How much money should I have saved by 18?​

Turning 18 holds great significance. It’s a time full of promise and marks your journey to becoming an adult. You can register to vote, buy your first pint and even get married without parental consent. It may also be a time that your child looks to begin their undergraduate degree.

You’ve probably heard of the tuition fees that can cost upwards of £9,000 a year. Thankfully, the cost of this is covered by the Student Loans Company and will only begin to be paid back once your child earns over a set amount.

Maintenance loans work in a similar way although these are often used to cover day-to-day living costs such as transport and food. The maintenance loan amount is calculated on your household income, as technically, the more you earn the more you can afford to support your child.

Unless living at home, accommodation will be an extra cost that may have to be covered by yours truly. Times Higher Education found the average cost of accommodation to be just under £5,000 a year. As undergraduate degrees usually last three years, that’s £15,000 in total. If based in locations with high rent such as London, you could have to fork out even more.

This would be a scary cost to most parents, so we’ll help you figure out how much you’d need roughly to save for your child before they enter the big wide world.

With 50% of young people now going to university, a flip of a coin would give you the same chance of your child wishing to go into higher education. To give some perspective on how much that £5,000 a year would’ve cost when you were younger, we’ve roughly worked it out by decade.

• In 1970, £303 would be the equivalent of £5,000 today
• In 1980, it would be just under £1,100
• In 1990, this would rise to just over £2,000

Depending on when you turned 18, it may be worth asking yourself if you would’ve had these amounts saved.

Even without university fees, just supporting a child until they reach 18 can cost a significant amount. A study by Child Poverty Action Group found the cost of raising a child to the age of 18 to be over £160,000 for a couple and £193,000 for a lone parent. That works out to be £9,000 a year for couples and £10,750 for a lone parent.

With the right information, you can help manage your money and plan for the future. If just starting out, we’d suggest watching our How to Save Money in the Bank video that goes into more details on how to save for short, mid and long term life goals.

It’s really important that we stress that this is a summary of the common scenarios that parents may face and not a definitive list. Often these amounts can differ depending on your personal circumstances. And remember, these are just a few of the options available to you. If you’re ever in doubt, speak to a financial advisor.