How to Teach Teenagers to Save Money

fotostorm

Few years back I wrote about ways to teach kids to save money. My first-born son was just 4 years old back then. Now he's 13 years old, officially a teenager. How time flies right? By the way, in case you didn't know I have an almost 3-year old son again. So I have two boys!

Let's go back to saving money. As early as two years old, my eldest started his own savings account. Just last month, we have transferred his junior savings acount to a regular account. But before this, we talked to him about his savings and how it is important to have his own savings too.

I always tell and write about how the recent health pandemic made us realized the importance of saving money and having an emergency fund. Good thing it's over and I hope that everyone learned a lesson from it. As a parent, we always want to make sure about the future of our kids and the first thing we do is to save money for them.

It is not just saving money, I should say. But it's also about teaching them the importance of saving money and how to save money by themselves. Now, having a teenager is different from having a toddler. Let me share how to teach teenagers to save money.

Start them young

Teaching kids to save early is always on my first list. Kid's brains are like sponges taking in everything around them so teaching them to save early will make our job easier over time.

Setting up a savings account

Like what I have mentioned our teeanger already have his own savings account since he is 2 years old. Since he's already 13 years old, we can transfer it to a regular account with a passbook and an ATM card. We talked to him about his savings account to let him be aware that we save money for him and whatever he can save, he can also add up to that savings.

Give them a regular allowance

I let my son handle his allowance and watch how he spends his money. Mostly, he spends on food and the things he needs at school. However, if he still has money, he don't ask for his allowance. We are the ones reminding him if he still has money. And so we decided to give him a regular allowance and remind him to save half of it before spending.

Show them how you manage finances

Teenagers are sometimes carefree with money. Letting them know how we manage finances, our good practices, and discipline are the best examples we can give to our kids.

We let our teenage son go shopping with us for our household essentials. We always tell him to check and compare prices. Sometimes, when he wants something and sees the price, he will tell us that it's very expensive and he doesn't need it anyway. Aside from that, we tell him how much we earn per day so that he will remember it every time he spends money.

Let them be part of our monthly budget planning. To make it easier, you can use ae budget planning calculator like the one below.

Help them earn their own money

It's not necessary for them to have a part-time job. They can earn from their hobbies, like arts and crafts, cooking and baking, buying and selling, etc. If you have your own business, let them help and give them a commission. This will help them see the correlation between hard work and money earned. If they do their chores, they'll earn money, and if they don't, they earn nothing.

Teach them the consequences of having debts and overspending

Let them handle their money and make mistakes to learn the consequences. If they spend more than their allowance or budget, they need to learn which category of their budget they have overspent and cut it down next time. Teach them how to monitor their spending as well by keeping a pocket notebook where they can write their expenses.

Practice delayed gratifications

Practice delayed gratification with your teenagers and resist buying things they want versus what they really need. If your teenager wants a new phone, let them wait for a week or a month and ask if they really need it or just want to keep up with their friends or classmates. If they really want it, let them contribute to its cost by saving. Chances are, with time, the desire will likely fade. This also teaches them to save first.

Luckily, our eldest doesn't ask for too much of what we can afford. He knows what is expensive and what he can buy with the value of money. It's because he knows how hard we work to earn money, and I am always thankful for that. Both our sons are patient, and they are content with what they have.

To sum up, teaching our teenagers about money should not only be about how much is available for them and us, but also about establishing good money habits for their future. Let them commit money mistakes to learn its consequences and become financially responsible for themselves. Lastly, there's no one "right" way to teach our teens to save money because every lesson depends on them, on the family's financial status and capabilities, and on our values.

Read More »

Welcome 2019!

Since it's a New Year we openened Matthew's piggy bank.

These were the money he saved from his 20-peso baon everyday and from selling ice pops just later this year. Since he got inspired, he's starting to save as soon he got back to school.

Every New Year, we go to Church and hear the first Mass for the year.

This is our first family for 2019!

We took some photos before we left our house.

When we arrived at the nearby Church at 1:30pm, we were informed that the mass will be at 3:00pm pa. So we have no choice but to wait. Took photos again, syempre.

This! One of my 2019 goals is to lose weight. I am obese na, huhu! I should atleast lose 10 kilos this year.

E sya naman, he lost weight na. Hmmm.

Finally, the mass started.

And after the mass, our new van was blessed by the priest.

We went home pala with free bibingka na pinilahan namin ng almost two hours, haha. 

Because Matthew was hungry, they went to gym near the Church where we saw the booths to buy food sana. There's a free birthday buffet of one of the priest there. So ayun early blessings for 2019.

Again, Happy New Year everyone!

Read More »

Our First Home Improvement for the Year

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone. 

It's been a while since I made an update here. Again, my apology. Been very busy lately with my work. I did plan to blog at night but since I really get tired of working all day, I ended up sleeping, haha.

Anyway, I will not make any excuses anymore but instead will just show you what Daddy A is currently working on.

Yeah, that's Daddy A busy designing our plant box, Yes again, it's a plant box in front of our house. The simplest garden we can have because of limited space.

Daddy A has been bugging me about this plant box a long time ago pa. He loves gardening and he started planting plants like dragon fruit in a pot already. He wanted a garden so I told him to just wait and I will set a budget for that. Luckily, Daddy A's Papa knows a lot of carpentry works including making a plant box.

So when they went here to celebrate new year, these two men worked together to make this nice little garden.

This is our first house improvement for the year, along with a little home improvement at the back of our house. That I will share once it's picture ready hehe.

Back to Daddy A's little garden. Just this morning, he's busy again designing our little garden.

He fixed the garden stones with a cement.

By the way, we bought those garden stones at 150 pesos per bag. Just enough to design our little garden. 

This "kawa" we bought at 200 pesos with the stand.

You can also buy garden soil at 50 pesos per bag. Then the plants that he put are our old plants. He just choose what to put so it will not look crowded or like a forest, hehe.

If you notice, our home improvements are all do it your self. I am lucky that Daddy A is very much inclined with home works, aside from he has a helpful Papa. That's why we save a lot of money and also he can make what he wants to make. Just like this garden, though the design is not yet finished.

Daddy A still plan to put garden grass there. It's still out of stock as per the store we went to so while waiting, he's doing some repainting.

Pardon the not so good sight. Our house is already 10 years and needs a lot of improvement and renovation. We are still thinking whether we will have a home renovation or we will look for a new house near our work place.Traffic going to work is becoming worse each day and moving to a much nearer place is our best option now. Both home renovation and moving to a new home are not easy because it will require us a selfstorage as temporary safety place of our things. Hopefully, by the end we can decide what's the best for ours.

Thank God we are done with its monthly amortization and our house is ours!

That's our first home improvement for the year. After repainting, we will have a bathroom improvement. We are planning to install bidet seat since it's becoming popular now. What do you think?

Again, happy Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Read More »

10 Ways To Save On Electricity At Home

Soaring electrical bill. This is every family's concern especially that electricity price is continuously increasing. But there are ways to save on electricity at home thereby reducing your electrical bill. 

Before that let me share a trivia about the history of electricity.

Have you read about Benjamin Franklin's lightning experiment? In 1752, he flew a kite during a thunderstorm to prove that lightning was electrical. What he did was he tied a metal key onto the string then electricity from the storm clouds flowed down the wet string so he received an electrical shock. He's lucky to survived this kite experiment though.

From then on, many inventors and scientists searched for ways to use electrical power to make light. It was only in 1879, when Thomas Edison was finally able to create a reliable, long-lasting electric bulb. Then the rest is history!

Going back to conserving electricity at home. Like what I have said, there are ways to save electricity at home. Let me share some.

1. Turn off light

The simplest way to save electricity is to turn off light, especially when you don't need it. Be conscious with how many lights you use at home and how many lights you just need at once. Too many lights also will make your home warm, which will make your aircondition unit (if there's any) to work double time. Also, always turn off the light when you leave a room.

2. Go for natural light

During day time, take advantage of the natural light to save on electricity. Also, daylight has health benefits too. Natural light can reduce feeling of tiredness and makes a person more focused and attentive. And did you know natural light can make you happier? Giving you more reason to open your window and curtain/blinds up and let the sunshine in!

3. Replace your bulbs

If you are still using incandescent bulbs then it's high time to change those with LED bulbs to save on electricity. Incandescent bulbs are not energy efficient as it release 98% of their consumed energy through heat while LED lights doesn't produce heat. Also, incandescent bulbs don't last long unlike LED lights that can last up to 10 times longer.

4. Unplug gadgets and appliances when not in use

Gadgets and appliances even switched off but still plugged in keep using electricity. Computers, for example, consume a lot of energy. So power off computers and unplug it after using.

5. Cut down the use of cooling, heating and large appliances

Instead of using air-condition unit to cool down the room, use electric fans and open your windows and doors. Refrain from using the microwave in heating food. Also, schedule laundry 1-2 times a week and ironing clothes once a week.

6. Use fewer appliances at once

Watch TV together in the living room rather than watching separately. Same with using computers, air-condition units and electric fans. Reduce your reliance on appliances by using only what you really need. Ask help from other members of the family in doing heavy chores. This is a good form of exercise and way of family bonding.

7. Invest on energy efficient appliances

If you have old appliances like refrigerator, washing machine, air-condition unit and other large appliances, better to replace them with energy efficient ones. Newer models of appliances are designed to conserve energy unlike older models, which were manufactured when saving electricity was not yet a concern. Also, when buying new appliances like refrigerator, which eats up 15-20% of your monthly electric bill, extra care must be taken.  Remember to always check the energy rating of appliances before buying.

8. Invest on solar-powered appliances and chargers

This will not just save electricity but can be very helpful when there's power interruption.

9. Use renewable energy

If you can afford, install solar panels at home. This may be expensive at first but you can save big amount of money overtime. Also, you will not worry about having power interruptions as you will have continuous supply of electricity through your solar panels.

10. Use appliances properly

Appliances must be used properly to make them more energy efficient. The fridge for example must be kept full (but not too full). Frequent opening of the refrigerator can cause heat to enter inside but this effect doubled when you keep it empty. This is because the space inside means cold air and once you open it more cold air will escape. 

Also, make it a habit to check your electric meter. It is also important to have an idea on your average electrical consumption so you can compare your current bill with the previous ones.

Saving on electricity means conserving energy. That's why saving on electricity is not just saving money but also you are helping to save the earth and its natural resources. So make it a habit to save electricity and conserve energy.

Any other ways to save on electricity at home?

Read More »

Saving Money through Envelope System

Yesterday, I happened to read again my goals for 2015. In less than a month, we will welcome another new year na. I am reviewing my listed goals to see if I am able to reach them. For the first part let me share this.

One of my goals this year is to save more. Last January, we started with the 52-week money challenge. I am happy to share that we are able to finish not just one but four 52-week money challenge for Daddy and I, for Matt, for my Nanay and for my in-laws. We finished the challenge earlier because when we got an unexpected blessings, we prioritize to save for these money challenges. It also helped that we did the reverse of the challenge so by the middle of the year, konti na lang. But hey, we did different increments and starting amount. Just enough to make my in-laws and Nanay happy this Christmas.

Aside from the 52-week money challenge that we finished, I focus on managing our hard earned money. This year, aside from our regular works, we also earn well from our online shop and our blogs. I want not just to earn but to save as well. So I have tried many budgeting techniques but only the envelope system works well with us. 

So for months now, I kept several brown envelopes inside my wallet that makes it super bulky. Another thing is, the envelopes can easily be torn so I kept on changing it. Then, since I just kept these envelope inside my wallet, I always fear that it might get lost or stolen.

Fortunately, I saw one of the posts of Mommy Levy about expanding envelope. I immediately went to National Bookstore but there's no stock of a smaller one. Luckily, when we went to SM a week ago, I saw an expanding envelope but it's the last piece na. I bought it at 69.75 pesos only.

Expanding Envelope

No choice sa color kasi last one na nga, hehe. Pwede na atleast now I have separate temporary storage for the savings/bills payments/earnings. Temporary because it will be deposited to our savings bank account after.

Expanding Envelope

Medyo malaki sya for the money, as in papasok hanggang kaloob-looban but neat naman tingnan. Especially when you put the labels, which comes with the envelope.

Expanding Envelope

This is how I put the label.

Expanding Envelope

So how does the envelope system works for us. This is it.

For tithe, I get a fixed amount from our monthly income. God has been good to us that's why I also want to be a blessing to others.

Next is savings. This is where the 10% of our monthly income goes. I always get this first and hati hati na for the rest of the expenses. For me, mas magaan gumastos if you know you already have saved money.

You should also save for emergency fund in case something not good happens like when you lose your job (knock on wood, not) or when you have immediate or unplanned expenses. Emergency fund should be equivalent to at least your 6-month income. So it's for you to decide what's the percentage you will allocate for it every month or pay day.

Then for the tuition fee naman, actually Matthew's tuition was paid in full already. I am saving for the next school year na and I just divide the tuition fee in 10 months to get the monthly allocation. We can save much when we pay the tuition fee in full kasi and by saving for it monthly, hindi ka mabibigla once pasukan na naman.

Of course, we need a weekly budget. Finally, I am able to allocate a real budget. As in budget na heto lang ang gagastusin mo for the week. Before, what we are doing is we will do a month grocery but ending up over spending because weekly nasa grocery din kami. That's why I told myself why not we do it weekly. I know sayang oras but then we always go to market naman every week so a quick grocery won't hurt naman.

Okay, how do I allocate our weekly budget. Listen, aww read pala! First, list down the basic needs like food, toiletries, and others that you need for a week. For us, I divide it with what I am buying from the market and what I am buying from the grocery. Here, it's very important that you have weekly menu for the food and to buy list because that will determine what you will buy and will help you stick with the budget.

Maybe you are asking if I always stick with the budget. So far, I am sticking with the budget naman. Discipline lang talaga and don't over stocked especially meats, vegetable and fruits. Just buy what you need for a week. Promise you can stick with the budget.

Aside from the 4 above, I also allocate money for our house's monthly amortization and credit card payment. Maybe you are wondering why I don't have allocation for the other utility bills? This is because we are using our credit card to pay all our bills online, except for our water bill. That makes our bill list simpler basta always have reminder to pay the bills online.

Also, you will see I have two other spaces for our two shops. In here, I put the payments we received so that I know how much we are earning. 

Others naman will be saved for other planned expenses. Yes, we plan what we are buying now especially if we didn't need it just yet. Daddy and I agreed to only have one credit card installment plan per year. Or better if we can save for it then we'll buy it. 

This year, I must say we have been a wise spender and have avoid impulse buying. Next year, I hope our budgeting/expenses/savings will be better. 

So those are some money saving tips that I hope can help you too. Would love to read other saving tips from you too.

Read More »

Teaching Them Young: The DO's and DONT's of Teaching Kids How to Save Money

Hello there guys? How's your week so far? Mine is okay so far except that half of our laboratory is being demolished. Dust and dirt are everywhere, which makes me which we have the best stick vacuum to clean up all these mess. But it's okay because I still be able to do my work despite limited space.

Anyway, today let me share another great article on teaching our kids to save money. If you find my post about  Ways to Teach Our Kids to Save Money helpful, then this is a must read too.

More than a year ago, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas launched a financial literacy campaign that targeted kids as young as six years old. The endeavor called Banking on Your Future, aims to start kids early on the path of savings, teach them the value of putting money in the bank, and eventually, create future generations of money-savvy adults. In partnership with the country's biggest banking institutions and the Department of Education, Banking on Your Future allows parents to open up account for kids with a minimum deposit as low as PHP 100.00.

Since there are programs like this that teach awareness to kids to become future savers, as parents how can you help them see the importance of saving money?

DO'S

Teach them the value of saving by giving concrete examples

It’s easy to tell stories to your kids to imply the significance of savings, however its better if they can see a real life example. For instance, you're running low on money for food, you can share to your kids the importance of having a savings account during tight times. Realistic scenarios will have more bearing on them as opposed to concocting stories about saving. 

Include them in the process of saving

Nothing beats the power of engagement when it comes to teaching your kids on how to save money.  It pays to include them in the process, instead of just telling them that you’re saving for their future let them be involve in the process.  Take them on occasional trip to the banks and let them experience on how depositing money works. After all, the bigger goal of the whole activity is teaching them the habit of saving money, not just to make an account under their name.

DON'TS

Hide your financial problems from them

Teaching your kids something is more than just telling about butterflies and rainbows; at times, you have to share tragedies as well as cautionary tales in the process to make sure that lessons will have a great impression in them. If you want your kids to fully understand the gravity of having a savings account, let them know the financial hardships of the family and how savings account play an important role in that. Let them know that it affects them as well, and that they will remember those lessons very well.

Take away their choice to save or spend

The problem with some parents is that they coerce their kids into saving, a very dangerous act that may deviate them from what they actually intend to teach them. To make sure that saving will be a conscious choice rather than a mandate, let them know that the money you are giving them can either go to the bank or can go to unnecessary expenses. If they start to save out of their own free will, then you are successful in imbibing them a sense of financial responsibility by saving money.

There are many ways you can let your child save money, but the main point would be the habit of saving money should always go over the money itself. When they grow up, they will have this invaluable lesson that not even money can buy.

eCompareMo provide a complete comparison portal for Filipinos looking for quick, secure, and complete banking and insurance information in the Philippines. For more information about their product or service you might want to check out their website at www.ecomparemo.com.

Read More »

The 52-Week Money Challenge + Some Budgeting Ideas

One of my goals for 2015 is to save more. So Daddy and I agreed to do the 52-week money challenge. Actually last year I saw this money challenge already. But because I already have my saving plan, we didn't do it. Now, we will do it not just for us but for Matthew, my in-laws and my mother. Here's a sample chart if you are interested.

52-Week Money Challenge

For Daddy and me, I'll do the +50 increment that starts with 50 pesos, just like the above chart. For Matt, I will do the +20 increment that starts with 10 pesos. While for my in-laws and mother, I will do the +5 increment that starts with 10 pesos also.

I hope my in-laws and my mother will appreciate these small amount of money we can give to them at the end of the year. As for Matthew, all these will go to his savings account. We are planning to invest some of his saved money to stocks too, or mutual funds. We are still studying what's the best for his savings.

This year, as I promised to myself, we will do more of saving and investing. Last year, I started to monitor our daily expenses. With that I can easily see if we are already over the allotted monthly budget. Also, we limit going to grocery and schedule it once or twice a month na lang. However, upon checking my expenses monitoring sheet, I saw that we are not saving with that set up. 

Why? Since we go to the market every week, there are times we still go to the grocery even if we just had our bi-monthly/monthly grocery. Chances are we buy more than we should and I think also, we fail to buy all that we need for a month. We have no monthly meal plan too. Aside from that, when Daddy suddenly think of cooking something and we have no ingredients for that, we need to go to the grocery to buy. Which tempted us to buy that just those ingredients but others not in the list. With that, we over spend na.

What I did is to split the budget for grocery in 4 weeks so it will be like weekly going to the wet market + grocery. We always do a list of what to buy and as much as possible, we will only buy our basic needs for a week + a little buffer just in case we fail to go to the market and grocery same day next week. Glad that it's working better than our previous budget scheme.

Also, our top priority is always our basic needs. If we want to buy something other than our basic needs, that should be plan. Just today, I saw an apogee duet online. That would be so helpful especially that we want to encourage our son's talent of singing. However, it's way over our budget so I have to wait or save for that. I'm happy we are not impulse buyer anymore.

That's it and hopefully we can survive the 52-week money challenge.

How do you manage your expenses?

Read More »

My Goals for 2015 and A Better Me

The year 2014 has been a great year for me. God showered us with so many blessings but He gave us trials as well. I believe He will never give us anything we cannot handle so I always keep my faith on him. At the end of every trial, there's always something to learn. This keeps our faith even stronger and our self better.

And now that 2014 is over, I'll welcome 2015 with a happy heart and a stronger me. I will not make resolutions but instead realistic goals that I can achieve, especially with God's grace. So allow me to share with you my 10 goals for 2015.

Keep my strong faith in God. 

Like what I have said, we have experienced several trials in 2014. I am only human that sometimes I forget that no problem is bigger than God. So I learn not to doubt God and to trust him more. That's why I will do my best to keep my faith even stronger.

Share and give more. 

I must admit that I don't share and give more. I used to have this thinking that what we have is just enough for us. But I realized my heart is happier to help people and to see them happy. I also learned that I can share and give in so many ways if I really want to. Our available resources should not limit our capability to share, help and give more. Because if we really trust God, He will provide ways and give us back more than what we give.

Read More »

Ways to Teach Our Kids to Save Money

One of the changes I want to make on this blog is to have a regular post about topics I love to talk about. If you notice since Monday, I have a consistent daily post. This is because I am already following a specific subject each day to write about. I hope I can cope up with this change . So for today, I choose to write about ways to teach our kids to save money.

Start Early

The little boy on the photo is Matthew Andrei (and I bet you know him a lot, haha!) with his coin banks. This early, we are teaching him  to collect and save coins. We bought a Mickey Mouse Coin bank for him to put inside the coins. However, we want to make more organize and easier to count so we decided to separate collect and save the coins.

That's why you can see 4 other containers in the photo. We collect 5, 10 and 25 cents, 1 peso, and 5 and 10-peso coins. As of this moment, most are half filled. We are planning to deposit it on his own BDO Junior Savers account once all are full.

Open a Savings Account

Yes, Matthew already has a savings account. We opened one for him before he turned two, and all the money he gets go to his savings. We also allot a portion of our monthly salary to go to his savings account. Having his own savings account will be his security in case (but I hope God does not permits) anything not good happens us. Also, since we are saving for him since 2012, we used a portion of it to pay for his tuition fee. But as much as possible, we don't want to withdraw money from his account for just like what I have already said, this is his security fund. Here's how to open a BDO Junior Savers account 

Encourage them to save money by giving rewards

Giving rewards is a very good motivation. This is proven, especially with my son. When he get big or super stars for a good behavior, he will immediately have a reward in terms of pasalubong when we got home. You may match his savings so he will to encourage our kids to save money more.

Teach the value of saving

It's not enough to teach them how to save. Teach them the value and importance of saving money. My son will sometimes think we can buy him anything he wants. Earlier, he will have tantrums whenever he can't get what he wants from a store. But I always tell him it's not good to get whatever you want just like that. That he needs to wait to buy something he wants. He may not get my point right away and because he's just a little boy who badly want that something inside the store, but in time he got my point. So the next time we go to a store and he sees something he wants, I will just give him a gentle reminder that buying that is not our purpose or we will buy it some other time. Or better yet, he can save for it and he will agree.

With this, he will not just learn the value of savings but he will surely give importance to the things he buy from his savings.

Teach them how to share

Matthew sometimes refuse to give or share. That is especially when he's so jealous. But with a good talk, I can persuade him to share. That's a good sign.

Also, if he can save to buy what he wants, he can also save to share. This will be one of the values I want him to learn - to share.

Be a good example

You may not notice but our kids adore us. They are looking on anything we do, and they are listening to what we are saying, even if we thought they are not. So if you want them to do something, set a good example by saving money too.

Since Matthew is seeing us collecting coins, he got this hobby too. That's why when he saw coins around, he will get it and ask me if he can put it inside his coin banks. Even the coins inside my coin purse, haha!

One time when he saw my pink coin purse, he opened it. Then I saw a big smile on his face.

Matthew: Mommy, ilalalagay ko po ito sa alkansya ko ha. (I'll put these inside my coin bank.)

What can I say but okay son.

Those are just few ways to teach our kids to save money. You may have your own effective ways but make sure you will not just emphasize money. Always emphasize the value of savings, not just money but anything he can save like electricity, water, and food.

If you have something to add up, please feel free to comment down.

Weekend is here, so I wish you a great one with your family.

Read More »

How to Open a BDO Junior Savers Account

Every parent wants a secure future for their children and I'm one of them. Instead of spending the money that my son got from his Ninongs and Ninangs last Christmas, we opted to open a savings account for him. In this way, we can teach him how to save money.

My husband and I decided to open a BDO Junior Savers account. Why we chose BDO? First, we have a savings account there. Second, its very convenient to transact at BDO since they have banks at Mall, which are open even on weekends, not to mention that they have extended banking hours.

This Junior Savings Account is for kids 12 years old and below. Yes, even a 1-month old baby can have this account as long as you have the following requirements.

If your child is 7 to 12 years old, present at least one (1) original copy of the following:

1. School ID signed by the principal/school head
2. Passport
3. Birth Certificate issued by Local Civil Registry or Philippine Statistics Authority (formerly known as NSO).

If your child is under 7 years old, bring original copies of the following:

1. At least two (2) valid government-issued IDs of the parent/guardian.
2. Any of the child's ID/document as indicated above.
3. Adoption documents - applicable if the account is to be opened by the Adoptive Parent.
4. Guardianship documents - applicable if the account to be opened is by the Legal Guardian.

The account for children under 7 years old is required to be under the name of a parent/guardian. You can also enroll this BDO Junior Savers account online banking under your account to monitor it.

Minimum initial deposit is Php 100.00 and the minimum balance to earn interest is Php 2000.00, with Gross Interest Rate Per Annum of 0.25%.

They also have this Junior Savers Club Discount card but this is only applicable for children 7 years old and above. By the way, if your child is below 7 years old, she/he can only have the passbook but for 7 years old up, an ATM card will also be provided.

Isn't it great to know that your baby or kid has his own account at such a young age. I only have mine when I started working but my son is just 18 months and he already have a savings account. But of course, in anything there's a responsibility and we as parents should explain and teach to our children the value of money and savings. We should not just teach our children to save money and be so thrifty, instead the value of saving and how it will help us in the future.

We chose to have a savings account for my son over an educational plan because we are not assure of what will be the future standing of educational plan providers. We are afraid that our money will go into waste as what had happened to many parents who got educational plans for their kids. We want that our hard earned money will be enjoyed by our son and our future children as well.

What about you? I know as a parent, you are thinking of your child's future too. :)

Read More »