Hi Ladies,

I'll try give some background as best I can - but my basic question is do your kids have a trust fund on the go for when they turn either 18 or 21?

I had 2 that matured when I turned 18. One was from my grandparents who passed away when I was 3 & 4 years old respectively & another from a car crash I was in when I was around 8 years old. I received compensation for it & my parents put a trust on it to mature on my 18th birthday. Now it didn't all combine to a huge amount. I think I had about $800 from the car crash & maybe $1k from my grandparents? Their initial investment was $250 so it matured over 15 years quite considerably. This money went straight into my bank account & then the ENTIRE amount went straight onto my first mortgage.

Anyhoo, my parents are just about to inherit a LOT of money. I'm talking some serious money & they have told me straight out of their mouths that my sister & I will not receive a 'brass razoo' (their words). Can you tell I'm a little bitter? LOL. Considering the amount they have been 'guestimated', they will live very, very, very comfortable lives from now on.

I basically told them whatever, it's their money, it honestly is. But I did say it was nice that on my 18th birthday I had a gift from my grandparents awaiting for me even though they were long gone & if I had ANY say in any part this inheritance - I would request a trust fund set up for each of my kids to mature on their 18th birthday to put towards their first house, car or travel plans.

I should say this inheritance coming my parents way comes from a long line of ancestors of ours who now have unfortunately all passed away & hence this money has now become available. It's basically family money. My dad, sister & 4 cousins are the recipients of this money that dates way back to when the family first migrated to Australia from Britian. In all honesty, it's a shame it's all come to the surface, it would have been nice to have it re-invested for another couple of hundred years. But as it is today, all these 6 family member basically just want to take what's theirs & run & sever the family financial ties - another thing I think is really sad. Many of our relatives worked so hard for so many years to create this 'financial situation' & I feel it makes the recipients look lazy as they are just happy to gobble up the money & not try to keep the family going for another couple of centuries? I think it's nice family history. But anyway! I"m going off topic.

So, because of this, DH & I have decided that we would like to create trust funds ourselves for the girls. I assume we have to start with a sum of money & then each week/month/pay we can add to it as we wish & over the years it will grow, interest will accrue & then on their 18th we are able to give them a cheque?

Does anybody else do this for their kids? Our kids have bank accounts - but we use that as a 'working' account as we save in their for their school fees (we pay their international education & it's a ridiculous amount), so we save in there & then withdraw to pay the fees. I'm talking about something that CAN'T be touched?

I'm so sorry if this is long, I'll probably have to come back & add to it. But I just wanted to know if your kids have trust funds & did YOU create them, or are they from deceased family members like grandparents, etc...

Thanks!