85% of First Holy Communicants plan to save, parents say | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

85% of First Holy Communicants plan to save, parents say

Children in Northern Ireland received more in gifts for their first holy communion this year than in 2015, and the significant majority plan to save at least some of it, according to research by Ulster Bank.

InfographicThose making their first holy communion in Northern Ireland received £302 on average, up from £283 in 2015, according to the study.

Of the money that children had spent, toys (72 per cent) and clothes (30 per cent) were the two most popular items bought, followed by sports equipment (15 per cent) and tablet computers (13 per cent).

However, encouragingly, 85 per cent of those surveyed said that some of the money given to the children for their Holy Communion would be placed into a savings account. Of those, 84 per cent said that they already have an account open and 16 per cent said that they are planning to open an account for the child.

When it comes to spending by parents on their child’s first holy communion, on average, this was down slightly on 2015; £499 this year compared to £502 last year. In 2014, the average was £543, and it was £587 in 2012.

This year’s biggest expenditure item by families was on the party, celebration or food and drink (£209). The average amount spent on an outfit was £153, with £52 on average spent on make-up / fake tan / hairstyle.

In terms of expenditure, families spent more on average on girls (£535) compared to boys (£458).

Article continues below:

May June 2016 updatedSean Murphy, Regional Managing Director, Branch and private banking at Ulster Bank said, “First holy communion usually presents children with an opportunity to save or spend a significant amount of money for the first time, and is therefore an opportunity for parents to instil the importance of saving from an early age and to start to equip children with the skills to deal with financial decisions.

He added, “So we’re really pleased to hear that such a high proportion of young people are planning to save some of the money they have received.”

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Posted by on Jun 27 2016. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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