Saving For your baby's future?

Question

I have an 18 month old and I'm expecting our second child in a month. i was wondering what do you to save for your kids future, like so they have some help for college. For my daughters birthday, i was thinking about buying her a savings bond, as well as for our second child's birth, and keep doing so until shes of age.

Do you buy savings bonds for your kids? and for what amount? or do you just open a checking acct. for them, and add to it periodically?

Answer 1

What I am doing is I have direct dosposit at my job so my pay check goes into my own checking and saving account. This weekend I am going to the bank and I am going to open another account and put 100 dollars to start it and put 1% of my paycheck in it by direct deposit. That is about 20-30 dollars each time, month $240, so by the time she is 18 she will have about 4320, which is a huge start, if I never get a raise which I will. (if u are willing to do this, make sure you ask them about what account to put money in that you will never touch and not get a fee for doing that)I am hoping that she can at least pay for a first year at college. I will also add money in when I am able, and when she gets a job have her put 5% in herself.

I am also going to, when I get the money put about 5000 in a cd for her (I have to save up for a little while to do this) so when she is 21 she can have that. I figure when she is 21 she will need a little more money.

Answer 2

We couldn't afford saving bonds, so we opened a saving account for baby and add to it whenever we have some money to spare.

Answer 3

We do a 529c.  But we max out other things like a Roth IRA before contributing to the 529.  

If you have anything like credit cards, that arent paid off, take care of those bills first before saving.  You pay a high greater interest rate, than any interest on what you'd save.

Answer 4

I have mutual funds set up and an automatic deduction from my checking each month that goes into the mutual funds.

Answer 5

We have a 529 for college for our kids.  Our financial planner advised us that since the one for our first was performing so well that we should just use it for both kids (the beneficiary can be changed between kids when we need to pay their respective college expenses).  We have an automatic deduction that goes into the 529 each month.  In addition we put all of our change into a piggy bank and then eventually into the bank.  The first time it hit $1000 we put it into a CD and each time we renew the CD we add the additional money; each time we renew we look at what amount of time is offering the best rates and if rates are really low we buy low term (6-11 month) CDs hoping that rates will go up on the longer term before the next renewal.  

Answer 6

Our bank has a children savings account.  Where it is very easy to transfer money into.... when we can.  Just a click of a button on the internet.  Works great.  Bonds can be good too..... but I find it way easier to just have there own savings account..... and I know the money will always be there...... and I can easily add to it when I can.  

Answer 7

I never even thought about savings bonds honestly, until one of my brothers bought one recently for our other brother who graduated from H.S.  For my daughter, I started putting just $5 a week in a savings account I started for her.  It is a small amount you don't miss each week, but after awhile it adds up quite nicely.  I figured by the time she's 18 and can access the account, there will be between $4000 and $5000 in the account.  With the crappy interest rates though, I recently took a large amount of her savings and put it in a CD at a credit union.  So the interest from that will be a LOT more than what we are earning now, and that will help too.  BTW - my daughter is 4 yrs. old.

Answer 8

we started an RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan) when our son was a month old. We put away $30 a month into a high interest no fees account and it cannot be touched until he is 18 or goes to school. And it cant be touched by myself or my partner, only our son. We can also put extra in whenever we can without any penalties.

Answer 9

We did a lot of the above. We opened a savings account but I'll admit that we don't contribute as much as we'd like to. Also, she has a couple of US Savings Bonds, but I'm really not sure how far that will get us. We thought about doing a 529 plan but they penalize you so badly if your child doesn't end up going to college. I'd love to say that Emily will go for sure, but if she finds something in life that she loves and it doesn't require schooling, I'm certainly not going to make her go. So that left us with life insurance. We took out a whole life policy on her for $50,000. By the time she is 18 the estimated cash value is right around $13,000. Not enough to pay for college but hopefully enough to help out a little bit. The amount is not guaranteed, but I feel better knowing that the policy is there anyway.  

Answer 10

I open up a savings bank account for my son.. and every month i put in 1 to 2 hundred. I also have a college fund thing.. where i put in 200 i get from their child tax benefit every month.

Answer 11

Savings bonds are not as great as they used to be. Now they're a sucker bet- money's locked down/bad interest rates. Savings/checking account- much more flexible, but in child's name may have tax problems later- usually really bad interest rates. What about  buying long term cds in low amounts if you need something to sock away with a deterrent to easy use? You've got lots of time and when they come due you can decide then what to do if situation/ opportuities change. With the kind of time you have a good low cost no load mutual fund may be a great idea. Add money in increments over time (to ride out any fluctations)  

Answer 12

Piggy bank all the way!  We do plan on getting him some savings bonds for Christmas/birthday presents when we can.

Answer 13

savings bonds are the best only they can cash them and only when they are of age i got one for my son who is not here yet his father got him one and his godparents got him one and i intend to get one every birthday and christmas you can never save to much for the future especially with the way the economies going my and his father god $50 one and his godparents both got him $25 ones for my baby shower i say get the savings bonds and get them as often as possible so if there is a year you can afford to do one you know you have already gotten them one sometime in the year bank accounts don't work well because if you hit a rough spot in your life you can always go and take the money out when they are old enough and they want to save their own money then open one that they can go in and out of good luck with the new little one  

Answer 14

Each of my children have a high interest savings account that family put $150-$200 in every birthday & Christmas. It should cover college by the time they go. My daughter also has a savings account she called her car account she puts all money she earns and receives for holidays into. She's 9 and has this big thing about her future 1st car..

  Checking accts aren't going to be as good as a savings or 529 plan.

Answer 15

Hi,

We have a savings funds and put away $100.00 per month for each boy and locked it in. 100% with completion of college or 100% at age 30. so that way we know the money will not be waisted. At least we hope not. In addition each boy has a checking account and all money they receive from birthdays and holidays goes into the account. so when there older they have some money.