• 2 months ago
A mum says her nine-month-old has more money than her - after saving £4,000 throughout her pregnancy so her daughter can have an "easier life".

Aromi Afoladi, 30, decided to save £600-a-month during her pregnancy to put towards her daughter's clothes and baby items.

The mum and her partner, 30, an accountant, had expected the cost of raising a baby to be expensive but after receiving clothes and gifts from family they were able to put the £4,000 aside in savings instead.

After welcoming their daughter in December 2023, they hosted a naming ceremony, traditional in their culture, and were surprised by family who friends who donated around £2,000 in cash and gift cards.

Aromi put the amount into a junior ISA for her daughter to have access to at aged 18 - which now has £3,000 in after interest was added.

They say their nine-month-old daughter has about £7,000 to her name, while the couple have no savings after putting their money into buying a house.

Category

😹
Fun
Transcript
00:00My seven-month-old has more money than me. Let me explain. So when I found out that I was pregnant
00:06with my child, my partner and I decided that we were going to start saving money towards
00:11when she was born because everything that everybody tells you is that having a child is
00:14super expensive and you need so many things and you need to buy things and buy that and buy whatever
00:18so we wanted to be prepared for that. So we started saving £600 a month from when I found out I was
00:24pregnant to when the baby was born. That was around, so it was £600 a month and we ended up
00:30saving around £5,000-ish from what I remember and the plan for that money was I was going to use it
00:37to buy all the things that I needed for the baby so like the baby's bed, clothes, diapers, toys,
00:45whatever else babies need. I don't know what babies need. I didn't know what babies need so
00:48that was what we decided we're going to do. Fast forward, during my baby shower, I got gifted
00:54most of the things that I actually wanted to buy for the baby. Not the most, I'd say I got gifted
00:59about 98% of the things that I wanted to buy for the baby so I didn't actually need to buy
01:03much for the baby at that point. I only bought things like clothes because I just wanted to buy
01:08clothes so I bought clothes and in my culture when a baby's born you do this thing called a
01:13naming ceremony where you officially name the baby and you introduce the baby to the world.
01:18This happens seven days after the baby's born. So during my baby's naming ceremony, I didn't
01:21actually expect this but people bought so many things and they gifted her so much money. She
01:26ended up being gifted around £2,500 around there which I thought was insane and she got gifted so
01:32many clothes, wipes, so many things. This baby has clothes for the next summer. That's how much
01:39she got gifted. It was so unexpected. I didn't expect it. My family and our friends, our family
01:45and our friends did so much for us during that time. So it ended up that I didn't actually need
01:49to spend any of the money that I had saved for the baby. I probably spent around maybe £500,
01:55maybe less, that I saved towards the baby which was shocking. I was like okay so I guess it's
02:00not that expensive, I don't know. And the money that the baby was gifted, that's her money right?
02:05It would be a taboo for us to spend any of that money for ourselves and not towards her
02:10or just give her the money which is what we ended up doing. Two options, either open a
02:15Junior ISA for her or have a normal savings account. At first I was more geared towards
02:20having a normal savings account because I could control the money. So I wanted like that control
02:26a little bit over the money. Well with a Junior ISA, you have some control, you can't withdraw
02:31any money which is good. But when they're 18, the money is theirs completely to do whatever they
02:36want with. You have no say. With Junior ISA you get about £9,000 tax free allowance a year.
02:42You can use it as a tax wrapper and invest the money. Now obviously £9,000 a year on a monthly
02:48basis is about £750 a month. Most of us ain't got that right? Most of us do not have £750 a month
02:55to save for our children. But there are amounts that we possibly do have. So for example,
03:01it could be that you can afford to save £50 a month towards your child's future. I've chosen £50
03:06a month because for me, I know that I will spend more than £50 a month on takeaway. So am I willing
03:12to make the sacrifice to just not have takeaway to invest in my child's future? I am. And here's
03:16my reasons. So if you invest £50 a month into a Junior ISA, but it's an investment account not a
03:22savings account, for your child and you assume that you are going to get a 5% return each year.
03:28That's an assumption. It could be higher, it could be lower. So we're going based on averages.
03:31Let's assume you get a 5% interest over the 18, sorry, 5% a year over the 18 years. With the power
03:37of compound interest, by the time your child is 18 years old, you would actually have £17,460
03:44for them when they're 18 as a gift. That's not small money. It really isn't. That's a big difference
03:50between not having to work at university and having to work at university. It's a big difference
03:56between here's some money to tide you over whilst you're chasing your dream to be the next Picasso,
04:01right?

Recommended