather than dealing with cash most of the time. This could be shaping the way that children view money which stresses the importance of finding other ways to teach children about finances. Use our guide to find out other ways of teaching your children about money management.
At Shepherds Friendly we have almost 200 years of experience in helping families look after their finances. We have a range of plans available to parents and extended family, and a wealth of experience in helping you to find the right product for you,
Remember: When you invest your capital is at risk.
