How do you save for the kids?

[dollarsaign]

Hello everyone!

I am wondering what you are doing to save for the kids. I have a 2-yr. old daughter and 4 month old boy.

I definitely want to start the savings process now and plant the seeds for their future.

How are you doing it?

[CouponAddict]

I opened a savings account for our 4yr old after he was born with money we received as DELIVERY/BIRTHday gifts. I would have liked to open an account with baby shower $ gifts but I was told at the time I needed a Social Security # for the minor.

Recently I moved the savings accounts (had two for easier transfers/deposits) to one ONLINE because the interest rate is much better. I bought my child the Dave Ramsey Junior Books (used) so he has books his age that talk about finances. He loves to read and be read to, so the books are a win/win.

My child also has a jar with a counter on the top, he likes to watch the number go up. When I am going to our non-online banks for something, I will take the coins in, deposit them into our account, then go online and transfer the amount (plus a little), into our childs savings account. Since I do not use cash for much, it takes a while for that to fill.

For Christmas I bought our child one share of Dreamworks stock, most people would say buy in bigger quanities to reduce the fees, but I wanted the visual reminder to save and invest, the Certificate is very nice with Shrek on it. So I felt this was worth the little extra transaction cost.

[PrincessPerky]

I think there were a few threads on this if you search you can find them.

Each kid of mine has an online savings account that a portion of all there money goes into. We opened them with gifts given for birth and before they could hold the money (infants don't need to mouth money!)

I believe saving is a habit much like brushing teeth...if you want to avoid major costs in the future, you should take care of them constantly. So I don't allow them to skip brushing teeth and I don't allow them to skip saving. There is a minimum requirement (twice a day on teeth) 20% on saving, anything beyond that is optional.

They also each have a 'bank of mom' account, I keep the 'spendable' cash, or help them save up to a big purchase. My oldest gets a 'passbook' to keep track of how much is in the bank..

My oldest also has a 'bill' he has to pay 50 cents a week in dues for scouting, I helped him determine how much he will need for awhile, I want him to run out and find work .

Eventually I would like to get them interested in something fancier than a savings account...investing or at least a CD, but so far we haven't.

[kobe008]

I've been meaning to open an online account for my 2 young sons with their bday money but wasnt sure how to do it. I know kids dont have to pay taxes on their interest up to a certain dollar amount but how do I do this in an online account. I thought I had to be the primary person on the account with the kid as a joint owner. If that is the case then dont I have to pay taxes on their interest?

[dollarsaign]

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[mjv]

We have 3 yr old twins and a 4 month old. We setup 529 plans for all three of them as soon as they were born. We automatically deposit money into those accounts every month. We also have an UTMA account setup for the youngest. Once we save enough into the account I would like to split it by three and have three separate UTMA accounts. The UTMA accounts are setup online with TD Ameritrade so that we get better interest then the local banks.

[SnoopyCool]

We have a set amount that we deposit weekly into their bank accounts. We haven't been consistent with their allowance, but when we do they tithe and save the rest to spend on what they want. But now I'm inspired to have them save a portion of it just to be in the habit

[disneysteve]

We have a 529 plan for our daughter. I started it with $250/month, later raised it to $400/month and recently cut it back to $300/month. By the time she starts college in 6 years, I expect to have enough in there to cover about 2 years worth of school (depending on the school of course). The rest will come from current income (mine and her own), grants and loans.

[FrugalFish]

Originally Posted by kobe008

I've been meaning to open an online account for my 2 young sons with their bday money but wasnt sure how to do it. I know kids dont have to pay taxes on their interest up to a certain dollar amount but how do I do this in an online account. I thought I had to be the primary person on the account with the kid as a joint owner. If that is the case then dont I have to pay taxes on their interest?

ING allows you to open an account with a minor as a primary account holder and an adult as the joint owner.

[dollarsaign]

Here is an awesome fun and helpful saving tool.

I came across it while searching.

Sammy Rabbit teaches kids saving with books and music. Excellent!

here you go Sammy Rabbit - It's a Habit, Saving is a great habit!

Good luck everyone and keep up the good work.

[JoeMoney]

Checked the site. That is great! I have a pet interest in the subject of teaching kids how to save. Do you know any others? I have been looking into this very area recently. I remembered how my wife and I took care of our kids with little mini checkbook we made up for them and their chores. It was fun.

Thanks
joe

[CreditExpert]

start a savings account for each of them NOW. If you pay a fixed amount into that acount and treat it as a budget item you will be surpized at how fat the money grow

[responduser]

Originally Posted by dollarsaign

Hello everyone!

I am wondering what you are doing to save for the kids. I have a 2-yr. old daughter and 4 month old boy.

I definitely want to start the savings process now and plant the seeds for their future.

How are you doing it?

There are many long term savings plan available that are really helpful to secure children's future.

IMO< find a financial planner who can suggest you the best plan that matched with your specific requirements.


David

[PauletteGoddard]

How are you [saving money for your progeny]?

I'm teaching my child to work for savings. He tells people I am twenty or twenty-one years old, and as a result his allowance has gone up from six dollars a week to fifteen.

As a matter of practice, I am putting some money away in an early saver account for him, he deposits a few coins into his low-interest but prize-earning account through school. I have a Coverdell account for him, but haven't contributed to it recently, owing to a bumper crop of more immediate, higher cost savings goals.

[stressedmama]

I have a 3 year old and 10 month old and have 529 accounts set up for each of them. If you get a Upromise CC you can get various % of your purchases back (% back is based on participating stores/restaurants) and directly deposited into your linked 529.

When they are a little older, I plan on giving an allowance for doing chores. I would like to teach them to give, save, and then spend.

[jIM_Ohio]

I have twins which are 21 days old tommorrow.

My plans are 3 fold

1) we have a current investment in PRPFX which is for intermediate term savings (any need for between 3 years and 20 years). Any college savings goes to this general investment until kids start MS or HS. This fund is a dual emergency fund (we have 3 months expenses in bank, this fund would be months 4-36).

2) open 529's around age of 12 or 14. At this time I would expect PRPFX fund in #1 has enough to pay off mortgage if needed.

3) Possibly use other methods (mortgage payment) to fund college (if mortgage is paid off in less than 19 years).

[ThriftoRama]

We have a two week old baby boy. We have a 529 plan that we contribute $175 a month to. I am also going to open either a stock account for him and fund it with $5,000 or so. (I'd like to be able to grow the account and then give it to him when he is an adult...) It will be in my name and I will manage it until he's old enough to understand stocks and will be able to choose some for himself. I will also be opening a savings account for him when he is a little bit older, and will encourage him to put half of all birthday and work money in the account. In the meantime, a piggy bank will work just fine.

Oh, and when he is old enough to start working, I will open a Roth IRA for him.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by jIM_Ohio

2) open 529's around age of 12 or 14.

Jim, can you explain your reasoning behind waiting until then to open the 529s. Isn't it better to get the money in a tax-sheltered account sooner rather than later to get the most benefit from that tax-free growth? Or are you, perhaps, thinking ahead to how various assets will be counted in financial aid calculations?

[Diolla]

I started saving for my Son when he was 1 yo. I put aside $1 a week for him then at 2 yo I put away $2 and so on. It didn't grow much at first but now at 18 I have a nice starter account for him. It wasn't meant to pay for college or anything it was just a way to have something for him for when he grew up.

BTW When he was 12 I took him to the CU and let him pick out a CD to put the funds into. It was a way of showing him how they worked. He knows they are there (in an ING account right now) but he isn't in any hurry to spend them since he has plenty from his work to get anything he really wants.

He has also always had to save up for things he wants that are expensive. At 14 with no possibility of a real job he saved the money for a game cube by recycling cans and doing yard work for people. He probably got $25 max from us for doing things at home most of it was though his own efforts. I was very proud of him as it took him a year to save the money and there were alot of other things he could have spent it on but he always kept his eye on the goal.