Comments on: I Will Not Force Them to Be Practical

By: slinky

slinky — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:46:20 +0000

I have a 529 plan for each of my nieces and nephews. I own the accounts, but each child is designated the beneficiary. The plan also allows you to give others read only access to check on them, and anyone can deposit as long as they have the account number. Each child gets $100 deposited on Christmas and their birthday. Every once in a while i let my brother know how they are doing and when they get old enough, I’ll probably get them cards and include the latest statement. Then i can teach them about saving and compound interest. 🙂

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:57:34 +0000

In reply to Beth. Isn't it funny how different family members can be? I understand that people want to open presents and I get that excitement factor, but kids become inundated with toys. We have so many hand-me-downs I actually put them in rotation, moving them from one room for a week and then bringing them back. Otherwise it's too much stuff for him in one room. I think putting the money aside for the future is such a better way of doing it. I will say that I'm torn about the idea of putting money in an account in your name. While I understand the reasoning behind that I think, (as crazy as it sounds), that relatives think their children will never see the money. Of course, if you put it into the hands of relatives that aren't good with their money, you never know if the kid will see the money at a future point in time.

By: Beth

Beth — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:32:38 +0000

I’m the same way. When I have children, I’d want the same thing. We live in a 2 bedroom condo and we are stuck there for years (underwater).We have no room for ourselves, much less a baby. But I know my family and my husband’s family will want to buy buy buy, whereas my focus will be to save save save. Any toy they get will get 5 minutes of play, then they will either be bored with it or it will break.
I had an idea for my nieces and nephews (between DH and I, we have 1 niece and 4 nephews). Both parents don’t save for themselves or the kids. I wanted to open up a bank account with mine and DH’s name as guardian (to each specific side or both if allowed) and each child’s name. For each bday, holiday, special occassion, we will deposit money into the account to save up for them. I hate knowing that when they are old enough, they will have no money to fall back on for a security deposit on a apt or a car or college. Maybe I’m just too practical and all, but my idea was turned down by DH (not really, just knew the families wouldn’t go for it) and the the families. Granted, I’d still get them a small gift to open, but I just know how they will feel when they grow up and have SOMETHING in the bank for them…as opposed to having overpriced gifts that we had given them over the years that got used a few times.