Savings for your LO

[missjenniebean]

How many of you ladies already have a piggy bank or a system for building baby's savings?

I started a few months ago and put our spare change in there and a few bucks every week or so. Baby has some pretty pennies to his/her name.

ETA that was just wondering to see if I am just strange or if this is a thing.

[Bluedaisy]

May 3, 2015 9:43:23 GMT -5 michyme123 said:

Not yet but we will. Once he has his SIN number we can open him up his bank account. Like we do with DS1, any money he gets for Xmas, bdays etc will go in there. We will also have an automatic withdrawal from our chequing account to go into his.

His account will be an RESP so government will match a portion.

+1 and we may also set up another account for him as well so that later he has money not earmarked for education.  This will be where his birthday money, etc. goes.  I want him to realize that it's important to save, and to donate.  

[trixi282]

We don't have one for this baby yet... with our first we started a bank acct. shortly after she was born for birthday/Christmas money. We also randomly add to it in small amounts, but we've talked about opening a separate savings for both kids educations that will be different from their other money.

My mom bought her a piggy (cupcake) bank that we put spare change in often, and grandparents of course always give her change for it too.

[Bluedaisy]

I just wanted to add that where I'm from a piggy bank is a very common shower gift so if someone gifts us one we'll definitely add loose change to it.

[sully326]

DS has an account like the other ladies mentioned and a Florida Prepaid College account. DD with have the same.

[tiffbot]

DS has an RESP account (we get a monthly child tax credit in Canada until they are 6? 8? I can't remember, but we put it straight into this account) and a sub account in mine for gift money.

[wink568]

I plan on starting a savings account for LO for birthday money and, once they're old enough, deposit an allowance into it. I haven't really thought about starting a separate 529 for college expenses. My parents expected me to use my savings account responsibly as I got older and it taught me to plan ahead, so between that and scholarships it helped significantly with college expenses. It worked for me, but at the same time it didn't work for my sister. Something DH and I will need to talk about over the next weeks as LO's arrival approaches.

[bruunk]

We will be for sure! He'll get a college savings account and another one for birthday money and allowance. When he's younger, most of it will go into the savings for college account.
When we hit 13, my parents set us up with a checking account and a monthly allowance. Any events with friends, extras, or eating out came from this account. It taught us how to budget and save - and for both my sister and I taught us the valuable lesson of what an overdraft charge is while still in my parents house! We will probably do something similar for our kids as well.
It will be interesting to see how college educations may change in the next 18 years. To save on costs I did 2 years at a community college, and then transferred in state since that was the cheapest option. My sister went out if state 4 years later and it cost roughly the same amount. A cousin just announced her pick out of state because it's cheaper (and the school of her dreams). It'll be interesting to see how college education systems change, if they do, over the next 18 years.

[ladymouse]

Provided DH's job continues, we'll do the same thing for the new one as for DS. Change, birthday money, etc. goes into a piggy bank and we put some money into a savings account of some sort (low-risk investments) each month.

[missjenniebean]

I was thinking about college savings account but i think we have to claim it on a fafsa. I ha e a life insurance policy that doesn't count so I can use the cash value earned if need be.
Piggy bank for now and then will open an acct when kid is here and we have the info. And I plan on chores and stuff for earning money and when old enough teaching them how to deposit. Working in banking it amazes me how many people cant read the ticket to know how to withdraw/deposit. I hope our LO takes the lessons and does well from them.
Does anyone know that they will send their kid to a private school? What's the best way to save for that on top of already saving for emergency, baby, vacation, etc.?

[Bluedaisy]

May 3, 2015 12:07:54 GMT -5 missjenniebean said:

I was thinking about college savings account but i think we have to claim it on a fafsa. I ha e a life insurance policy that doesn't count so I can use the cash value earned if need be.
Piggy bank for now and then will open an acct when kid is here and we have the info. And I plan on chores and stuff for earning money and when old enough teaching them how to deposit. Working in banking it amazes me how many people cant read the ticket to know how to withdraw/deposit. I hope our LO takes the lessons and does well from them.
Does anyone know that they will send their kid to a private school? What's the best way to save for that on top of already saving for emergency, baby, vacation, etc.?

Mine will be going to a public school but the preschool portion is not publicly funded so I will have to pay tuition for that.  I assume we will use what we would have been spending on daycare.  We won't really be saving for it, just taking it out of our monthly budget.  We just won't be able to put quite as much into our savings for those few years.

[mcp6286]

Like most PPs, we're doing a piggy bank for "kid money" that they can spend and a savings account for college/car/wedding that will have an automatic withdrawal from each of DH's pay checks. A portion of all money others give them for gifts can be spent and a (bigger) portion will be added to what we're contributing to their savings. I think that when they are younger, making them physically hand over the cash for things they want to buy teaches them a lot about the value of money.

We are contemplating private school but it will depend on what school district we buy a home in. If we stay where we are, public school is an option because the school district here is awesome. If we move, we'll have to see. It also depends if our kid is gifted or has unique learning needs. As a teacher, I don't trust the public school system to adequately develop kids in either group. A reputable charter or private school is the better option, in my opinion, if financially feasible.

[omgtree]

My parents have opened savings accounts for all the grandkids. It's just a savings account but the intention is for college. I'm glad they didn't do one of those programs specifically for college. Our DD1 has a ton of health issues and is delayed so college may not happen for her. It's nice to know we can use that money for her special therapies or trips we have had to take to make sure she sees the specialists she needs to. We never thought we wouldn't have a "normal" baby. Now that we are facing the real possibility of a child who can't go to college the savings account is nice. If need be we'll also use it as an account to save for her future care to make sure she will always be able to have what she needs and a great quality of life.

[bendherova]

We have a sub account in our savings that's earmarked for DS1 (preschool tuition, etc), but since DS2 won't be going to the same school plus DH will be making 3x current salary when DS2 starts preschool, it's not on our radar yet.

My dad started a 529 for DS1 and will do the same for DS2 once he has an SSN and any bday money will be directed there until 5-ish.

[wink568]

May 3, 2015 12:07:54 GMT -5 missjenniebean said:

I was thinking about college savings account but i think we have to claim it on a fafsa. I ha e a life insurance policy that doesn't count so I can use the cash value earned if need be.
Piggy bank for now and then will open an acct when kid is here and we have the info. And I plan on chores and stuff for earning money and when old enough teaching them how to deposit. Working in banking it amazes me how many people cant read the ticket to know how to withdraw/deposit. I hope our LO takes the lessons and does well from them.
Does anyone know that they will send their kid to a private school? What's the best way to save for that on top of already saving for emergency, baby, vacation, etc.?

We looked into the options, but after grade school they'd have to go to a private school a couple towns over, and our public grade school is good, it's the middle and high school that are ranked lower... So we're unsure now. The school in our area does "script" where once a month you can buy vouchers for things you normally buy (grocery store, gas) and a percentage of that goes toward your tuition. Other than that, I think we'd just take it out of our regular savings account.

[kemdupuis]

We currently have a piggy bank for him that we've been adding loose change to for a while. I got cash from a few people at my showers, so I've stuck that in there as well. Once he is here and he's got a SSN, we'll start a savings account for him with all of his birthday/Christmas money. DH and I also have a separate savings account that we've been tossing money into since we were married for our future children's educations.

[billyhorrible]

May 3, 2015 9:43:23 GMT -5 michyme123 said:

Not yet but we will. Once he has his SIN number we can open him up his bank account. Like we do with DS1, any money he gets for Xmas, bdays etc will go in there. We will also have an automatic withdrawal from our chequing account to go into his.

This is what we did/will do.

He also has a piggy bank for loose change around the house.

[silv3rlining]

We haven't started one for this LO yet. Once she's born we will. For DS we put $50/month (on the 23rd since that's the day he was born) plus whatever checks he gets. We will do the same thing with this LO. At some point we may change the amount we put in/how we handle it.

[missjenniebean]

So many different ideas!

[Deleted]

Well set up a 529 college savings, same as the one we have for DS1, as soon as baby is born and do autopayments to it every month. We'll also set up a regular bank account to deposit monetary gifts that he gets for birthdays and holidays.

[tatersalad]

My kids already have trust funds set up.

[tatersalad]

I also might be in a coma because I just got a spray tan.

[mathistm]

We would definitely like to set up some sort of savings for baby girl but that may not come until after this summer, when we move half way across the county and both change jobs. Yikes.

[leenziepops]

I'll probably set something up when birthday money starts to come in. No concrete ideas just yet.

[Widget123]

I'm sure we'll open up traditional bank accounts for our kids at some point, but we're not interested in putting a lot of money in there. Rather, we are more interested in putting the money in longer term or risker options that will yield a greater return like CDs, stocks, etc. Time value of money, yo.

DH is completely against 529s; I'm not sure I completely agree with him. He is also against private schools. For private schools I think it would depend on how smart our kids are; if they are really smart, I think it might be worth the investment. The public schools one county over from where we live now are among the best in the nation; ideally I would love to move there (also closer to work!)

[megd893]

K's Gram bought Leo a grey polka dotted elephant piggy bank for his room. Every time she visits she puts money in there now "so he has his own"
We're opening a RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan) for him as soon as he's born.

[nettje]

We've got a RESP (registered education savings plan) for DD and will set up the same thing for this LO. In our province, they have a program where if you start one up with 500 bucks, they'll match it. The program ends on July 31st so we'll be setting that up as soon as possible. Then any birthday/Christmas money that they get will go into each child's account.

[missjenniebean]

So exciting to hear all the different options. I'm not sure how to feel about a 529....right now piggy bank is fine but would like something with a higher roi. I might have to talk with our financial specialist to see what my options are. I didnt have any savings, which is find BC I prefer to make my way but I would like to be able to have something for the kid so he can go to school and not go into debt. Hmmmmm.....