Savings for DC?

[swd12422]

If you have savings accounts or the like for your kids, what do you have, and why? DS got some money for his birthday and we put it in a savings account for him. But he's just a toddler, so it's not like he's going to get to spend it in the next few years. (When he's old enough to understand, he'll get to buy himself a present with the birthday money he gets, but for now, it's savings for his future.)

So, do you open a money market and start investing? Put in into a retirement account? Education savings? What do you do about savings bonds they receive as gifts?

[Alyantavid]

We just have savings accounts. I opened them for the boys' first Christmas and they get money for every bday and Christmas and it always goes in there. Small amounts, $20 or so, we let them spend on something, but the rest goes in the bank.

It'll be their's to use when they're adults. Hopefully to help with college, but of course, it's up to them.

[swd12422]

I should have said that I'm asking b/c DH thinks a savings account won't accrue enough interest to "help with college" or really be of much use by then. So yeah, we'll continue to maintain the savings account so he has something for little things, but I guess I should have said we're looking for more growth. Although I did ask, so maybe no one else is thinking this way, either? (I wasn't, til DH said something....)

And if you waited to start anything beyond a savings account, how long did you wait and why?

[mtm]

my kids have regular savings accounts (ING) and registered education savings plans (we're canadians, can't remember what you call them in the states)

[sewingmommy]

our dc have savings and 401k accounts and a trading account ...dh is an accountant and wants to make as much for them as he can ....

[colsxjack]

We are also Canadian.
Our DD has an RESP (registered education savings account).
We automatically put $25/week into it. We started when she was 3 months old. By the time she (and any future kids) are ready for University there should be more than enough in it for them to go.
The money goes into mutual funds. At this point, because she is so young and there is lots of time, we are into riskier funds. later on we will lower the risk and make less but be more sure that the money will not fluctuate as much.

We went with an RESP because the government will deposit 20% of our deposits to a certain amount to help us save. That is a bonus in our mind.

[LilMama23]

We put the money that we got for DD's birth & baptism in a CD so that it would earn more interest but still be relatively accessible. She's four and we've already earned over $100 in interest.

[velochic]

We put money into a MMMF for dd until she accrued enough for an investment account with Vanguard. Now she is invested in mutual funds and contributes to it a few times a year when she saves up enough to make a transfer to the account. This isn't for college. We plan to let her have this money at high school graduation to do something fun that summer, keep saving it, buy a car, use for a down payment on a house... whatever she wants depending on how much is there. If the market stays flat, her options may be limited.

We also have a 529 for college savings for her.

She can't have a retirement account yet because she's only 8 and doesn't work, but we will encourage her to start working toward that when she gets her first job.

[Jaxinator]

Our kiddo has a 529 college plan, opened when he was less than a year old. It had lost a bit, but it's slowly gaining it back.
We put money in monthly for him. He's only 4, so we still have awhile for it to gain.

Savings bonds get put away. We just forget about them.

[annethcz]

Our kids all have 529 college investment accounts. We contribute to the accounts regularly, and all money they receive as gifts (for birthdays, Christmas, etc.) are deposited into the accounts.

[zebra15]

Ds has an educational account and a regular savings account. 2x a year I sweep the funds over to the educational account. He also has a prepaid card (similiar to a checking account) that he makes purchases from. I add his allowance to his every 2 weeks.

[palmgal]

We have 529s for both kids. If your state has income tax, you can sometimes get a deduction for your contributions to your own in state 529 plans.

[Smithie]

529s for all three kids. When they are old enough to have jobs, they can get checking accounts, and think about saving up some money for travel, expensive toys we don't care to buy for them, etc. We hope/plan to be able to provide an "allowance" for clothes, food etc. while they are in college, from which they can learn the joy of budgeting.

If we anticipated being in a different place financially during the teen years, I'd also be squirreling away money into regular savings accounts to help with the first cars, etc. But we are very much hoping to be able to provide those.

[honeybunmom]

My mom opened a money market account for me when I was a child and paid for college with stock options from her employer.

Hoping to do the same, but I will establish a more disciplined approach. Birthday money just goes in the piggy bank. My mom buys them $500 cd's for their birthdays and they have my brokerage account with options I have already exercised. I'll be opening a separate money market for bi-monthly savings to balance the stocks.

[Carson]

Originally Posted by annethcz

Our kids all have 529 college investment accounts. We contribute to the accounts regularly, and all money they receive as gifts (for birthdays, Christmas, etc.) are deposited into the accounts.

This is what I just did for DS. I was looking for a higher yield, and the tax advantages are nice too. There is a pretty wide range of instiutions it can be used for, which is great.

Right now we don't need the money for DS stuff - the kid's happy playing with a bib, KWIM? So I figure it's best to tuck the $ away for future use.

[StephandOwen]

We just opened a savings account for ds last year (he's 6 now). I put money in there randomly. DP has it set up so a specific amount gets automatically moved in there. DP saves his money in a piggy bank and maybe once a month he takes all his paper money and brings it to the bank.

We do not have any sort of college account for him, and probably never will. It's not guaranteed that ds will go to college so we'd rather have money available for him to do what he wants with (whether that's buying a car, a down payment for a house, whatever).

ETA- he also has some CD's that are around. We just forget about them. Actually, I think they're in dp's parents safe box....