mo $$$
 

Friends of ours swear by activeallowance.com. I've never used it because it seems a little advanced for our kids at this moment, but they've been using it since their oldest (a girl, FWIW) was 7. It has a lot of custom options for mandatory savings, budgets and charitable donations. It's an annual fee, but I think there may be free trials.

mo $$$
 

yeah:(

our neighborhood was in that recession. I remember you telling me you kept active because you wouldn't set a minimum sales price, and I had to adapt to market conditions.

it wasn't until college econ that i realized you had flooded the market and turned "young boy's ass" into an underpriced comidity.

mo $$$
 

Look at that! The furiner's kid kicked the americun boy's ass at his own game. Viva America!

mo $$$
 

My bank -- a large, faceless, heartless, national institution -- has no fees for accountholders under 18. But I'm wondering if he can withdraw funds if it's "his" account.

I suppose I could ask the bank, but you all have avatars, if no faces.

eta: Apart from the Webster thing, that is.

mo $$$
 

At my bank, you can set up an account under the Uniform Transfer to Minors Act, whereby you become Custodian of the account.

Your kid can't touch the money until (a) you say so or (b) they turn 21.

All of the Brazenette's cash gifts (at birth, at birthdays, etc) go into that account. In addition, I have my bank withdraw I think it's $15 every two weeks from my account into hers. I'll probably stop that once she's old enough to earn an allowance, and make her a deal that I'll match whatever of her allowance she decides to put in the bank.

mo $$$
 

our big faceless bank had kid accounts. the kids could deposit and withdraw IIRC, but one of would have been there so maybe we had to sign something. Even the most heartless bank teller would perk up and smile when the kid walks in to deposit $2 or whatever small amount is being diverted from his candy fund.

mo $$$
 

And, L'il Ty, here's the time to learn to read the fine print. Most of the big bank's free acounts for kids either have a minimum account size or have an activity requirement (if nothing goes in for a year it starts disappearing). Some of them have special fees for more than a given number of transactions in any month.

It's possible there's a big bank out there that doesn't do this, or some state that restricts it, but most do.

mo $$$
 

It's been my experience at my big bank that if I ask for something, I usually get it.

Which is, I suppose, the benefit of doing all your banking in one place. That big bank has my 2 checking accounts, my 2 savings acounts, my UTMA account, my Visa, my MC, an investment account and my mortgage.

So when I tell them I want to open an account and I want to pay no fees, they usually say "We're happy to waive those for you."

mo $$$
 

TM, do you have a macro that can do the translation?

mo $$$
 

one doesn't need to hold such economic might to achieve this. at least some banks assume customers tend not to switch, so they grab them young by offering free accounts to the kiddies.

Ty, as usual, all you need read is what I've written.

Hank's post are all, the rest is commentary.

AoN, Foster Farms chicken nuggets are like crack in nugget form. Much better than anything organic. If real chicken tasted this good, it would be extinct by now.

Also good: frozen pelmeni.

mo $$$
 

Check and see if you have a credit union you can join, then open an ING type account so the little one will make some real interest.

Variable universal life insurance.
 

Anyone ever consider getting this? Assume I have retirement well in hand and am looking particularly for the best tax-deferred investment vehicle for college expenses on a 12- to 15-year horizon rather than the way to build maximum wealth. Assume also that term life is a necessary part of the picture, and that I've heard the mantra "term life and invest the rest" but am wondering if it's really true, because for my purposes what would I invest in? The education IRAs seem like a blunt instrument, and the state-based plans are too much of a narrow gate. Is FIFO really that worthwhile, or do you get absolutely reamed if you let the policy lapse and Uncle Sam comes knockin'?

Variable universal life insurance.
 

My sense of them is that they are suited principally for someone who is rich enough to get his financial advice from a paid advisor not an internet chat board.

Even then, I'm suspicious of a complicated financial product that relies on tax-favored status of deposits and withdrawals, combined with actuarial calculations, in order to be more attractive than standard investment in a 401(k), IRA, 529, or other more standard savings vehicles.

Also, check on the 529 plans, since some of them are a lot more flexible. You lose the state tax deduction, but you still get the federal deferral, which even in california is bigger than the state component. (Also, I'm not sure what you mean by narrow gate--is a S&P500 fund not an appropriate investment vehicle for children's education? Or do you want to go long in small caps on the off chance you hit it big and they can afford stanford?)

Variable universal life insurance.
 

I've seen them used in certain cases, but not considered them personally.

If you're buying the insurance anyways and want to build in some tax arbitrage, why not? The problems are that the folks selling them to you are usually not the most trustworthy, the products are often designed with multiple levels of fee and cost skims, and there are usually investment restrictions in these policies as well.

So, I've seen multi-million dollar policies purchased as part of an executive deferred comp strategy, where the deal could bear the freight for kicking all the tires (or someone else could pick up the tab) and where you're generally dealing with a higher class of insurance salesman slime. I'd be pretty hesitant to buy a policy for a million or less from the regular slime.

Get fringie and gwinky to weigh in.