BANK ACCOUNTS FOR KIDS



This is a great way to teach beginning investment (although not a great lesson in earning interest these days!). The first step is to check with your bank-of-choice to find out the minimum opening balance. Some banks allow a child's account to have a lower opening balance than normal. Also be sure to find an account that won't charge a fee for things like monthly service charges, low balance, withdrawals, etc. 

It is a great experience for your child to be with you when you open the account. Our local bank did a great job walking our girls through the process and explaining how to balance the transaction book. Our girls were so proud when they handed over their Save It money bag and heard the praises of the bank employees (hey...I relish any and all outside sources of motivation as we try to raise fiscally responsible children!) Once you leave the bank with transaction record book in hand, take the opportunity to explain interest and how the bank "pays" you to have your money in their possession. 

You can take your child to make deposits in the account as often as you like. If your child is older and makes a larger commission, weekly deposits would be great. If younger, then monthly deposits would make more sense. Once your child has about $250.00 in the account, you can explore other investment options like mutual funds.  See below fora calculator to teach your child the magic of compounded interest. Investment houses like T. Rowe Price, Edward Jones, ING, Raymond James, etc. can help your child with future investments. It's fun to earmark the mutual fund for something long-term (car, college, etc) and track it online.

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