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Ive finally opened accounts for them.
The conditions are they dont get the money until they are 18 but i have no idea how much is an appropriate amount to put in each week. What do/would you put in your kids accounts?
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we have 3 kids and put in $10 each a week because thats we can afford. We also put $1000 each from the baby bonus to start them off. We wont tell the kids about their accounts until they are 18 too
We don't do it but MIL does and she puts $5 a week in for them. She is giving it to them when they turn 18.
My kids have $5 each a fortnight from me and $5 each a week from my sister. All birthday money, etc gets put into their accounts too.
It's important to only put in what you can AFFORD to put in each week. This will be very different for each family.
Personally I could put in an awful lot. But I choose not to, because I'd rather spend that money on the children and their day to day care and enjoyment, than save for something that they might not appreciate when they are older.
I have told my children that they're off to work when they are 14 - yes 14 - and if they save their income, for every dollar that is in their bank account at the end of their Year 12 year, I will match it. They can use it to buy a car or go travelling etc. And if they get better marks than we agree is appropriate/anticipated, then they will get a bonus amount too. What that bonus will be, will depend on what marks they achieve etc. I think this is a better use of children's bank accounts than putting say $5-$10 per week into the account.
Particularly if you can't really afford it and every cent counts in your current situation. You'd be better off using all your money on things like rent, moving, bills, doctors, food, etc. It's definitely an expense that is unnecessary, IMHO.
We worked out our finances this week and we can actually afford a lot more than we thought especially now we will be living in town, heaps less fuel, no stockfeed, natural gas etc
I think ill prob put $10 a week in each.
I like your $ matching idea ill do something similar i think
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Pretty much what Div said.
DH and I bicker over this. I think paying off our mortgage is more important than building up accounts for them. I figure if we are mortgage free when they are older, the we will be in a better position to help them. That is if they need & deserve it.
DD has a bank account, initially we planned to put in $10/week, but that hasn't happened..mostly the money that goes in there is spare change that goes into her money box. I empty it out every month or so and we count it and take it to the bank. Have also put most of the money she has gotten for birthdays in there too. The givers always say 'put it towards something she needs' but she doesn't really need anything that we can't afford ourselves, so I figure it's more worthwhile going to her bank account. Occasionally when I remember and there is enough money to pay other bills (DH is self employed so income can vary from week to week) I'll put in an extra $10 or $20. Her account pays Bonus interest if money is put in every month, so it's a good incentive.
I putt all my loose change into his money box then take that to the bank when it's getting full. If we are getting a bit short and need a loaf of bread or packet of nappies (or any thing else important) I'll take some out.
We have one for DS and will open one for DD. We put $10 in on payday (fortnightly) and any birthday money he gets that we don't have anything to spend it on for him
Both the Nanna's have one apparently, I think they put about $2 per week per kid
We initially opened accounts but stopped adding to them and adding to our mortgage, we keep a tally of what we would have added and will give to them when older, money is better off on our mortgage.
Well done on opening accounts!!
We have accounts for the kids and were putting in $5/week each but we have stopped that at the moment and will also give it to them when they are 18. I don't bank it regliously if we need it else where and I have used that money for clothes and stuff for them.
I really do like Divvys idea of matching there savings and also rewards for good grades. Definitely food for thought there.
My boy's have money boxes. When the boxes are full they spend some, save some and give some to a charity of their choice.
Olive we have been considering doing something similar but putting the money into an offset account against our mortgage
we will be opening accounts for the boys, but at the moment, our money is better put into our mortgage and reducing our interest payments.
if we were renting though, we would be putting in small regular amounts as a direct debit so we don't have to think about it.
[[[Divvy: why weren't you my mum?]]]
We initially opened an account for each of them and were putting in $50 a month and depositing money from their money boxes when full. \
Just recently we decided to put all of their money into one account and then use it as an offset against mortgage. We will split the money between them when we decide they are old enough.
We put $10 into DD account once a month. My dad also saves up his 50c pieces and gives them to us to bank when his money box is full (my mum did this before she passed away and he has continued).
I'm not a huge fan of this sort of thing.
I personally think that in the age of entitlement that we are all currently living in and raising our kids in the concept of free money can be a hugely destructive one.
I think that a bank account for kids is a great thing and that depositing money into it that they got for birthdays and from their money box is a great way to encourage the concept of saving from a young age (and trips to the bank putting your coins into the counting machine is sooooooo much fun!)
As for the weekly deposits - there is no kiddies bank account that I am aware of that is paying interest even close to the level that we are paying on a mortgage or credit card or any other sort of loan so it makes more sense to pay it off those first. And then when the kids are 18 or whatever i will hopefully be in a better financial position that if they have worked towards something then I will be able to help out or give them a gift on my terms rather than having the enviable "but it's my money" brawl because there is a bank account with a lot of money ($10 a week for 18 years is almost $10000 before you add interest) that is in their name and they want to buy something that I don't think is appropriate and i havent worked hard to fund a ruby encrusted platinum navel ring :)
I like divvy's idea of matching their savings
Our girls have banks accounts and we were going to do the $10 a week thing, but DD1 gets pocket money for doing chores around the house, she can spend or save half of it and the other half goes into her bank account through school banking.
We will be encouraging our girls to get jobs at 14/15 and save some money up as well.
We started an account when DD was born and we're putting in $200 a f/n I think. We use it more for expenses for her and DS (coming soon to a hospital near you!). So when she runs out of clothes that fit I can go buy some without worrying about the money. We also use it for her swimming lessons etc. So it's an account for "stuff" for them rather than their money etc.
DH and I have already said that we will do the matching money thing rather than just giving them a lump sum. So encouraging a work ethic and their own savings rather than just thinking Mum and Dad will hand it to them.
I'd rather spend the money too. Most people I know could be spending a lot more money on food. Buying local, organic meat or fermented cod liver oil is FAR more important than saving IMHO. When my kids are old enough to understand getting birthday money then I will probably open credit union accounts with them and help them manage their money.
We have bank accounts set up for the boys largely because the family wanted to give them gifts for birthday, baptism etc. We don't contribute to these accounts.
Like a few others, we put the money towards our mortgage. However we are lucky that the money that sits in the boys accounts offsets the mortgage (don't ask me how we set this up!) so it's all working towards the same goal anyway.
I should say, we've already spent some money that was given to our oldest son on his ticket to London this Christmas. I figure it's for him and he's getting benefit so it's all kosher.
Fiona
We have bank accounts that the children have that are contributed to in a number of ways:
*Birthday/christmas/christening monies etc
*We contribute $50 per month towards
*Every fortnight the kids take money from their moneyboxes and we deposit it at school via school banking.
But this money is not for them when they turn 18 etc. It is for any expenses that come up that we feel the need to use the money for. Eg we are off to NZ in a fortnights time for a month so we will be withdrawing $500 from each of their accounts to contribute towards all the activities and tours that they want to do. It is still being used for them, just in a different way.;)
We do a lot of travelling and believe that the life lessons that they learn from travel far exceed anything they could learn at home. So for us a lot of their money will be used for our numerous trips.
We will also when they reach 18 or 21 (haven't yet decided which one!) pay for them to go on a tour or holiday of their choice up to a certain value whether it be going to machu picchu as our DD1 wants to, doing a contiki tour or going to Egypt to see the pyramids like DS wants to...it will be up to them.:D
DS has a money tin that DH puts all his spare change into, and he also gets $2 a week from our neighbours for putting their rubbish bins out and bring them in :)
Birthday money also generally goes in there as well. I don't put a set amount away each week.