Give Your Kids the Gift of Financial Responsibility with a Credit Union (MA) Account
I wanted my son to learn about finance before it was too late. That is why I got him a saving account a local credit union. MA is full of great credit unions, and I had no trouble getting my son set up at my local branch. Jay, my son, was only 9 years old when we set up the account, but you can never start too early. I was only 8-years-old when I started my first account, and I still have it today!
The first lesson I wanted to teach my son was how interest works. When I started his savings account with $100, I also started a $100 CD from my own money. After 6 months I showed him the interest I earned vs. the interest he earned. It was not a huge difference, so he was not very impressed. I rolled the interest I earned into the CD again, and then showed him the difference 6 months after that.
At this point he was starting to get the idea that not all bank accounts are the same. He only earned a few cents over the years, but he was starting to build his savings. I told him he could not access his money for 6 months at a time, but it grew much faster. He asked to go visit the credit union. MA credit unions have no age restrictions on setting up a CD, so it was not a problem.
What was surprising was that Jay wanted to start a 1-year CD. He wanted to catch-up to my account. When he gets into high school I'll floor him with the interest my 401K earns.
My son has been so excited about making money with interest, and now he even has his cousin interested. We did a search for Credit Union, NH for his cousin that lives out of state. We were really excited when Jon found a branch of our bank in the Credit Union, NH search.
Now the boys compare who is making more money. It's really fun. I guess learning about financial responsibility can be exciting for a kid. My next magic trick is to convince my son that algebra is exciting.
The first lesson I wanted to teach my son was how interest works. When I started his savings account with $100, I also started a $100 CD from my own money. After 6 months I showed him the interest I earned vs. the interest he earned. It was not a huge difference, so he was not very impressed. I rolled the interest I earned into the CD again, and then showed him the difference 6 months after that.
At this point he was starting to get the idea that not all bank accounts are the same. He only earned a few cents over the years, but he was starting to build his savings. I told him he could not access his money for 6 months at a time, but it grew much faster. He asked to go visit the credit union. MA credit unions have no age restrictions on setting up a CD, so it was not a problem.
What was surprising was that Jay wanted to start a 1-year CD. He wanted to catch-up to my account. When he gets into high school I'll floor him with the interest my 401K earns.
My son has been so excited about making money with interest, and now he even has his cousin interested. We did a search for Credit Union, NH for his cousin that lives out of state. We were really excited when Jon found a branch of our bank in the Credit Union, NH search.
Now the boys compare who is making more money. It's really fun. I guess learning about financial responsibility can be exciting for a kid. My next magic trick is to convince my son that algebra is exciting.
