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children's savings

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Anonymous
Not applicable

children's savings

I have an 8 year old who is soooooo sooo tight with HER money. It's not a huge amount... somewhere around the 2k mark.

When I realized she had amassed a decent amount I didnt want it just sitting in her room. So, for an instant fix I started depositing her money into a local bank's savings account. Its 1% interest.

Can anyone give any advice about the best way to invest her money into something that will make a better profit?
Message 1 of 12
11 REPLIES 11
Ardecko
Frequent Contributor

Re: children's savings

DCU, 6% on the first 1k

But you have to mail paperwork to them, which I've not done yet.
2017-09-09 FICO 08: EQ 677, TU 640, EX 705
2020-02-07 FICO 08: TU 789
2020-02-10 FICO 08: EX 752

Gardening, mostly, again until... soon(I need to replace my car)

Message 2 of 12
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: children's savings

You should start charging her room and board, it will teach her how to balance her budget.
Message 3 of 12
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: children's savings

Thank you for your replies...

I was going to look into DCU for myself... I wonder if they allow two.. one for me and one for her. I'll look into that for sure.

Also, lol... she says she's living with me forever! Shes so cheap! Haha
Message 4 of 12
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: children's savings

There are a number of savings accounts that will give you a very high rate on the first X dollars.  DCU is one.  There are many others.  She could split her money between three accounts.

 

If you are curious about how to make money from savings and checking accounts with a fairly small fund (e.g. $1000 or so) you could explore the hobby of bonus chasing.  I.e. opening a checking or savings account, getting the signup bonus, closing it six months later, etc.  It's easy to make $500 a year doing that -- more if you do a bit of planning.  $500 a year revenue from $2000 dollars capital is a 25% return.

Message 5 of 12
rbentley
Established Contributor

Re: children's savings

An 8 year old with 2K in savings?  Adopt me please!  I clean my room and eat all my vegetables.

Message 6 of 12
iced
Valued Contributor

Re: children's savings

If she's happy with leaving money in long-term, and it were my child, I would start easing her into stocks as well. The compounding from dividends and gains will be fantastic over longer time frames, and with the market doing what it's doing right now, there's opportunities to get in at great prices. It will also teach her investment principles so she won't be afraid of it later.

 

There was an article that showed that investing $20,000 in someone's name when they're born and then leaving that money alone for 65 years should typically result in a balance of $1.5 - $2 million. It's the way I plan to start my future offspring off on the right foot.

Message 7 of 12
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: children's savings

Only caveat to investing early I found is figure out what the transfer rights are on what I think are the uniform gifts to minors act or something like that for your given state: I dumped some of my earnings from my childhood into a couple mutual funds that have transferred to various places over the years, and while I never really went to go get it out I briefly tried and it's a PITA 30 years later.  I should probably go see if I can find it again, likely not worth more than 6-7k currently but I guess that is something.

 

Also the mutual funds were basically a mistake when looked at objectively, wasn't much in the way of index funds or similar back then but it was case in point of actively managed funds kinda sucking in comparison.  Sad thing was I knew enough to have bought MSFT directly back then, but oh well haha.

 




        
Message 8 of 12
iced
Valued Contributor

Re: children's savings


@Revelate wrote:

Only caveat to investing early I found is figure out what the transfer rights are on what I think are the uniform gifts to minors act or something like that for your given state: I dumped some of my earnings from my childhood into a couple mutual funds that have transferred to various places over the years, and while I never really went to go get it out I briefly tried and it's a PITA 30 years later.  I should probably go see if I can find it again, likely not worth more than 6-7k currently but I guess that is something.

 

Also the mutual funds were basically a mistake when looked at objectively, wasn't much in the way of index funds or similar back then but it was case in point of actively managed funds kinda sucking in comparison.  Sad thing was I knew enough to have bought MSFT directly back then, but oh well haha.

 


One of the nice tricks is that if you can gift up to a certain amount each year. If they're children and not working, you can gift just enough such that they (or you) don't have immediate tax implications, though they'll still have capital gains when they sell the stock. 

 

For something like this, ETF would be the best way to go. Lowest fees around while still being an "active" fund in the sense that companies get rotated in and out of the S&P (or other Exchange) over time so it's adjusting to invest in rising companies while divesting from sinking companies.

Message 9 of 12
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: children's savings

Thanks so much for all the replies. I'm going to research all of them. I sure do have my homework piling up now. I'm excited!!

What makes it hard is that I grew up poor and am now learning to do investing on my own.... with the help of forums and google....It's sad but true. So, she will learn as I learn. I'm going to make safer moves with her money than my own because i dont want to make any mistakes that result in any losses on her part.

I did explain that some investing options require that the money stay untouched for 10 years and she was happy with that.. She said "put it all in there i can get more money"! Haha I doubt she understands what 10 years means but that only puts her at 18 so I dont see a problem that.

Message 10 of 12
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