Protecting Your Young Family Financially

I genuinely believe that people’s thoughts and feelings on their finances become far more important after the birth of their first child. Before then, particularly if you are single, it seems like it is fine to live today and save tomorrow, and all those ideas of putting something aside for a rainy day are just that, ideas of something that you can put off until tomorrow. But when you have a child, your outlook changes, because now there is someone else who is reliant on you for everything, and this can often have you looking towards the future.

A custodial Roth IRA

One way to save money for your children’s future if they have their own income source is by setting up a custodial Roth IRA. A custodial Roth IRA is a Roth individual retirement account that is owned by a minor but controlled by an adult until the said child reaches legal adulthood. These accounts generally have no minimum balance, or account-opening or maintenance fees. These accounts are a clear way of looking out for your child’s future needs when they are very small if they earn money,  i.e through a popular Instagram or Tiktok account.

Fabric by Gerber Life explains:-

A custodial Roth IRA is a tax-advantaged retirement savings account that you can open on your child’s behalf if they have earned income. The primary purpose of a Roth IRA is long-term retirement savings, but it also offers some flexibility for other qualified expenses.

Family Income Benefit

Another thing worth looking into is Family Income Benefit. This is an insurance product that is offered by companies such as Lifesearch, one of of UK’s leading insurance brokers. It is actually one of their most popular and searched for products because it is an insurance product with a difference. Whilst many forms of insurance are based around receiving a lump sum at the end of the term, or if payment ceases due to a death, Family Income Benefit is set up so you receive a regular, tax free payment that can be organised to come each month, or on a quarterly basis.

If you are interested in Family Income Benefit, there are some more key points to consider. The first is that you have to decide the length of the term that you want to pay. Many people take out this policy based on a period of 20-25 years, and do this when their children are young, paying each month, and knowing that if tragedy was to strike, their children would be supported until they were of an age to be financially independent. The payment works on a sliding scale, so if you took out a 25 year policy, and died four years in, your family would continue to receive payments for the next 21 years, if you died 6 years in the payments would be made for the following 19 years, and so on.

Summing Up

For many families, the idea of regular income, rather than a very quickly wasted lump sum, is a perfect way to feel that their family has some security financial security, even if the very worst was to happen, particularly in regards to household and living expenses, knowing that there is an income available can make budgeting easier, at a time when life is already difficult enough.

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