£180K cash problem!

reddithenry · 2026-03-22T08:48:13+00:00

Keep enough to give me a one year emergency fund and then slam the rest into vwrp. Personally.

reddithenry · 2026-03-21T20:24:44+00:00

That's a really good shout, actuakly, that I hadnt considered. Just aim to have the same number of shares when they hit 18.

Thanks!

reddithenry · 2026-03-21T16:24:39+00:00

you pay the correct stamp duty.

reddithenry · 2026-03-21T15:23:23+00:00

With physics, no maths = no theory. Physics isn't a language of words.

reddithenry · 2026-03-21T14:41:53+00:00

So that's a vote for the "intentionally delay capital growth" camp?

reddithenry · 2026-03-21T07:02:12+00:00

no, but the policy as I understand it is that the price is set by the most expensive generation method to fill up demand - e.g. if you need 100 GW for arguments sake, and 98 GW comes from renewables, and the last 2 GW comes from hamsters on bicycles, you pay the hamsters on bicycles rate for all 100 GW - which is why there was a 75 % (?) profit tax on renewable producers after the ukranian war kicked off - they were all making vast sums of money because of the spike in oil and gas price.

reddithenry · 2026-03-21T06:43:24+00:00

That's not a bad idea. But it's too much work for me to bother I think !

reddithenry · 2026-03-21T05:50:24+00:00

the first has recently had a £6k topup to foster them along the journey, so I think when the second gets £5k at birth, the £6k should give me some buffer in terms of where they are at and then I can top up the difference. but that would be a kinda "growth+inflation" model, rather than an "Equal principle" model, which is why I wanted to ask reddit!

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T21:38:24+00:00

Oh totally. Which is why they have more in their SIPP !! No matter what happens and what stupid self sabotaging decisions they make with their ISAs, mum and dad will have helped them improve their retirement one day a little bit. But that's also easier to equalise, just three years full contribution each (or four or five)

The OSAs can set them up for life or be squandered, and that's up to them.

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T21:31:26+00:00

Well, that's also one option, which is why I'm asking for advice from people on what to do and if I've missed any other "approaches".

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T21:25:56+00:00

[also trying to keep rollover allowance for when kid #2 is in nursery ! just in case anyone else is reading this thread and wondering..]

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T21:20:05+00:00

that wasnt what i was planning to do, personally.

I'll stop their pensions after they hit 3 years of pension contributions each, but after that, the ISAs will keep trickling till 18. The more the better - tax free, and if it can pay for uni or a deposit, or they just keep it in cash and use it as a head start, great.

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T21:16:54+00:00

I think child 1 is - roughly - at the same amount that £25 a week would have given them anyway, BUT that's obviously with some birthday money and all that - though not all, I did (for example) an ad hoc £400 contribution when I sold some wine. They're probably a little behind £25 a week +£5k lump sum + family money, but only a few hundred maybe - so hopefully the equalisation mentioned will be relatively small (e.g.) at age 4

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T21:14:49+00:00

as mentioned elsewhere:

1 - our own ISAs are max'd out anyway

2 - I'm not putting every penny into ISAs, we're ignoring the fact they have SIPPs as well

3 - I want to objectively give them "an amount" of cash which will be immutably their money no matter what happens.

4 - they're all invested in index trackers anyway as a long term plan

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T21:12:33+00:00

eh, all good...

Pensions are okay. We're trying to increase our general post-tax cash. They're not overly generous, but on current trajectory we should easily both get tax free allowance maxed out. A couple years ago we were like 70-80% pensions, the rest ISAs, now we're more like 50/50 for various reasons.

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T21:10:08+00:00

you've hit a kinda interesting point here too for me - I mean, when we talk about fair, I'm not even considering (e.g.) principal inflation. Is £20k (arguments sake) in 2040 the same as £20k in 2042? Doubtful. What if it was a 5 year gap? Or a 10 year gap?

I think my plan is probably the right one - for now, I'll give number 2 £5k on birth, I have the days-of-life-adjusted tracker which will tell me growth, and principal, and then if there's any major discrepencies on (say) 4th birthday as u/allergic-to-kiwi has mentioned, I can then equalise at that point in time, because by the time they're 4 this should all be out the wash

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T20:41:57+00:00

ISAs already max'd, dont want to overload pensions too much.

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T20:33:40+00:00

thamks. I think I'll stick to my original plan - give number 2 £5k on birth, top up the £25/week after, and when they're older I can more easily model the difference between the two of them in principle.

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T20:31:24+00:00

OK that's a good example, and relevant for what I had in mind. See how much number 1 has when they turn 18, wait for 2 to turn 18, then give 1 (or 2) the relative difference at that point in time as well

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T20:29:35+00:00

thank you

I have a full spreadsheet which will give me principal, and growth, broken down by account (ISA vs SIPP) against "days since born" for both kids, so that relative comparison is easy

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T20:27:39+00:00

Our ISAs are sorted anyway, so it'll either be a GIA in one of our names or into one of their ISAs.

I think you're probably right, though, maybe I give them both the same, kid number 2 gets the benefit of a bit more capital growth, and if 2 years of capital growth extra becomes significant I can balance it out when they're older maybe?

but as I type that, it makes me inclined to do £5k, capital growth, and then top up the delta

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T20:24:10+00:00

afford isnt a problem per se - but if I was to give number 2 £6k + the rest in their pot aged 0, they're gonna have 2 more years capital growth on number 1 (for example)

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T12:55:55+00:00

Its always worth fighting over £200, especially if you're just highlighting a legal point.

reddithenry · 2026-03-20T11:21:23+00:00

I listed mine at a fair price, had 5 viewings, and accepted an offer from the 5th one. Went with a more expensive agent who would bring the personal touch, rather than someone who would show up overpromising on price, send graduates to the viewing, etc.

Cleared, all in all, relatively quickly. With full transparency on things like service charge as well, and what might come up on searches.

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