New research* from Wealthify has found that kids in London are some of the best financially set up in the UK, with about 8 in 10 London parents (79%) saving for their children’s futures.
A whopping 44% of Londoners said they feel responsible for saving for their children, and almost a quarter (23.9%) would feel guilty if they didn’t save at all. This comes from the insight that 18.3% of London parents fear life will be harder for their children than it was for them.
London versus the rest of the UK:
– 1 in 6 (15.5%) Londoners feel they don’t have enough income to save for their children, compared to 22.8% nationally.
– Londoners plan to save the most on average (£27,989.95) in the UK for their children by the time they turn 21.
– Londoners are more than twice as likely than the rest of the UK to say they plan to save more than £100,000 for each of their children by the time they hit the 21 milestone, with 1 in 25 (4%) parents planning to save this eye-watering amount.
Below, Wealthify uncovers how Londoners have saved towards key milestones in their children’s lives including weddings, first homes and first cars:

1. Weddings
– London parents are more committed than any other UK region to contribute to their children’s future weddings, with 41.7% of Londoners saying they plan to spend money on this – Compared to 35.7% nationally.
– More than a quarter (28.6%) of London parents said they would spend between £1,000 to £5,000, and another quarter said they plan on spending between £5,000 to £15,000.
– Londoners were also 4X more likely than the rest of the UK to say they would splurge more than £50,000 and about 2X more likely than the rest of the UK to purchase their children’s entire weddings.
– 41.7% of London parents plan to contribute to their children’s future weddings BUT more than half (51.6%) of them received financial support from their own parents. It seems that funding weddings are no longer a high priority for parents – this sentiment was mimicked across the rest of the UK.

2. First Home
London was found to be the most generous region in the UK when it came to contributing financially to their children’s first property purchases, with more than half (52.8%) of Londoners saying they would help:

– 62.4% of Londoners plan to contribute between £10,000 to £50,000 whilst an astonishing 1 in 10 Londoners plan to splash more than £70,000 on each of their children’s home purchases.

– Londoners are most likely to plan to (or already have), purchased an entire house for their child – 6.8%, compared to 1 in 27 (3.7%) parents nationally.

– The average London parent contributes (or plans to contribute) £31,541 per child – £6,724 more than the national average.
– The findings come to light as the survey reveals that only 43.3% of London parents surveyed had financial support from their own family members when buying a house, showing Londoners are becoming significantly more generous in offering their children financial support for this. Perhaps this is indicative of the growing house prices in London.

3. Higher Education
With more people attending university in the UK than ever before, it seems parents’ finances are taking a hit too. The research uncovered that children from London are better set up financially for their higher education than anywhere else in the UK. Where just over half of all respondents (51.5%) said they plan to support their children through their higher education financially, 63.5% of Londoners said they will.

– 41.2% of Londoner parents said they expect to fork out between £1,001 to £3,000 per year towards higher education.
– About 1 in 6 (15.6%) London parents said they would contribute between £4,001 to £5,000 per year – 2X more than the average UK parent would spend.
– Almost 1 in 5 (18.5%) London respondents said they will spend more than £5,000 on their children’s higher education each year. This is 1.5X less than the parents in the rest of the UK where only 1 in 8 (12.4%) of parents would spend this.

4. First Car
– Wealthify’s survey found that almost half (46%) of all London parents plan to contribute to their children’s first car purchases.

– UK parents fork out an average of £1,911.75 on a car for their child, whilst Londoners are forking out almost £500 more, at £2,454.74.

– Interestingly, about 1 in 9 (11.9%) London parents said they plan to spend more than £5,000 on their child’s first car. This is 1.5X more than the national average and the highest percentage of parents to spend this much in the UK.

Simon Holland, Chief Product Officer, Wealthify comments: “As the cost of living rises across the country, it’s no surprise that parents are finding it difficult to save for their children. However, as time goes on, big purchases like a car or home will become much less attainable for our kids – so, it’s important we help to give them a financial head start if we are able to.

“You can open up a Wealthify Junior Stocks and Shares ISA (JISA) to start investing towards your child’s future from as little as £1. What’s more, you can spread the cost by inviting family and friends to contribute. If you don’t think you can afford payments every month, no pressure – Wealthify JISAs are flexible, so you can pay in as much as you like, as often as you like, ready for your child to access when they turn 18.”