Opening a savings bank account for your children

Saving money can never be done too soon. The earlier you start off, the better for you in your later years. Besides helping you create a fund to help pay off the kid’s education fees in their later years, you can also help them imbibe the idea of saving which will keep them in stead later in their life.

Opening an account is very simple if you already have an account with the bank. All you have to do is to ask the bank for an attached account which will help you monitor the child’s actions. When you want to open an account, there are a number of things that you will need.

The first thing is a valid ID card. If your child is 16 years or below, you have to become a co-signer and furnish your details to the bank. but if the child is above this age, you can get them to do it on their own. They will need a social security number of any other valid ID card to do the formalities. You will also need to provide a valid home address to the bank to deliver your debit card and regular statements. Try to get a bank account with a zero balance and a no annual fees clause, this is because your child’s account is usually a low activity account and it would be counter productive to have to pay fees to maintain the account.

Apart from having a place to park funds or watch it grow, having a bank account will help the kid familiarize himself with the intricacies of banking. It is important to learn things like over draft fees, minimum balance, or any other special features that are added on the account. They also need to learn that penalties and fees can always be reimbursed if the fault is reversed as soon as possible and a humble request is made with the bank to re-credit the amount.

And apart from regular banking lingo, they need to understand the concept of saving. Saving is an ongoing process that everybody has to learn. No matter how much you earn, if you do not save you will end up having to get into debt every time you see a bill. It is important to prioritize and learn how to budget before starting an independent life. After your kids leave the shelter that you provide, it will be difficult for them in the big bad world if they do not learn these important concepts.