Beanstalk's top 5 tips to help you save for your kids
We’ve teamed up with children’s savings experts Beanstalk to share five of their top tips to help you save for your children’s futures.
It’s common for parents to start thinking about how they can save for their children’s futures as soon as their little ones arrive. Whether it’s a helping hand towards university, a contribution towards a deposit for their first house or just a little something to help launch them into adult life.
At Beanstalk we understand those worries, as parents ourselves we felt the same way too and that is why we launched our app. We’ve pulled together five tips to help you save for your little one, which we hope will help you.
Before we dive into those, we want to introduce ourselves. We’re Beanstalk, the revolutionary new app bringing children’s savings into the 21st Century. Launched by the same team behind KidStart, we’ve been helping parents save for over 12 years by enabling them to earn money back from over 2,300 retailers to top up their children’s savings accounts. Through the years of running KidStart, we realised there was a gap in the market for an app like Beanstalk that makes saving and investing simple and affordable for all families.
Here are our top tips:
1. Open an account for their money and gifts!
It may be an obvious place to start but taking the jump to opening an account is a barrier that many parents don’t get around to. It can be confusing, there are many different types of accounts out there from cash to stocks and shares, which can make it overwhelming. This is why we’ve put together a free Junior ISA guide which explains the basics of JISAs and will educate you on the different types available to help you make your decision into the best account for you. Beanstalk does not require an upfront contribution to open an account making it really easy to get started.
2. Save on your shopping
An easy one to start with, our first tip is to use KidStart. It’s free to sign up and an easy way to grow your child’s savings on your online shopping. You can earn money back from retailers such as John Lewis & Partners, Sainsbury’s, eBay, TUI, Octopus Energy and thousands more. The money you save tops up any account you’ve set up for your child and regular KidStart users can earn up to £250 a year.
3. Work out your family budget
Only save what you can afford and this may change from month-to-month depending on plans, holidays, emergency costs you need to cover. We recommend putting together a family budget. It can seem daunting at the start but will make saving so much easier when you’re on top of your incomings and outgoings. For example Money Saving Experts budget planner is a downloadable spreadsheet to help you get on top of your finances.4
4. Don’t put pressure on yourself
Don’t put pressure on yourself with how much you can save, just taking the plunge and getting started with even just a little each month is better than nothing. You’ll be surprised at how quickly it will add up, especially if you’re going to be saving for many years. Beanstalk doesn’t require you to commit to a set amount each month, so you can top up the account with however much you want and whenever suits you.
5. Get your children involved
Talk to them about the money you’re saving and why you’re doing it to make it more fun. Show them their account if it’s easy to access and understand, something parents with a Beanstalk account have said they like to do with their kids. With Beanstalk you can add your children’s photos and the account is simple to view and manage with it being on an app. EdPlace have some great resources on teaching your kids about money.
We hope these tips have helped you to start or continue to save for your little ones.
Find out more about Beanstalk and Kidstart via the buttons below
Please note: Capital at risk. As with any investment, the value can go down as well as up. Past performance is no indicator of future performance and the tax treatment of ISAs depends on your individual circumstances and may be subject to change in the future. Beanstalk is a trading name of KidStart Limited, authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (# 473606).
