As part of my downshifting project, I’ve spent the past couple of days replying to several hundred stale messages in my inbox. There were plenty of great reader stories, guest posts, and “ask the readers” questions in my stack of stuff, but there were also some good article ideas, too.
For example, I had three different e-mails about bank-related stories. Each of these is pretty small for its own post, but they share a similar theme, so I decided to put them together in one piece.
Not Quite a Bank
First up, the always-awesome Ron Lieber at The New York Times recently profiled bank accounts that aren’t quite bank accounts. These tools are designed to give consumers better tools than they can get at traditional banks. The catch? Well, the tools make use of traditional banks.
Lieber lists some accounts that GRS readers are probably familiar with, including SmartyPig. SmartyPig is a free online, goal-oriented savings account that many of you already use. To use SmartyPig, you must make required monthly contributions. [Edit: Oops. Apparently you don't have to make required monthly contributions anymore!] You can also make additional contributions at any time. Plus, your friends and family can contribute to your account to help you reach your goals. SmartyPig currently offers a 2.15% APY.
Lieber’s article covers other accounts from places like PerkStreet, the forthcoming BankSimple, and Kasasa. Have you used any of these accounts? Would you recommend them?
Credit Union Finder
Next up, the Credit Union Foundation sent me a press release to announce its new Credit Union Finder app for Apple mobile devices:
Through the Credit Union Finder app, users can search for non-profit banks close to their current location, search by name, zip code radius, or by address; all on their mobile device. Results are displayed on a map or in a list that also displays address, telephone, and webpage information. With the touch of a button users can connect to the credit union’s webpage on their iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch and with a single tap place a call to selected credit unions on their iPhone.
Since most credit unions provide shared branching, it’s as if all the credit unions in the U.S. are part of one enormous banking network. You can make a deposit at a credit union in Kansas, and the money will make its way to your home CU in Alaska.
This Credit Union Finder app might be handy for folks who travel a lot.
Teen Banking
Finally, JLP from All Financial Matters recently took his kids to open Teen Checking Accounts at Wells Fargo. A lot of GRS readers are looking for more info on how to teach kids about money; here’s some practical, real-world experience:
So far things are going great. I love that I have access to their account information from my Wells Fargo accounts page. I can see where their money goes. They can buy stuff online or at a store. The cashiers sometimes look at them quizzically because they aren’t used to seeing kids with what looks like a credit card.
My eventual goal is to figure out how much my wife and I spend on routine expenses for our boys, deposit that into their accounts and make them responsible for making and sticking to a budget. They have to learn sometime and I think sooner is better than later.
JLP’s article gives a bit more detail about how he’s taught his kids about money, and about his decision-making process.
I would love to include more stories about children and money. I don’t write about this often, though, because, well, Kris and I don’t have kids. We have four cats. And while it would be nice if we could instill sound financial habits in our felines, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. However, I’m always open to guest posts about kids and money. If you have something to share, please send it in!
GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve your financial goals.Savings interest rates may be low, but that’s all the more reason to shop for the best rate.Find the highest savings interest rate from Ally Bank, Capital One 360, Everbank, and more.
This article is about Kids, News, Savings
Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.
Discover is a paid advertiser of this site. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the Discover online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards.
SEARCH FOR RECENT ARTICLES
I have an account with Smartypig and it’s now possible to set up a savings goal without the required monthly contributions.
loading....
Thanks for mentioning the Pig. I have used it for a year now and it is really motivating. I have saved much more than I would have with a traditional account and I tell everyone I know about it.
loading....
My first job (before I could even drive) was in the file room at my Dad’s brokerage. He made sure I had a checking account set up.
My sister and I had savings accounts even before that, for cash gifts etc that we received. Mom & Dad also put a little money in there from time to time, and we could deposit anything we earned from odd jobs. Seeing the balance slowly grow and getting the interest statement was always fun.
I would encourage parents to open a savings account for their kid well in advance of any kind of spending account. And then talk to the kid about how they might want to use the money.
loading....
I would love more articles about teaching kids about money. I think that I am doing some things right but I really feel like something is getting lost with my son when it comes to teaching him about spending. He is pretty impulsive and spends his money freely even though he claims to have longer term goals (saving for spending money at Disney this fall, saving for some of the larger lego sets he wants etc.). It all seems to go to Pokemon cards and Silly Bandz before he gets very far. Part of my goal with allowance is for him to be able to learn some money lessons on his own but he doesn’t really seem to be learning anything other than that he can buy a lot of silly bandz. Sigh…
loading....
Are you kidding? I think cats could teach us humans a thing or two about what’s really important. In spite of all the best fuzzy toys that crackle, smell like catnip, make rattling sounds, etc., my cats truly feel that the best toys I ever gave them were straws, cardboard boxes, and a grain of rice dropped on the kitchen floor. Try teaching THAT to a kid!
No, I didn’t miss the whole point of this post…it’s just that I don’t have kids either. :p
loading....
If you’re looking specifically for a credit union that offers shared branching, the Credit Union Service Centers network has their own iOS and Android app: http://www.cuswirl.com/mobile-locator
loading....
… so if we haven’t heard from you about a submitted reader story, does that mean there are still stale email messages in the inbox or should it be sent again?
loading....
@Nicole (#7)
Ha. It means that I route reader stories to my “guest posts” box, and I only began working on that today. I don’t count those against my inbox because they require a completely different type of processing. But people should start hearing from me about those. I did about four or five of them today, and have roughly 80 more to go!
loading....
good to know!
loading....
These are very good stories about banking
loading....
My 15 year old son has had a checking account since he was 12. He is responsible for buying all his clothes, paying for all his “fun” like movies, trips out with friends, etc., and also, the big item, paying for his sports (camps, uniforms, coaching sessions, etc.). We give him a cut of my husband’s paycheck which covers all his expenses reasonably. Also he is supposed to donate 10% but I admit we have not been as faithful in that as we should be. Cash gifts he receives go in the account also and helps him pay for big ticket items.
My goal is for him to know how much his activities cost and to prioritize his spending. Also when he left his cleats out in the rain and had to buy another pair the morning before a baseball tournament he learned the value of taking care of his gear. Of course, if I’d been the one buying clothes I’d have made him wear wet shoes!
He has been wearing uniforms to school, but now that he’s going to high school and can wear anything, so I think he’s about to have to start making harder decisions than he did before. Plus, dating is just around the bend, as is gas money.
His checking account has my name on it also, and is part of our suite of accounts at Wachovia, so I can see his account, transfer money, etc. He doesn’t have a debit card yet, but I think we’ll get him one soon.
loading....
I loved Smarty Pig and will go back to using it as we rebuild our emergency fund and tax account that we liquidated to pay off the car last week.
My mom took me to the TX DMV to get me a TX ID card when I was 6 years old so I could open my own savings account completely by myself (well, with her sitting in a chair watching the whole process). By 13, I had a checking account, a checkbook, and ATM card.
My parents covered all the basics and even covered my hobbies like basketball, but I bought my tenor sax for band and felt the pain of watching my saved money go bye-bye. I think my parents hit the nail on the head by emphasizing personal responsibility.
I learned from small mistakes and buyer’s remorse without having my future on the line and was able to graduate college with no debt due to scholarships, $15,000 from my parents, my savings, and 2-3 part-time jobs at all times.
loading....
I hate to sound so negative, but I’ve looked at both these non-traditional options and didn’t like either.
Maybe I’m just too dumb or have too much of a time crunch to figure out how CU shared branches work, but I’ve tried that service before through my CU’s website and it never helped me. All of the “shared branches” that were close to my work or home were in secured areas of office buildings or on routes that were totally out of my way. My CU accounts are pretty useless to me; they don’t give as good an interest rate as any of the online banks, there are no ATMs near me, nor are there any branches I can visit without taking a day off work. I pretty much use them to hold a small amount of cash (replenished through direct deposit) that I can write checks from, and I’m considering dumping them entirely.
As for SmartyPig, I guess it’s great for saving towards a purchase, but if I understood the program accurately you have to get your money back in gift cards.
I’m sure that for many people, though, CUs and SmartyPig are great. And even though what I read doesn’t always work for *me* I do appreciate hearing about new financial options through this blog.
loading....
We took our 16 year old to the bank around her 16th birthday to open up her first checking account. My husband’s parents did this for him as a teen, and it worked with him and his brothers, so we thought it would be a good plan with our girls, and it’s this:
We went through basic expenses (school fees, clothing, shoes, fun money, etc…)and figured out how much 1 year of these expenses are. Divided by 12 and she gets that amount automatically in her checking account. The thing is…she can’t ask for money for things…she has to pay for things when we go to Target and she sees something she likes.
I do pay for her prepaid cell phone: I buy $100 worth of time for her (minutes good for 1 year) (as an insurance policy for me that she has a way to contact us in case of emergency). If she goes above that amount, she pays for the remainder of the year.
She has a savings account, and has had partime babysitting and lifeguarding jobs for the past 2 years, and she’s very good about saving: Her checks go straight to her savings, and she’s very happy to see such a hefty amount that she has earned. She’s never touched her savings.
For both the girls, we started out when they were very small with $50 in their accounts, and when they got money as gifts, they could spend some, and some would go into savings. I told them both that if they could save up to $950, I would put the last $50 to round up to $1000…that gave them incentive to save. Every month, or when they have paychecks from their babysitting jobs, we march down to the bank, and they have to put some amount in savings. I told them when they were little, I didn’t care if they only put 50 cents in, that was for them to choose..the important thing was that they saved something. As soon as their writing was legible, they were responsible for filling out the deposit slips for the saving amount. My thought was (and is) that the more engaged they are in the process of saving, the more it will become a natural way of life…THEY choose how much to save, THEY fill out forms involved with their money, THEY hand over their hard earned cash or check to the teller, and THEY get the fun of watching THEIR $$ add up over time.
They both know that they will be responsible for a certain percentage of their college education, too. Any readers with experience with this?? We are thinking about extending the same theory of annual amounts for our teen’s checking to college costs…have a set amount that is fair to everyone (I’d like to spend the same on both girls so there is none of “mom loved you best” business later on). They can use it to entirely fund their education or go to a less expensive school and pocke tthe difference, or choose to go to a more expensive school and pay out of their own pocket for the additional amount. Any thoughts out there???
loading....
@linda in chicago – you don’t actually have to get your money back in gift cards at smarty pig. they are one option, but when you reach a goal and want your money, another option is to have it transferred back to your original funding account. a third option is to roll it over to another goal and you can do any combination of the three i think.
i’ve become a big fan in the last couple of months. because it is a little harder to get money out (ie you have to close the whole goal if you want any money) i mostly use it for long term goals (ie car, unexpected medical, etc).
loading....
I’d recommend PerkStreet, of course, but not just because I work there – I was a customer long before I was an employee. I was already using debit for everything, so the idea of getting rewarded for it was kind of a no-brainer. I’m pretty psyched to be getting cash back on all of my non-PIN debit purchases for my upcoming wedding – not only am I NOT going to have a credit card balance to worry about on my honeymoon, I’ll have perks to enjoy. Can’t beat that.
Also, I’m happy to write a guest post about cats and finance. At the risk of sounding like the crazy cat lady, I find I’m often more willing to splurge on them than I am on myself. They get the fancy food they like best and I open a can of beans for dinner. Oops, too late. I totally sound like the crazy cat lady now.
loading....
You are all lucky to have a bank that will still handle student/teen checking accounts. When I tried to help my 17 yr old daughter open one last summer, three out of four banks in our town just shook their heads. They don’t handle student accounts anymore, If something happens, an overdraft etc. they have no legal recourse to collect fees, etc. because their contract was with a minor. I ended up opening the account in my name, and adding her as a signator on the account. It works OK for us, But I remember the first shiny checkbook cover I got as a teen. What a world of grownup responsibilities that represented. Maybe that was a good thing, we lived up to our debts because we HAD to!
loading....
That SmartyPig wants to give you your money as a gift card is very unsettling to me.
Remember on The Wire when it comes time for Nicky Sabotka to get paid, and they say, “You know…we could pay you in heroine instead. It would be like paying your more.”
And then you say to yourself, that’s a bad idea!
loading....
Love smarty pig. It’s a little different and harder to use sure. But it’s worth it.
@Jacob
Marie’s got it right, gift cards are an option, you can also get it back as cash into any bank account you’ve added money from. Or put it onto a prepaid debit card. Or do any combination of those…
@marie
If you want to leave a goal open but get at some of it’s money, you can transfer money between goals. So open up a new goal for the amount you want, transfer the money, close temporary goal, get cash. It’s not exactly in the savings spirit but good for emergencies if you don’t want to give up on whole goal.
loading....