Never too young to start saving

With the holidays right around the corner, it's the perfect time to bring your child, grandchild, niece or nephew to the bank to open their first savings account. If they already have a savings account, but don't know it, it would be a great time to make them an active account owner by showing them the statement and letting them make their own deposits. Learning to save at an early age promotes learning of basic money management skills.

If you are looking to open a kid's savings account, shop around. Some banks offer special accounts and savings programs for children to make it easier to get started like Community National Bank's Totally Kids Club. It's very common for kids to receive gifts of money during the holidays, for birthdays and other special occasions. These gifts of money can also be used to start up an account, giving kids another option for their money instead of handing it all over at the nearest mall or big box store.

Now obviously, trying to get kids to save every penny, is going to make saving money seem like a pretty boring concept, especially when the kid next door just went out a bought the latest, greatest "whatchamacallit". So, I would suggest trying the save, spend and share method. Basically, the kids and parents set up a practice of budgeting the money in three categories, for example out of $50.00, the plan might be to save $38.00, spend $8.00 and share $3.00 with a local charity like the humane society or the local food shelf. This method is a great way to satisfy the goals of building a savings account, being able to purchase items for immediate satisfaction and to learn the importance of giving back to the community. It's a win,win, win situation!