I have 2 kids that are 8 and 3 and so far I have not started any account for them like a savings account or anything. I've always talked about starting something and I hate that I havent yet, but I know its better late than never, so I would like to start putting away something for them whether it be they use it to pay for college or just a savings account that when they are old enough (and responsible enough) be able to get a car or something like that.
What kind of account would you open for this or what would you setup to get the best return in say...20 years? Would you just do like a high interest savings with ING or something like that?
ETA: Also, I thought about a 529 plan, however, I've never cared for those because nobody can predict if either of my kids will go to college (of CPURSE i'll encourage it, but you never know)...and I googled and it said it won't go to waste if that happens and you can change beneficiaries to someone else to go to college...but I dont like the idea that it HAS to go to education and nothing else without penalty.
Re: what kind of account (if any) are you setting up for your kids?
A few thoughts:
1) You can do more than encourage college attendance - you can make it a family expectation. Heck when I 5 yrs old I used to tell people where I was going to graduate school. College, and even a graduate degree w
agreed! i greatly appreciated reading the advice as well! i was also interested in the Roth and how you can prove they earn an income. also, i thought when you funded a roth the only way you could get the money with no penalty was at
Generally you prove income by filing a tax return for them. Even 10 year olds have to file a tax return if they earn any money. Of course, they won't actually owe any taxes (or if they do it's so minimal that you can pay for it easily), but that
Tax free is always a good deal! The RESP contributions are after tax dollars. The growth is taxed upon withdrawal, but it is taxed in the hands of the student, so at a much lower (negligible, most likely) rate than if it were taxed in the h