Quote:
Originally Posted by Sliver
It offers a level of control and limited access to their actual bank accounts. I've taught them to save 50% of everything they've ever made/received (birthday money, jobs, allowance, etc.) their whole lives. They're 16 and 17 now and we just took about 90% of that money and bought 3-year GICs. I discussed it with them first and it was their call, but I was hoping they would go with the longer-term savings so I'm happy they did. My daughter turns 18 in six months, so I figured sliding in a good savings opportunity before she officially becomes an adult was probably a good move. Trying to get them to be good savers and to save money as a priority before spending.
With MyDoh we keep a limited amount in there. They don't have real access to their normal accounts, which is a bit weird I admit, but it's worked out for us and they've never questioned it. MyDoh has allowed them the freedom and flexibility to spend like it was an account, but I can control how much sits in there as a balance. I also get notified when they spend. Seems a bit controlling now that I type it out, but they like it a lot. If they get, say, a hundred bucks cash for babysitting or something they literally ask me to take the cash and put $50 in their savings and $50 in their bank account. It's totally ingrained in them now. They don't ever fk with cash - they prefer MyDoh.
Even with my daughter's job - paycheque is direct deposited into her normal bank account that she can't access. Every two weeks I let her keep up to 50% of what she's earned, but before I transfer it into MyDoh we discuss if she'd like to save even more than 50%. More often than not she does save more, which is cool and allows us to have financial discussions on the regular.
I do get notified when they spend money, which was particularly good a couple years ago when they were younger...now I don't monitor it per se, but it is nice to be able to check on a few things.
If they asked for control of their bank accounts I'd totally give it since they're pretty old, but this system has been good. There have been times when they've wanted to use the money in their accounts for bigger purchases, but I just have to remind them they used to want to spend their savings on Pokemon cards and I blocked that. They trust that I've grown their money and helped them save beyond what their judgement would have allowed, so we're still letting it roll.
Do you need MyDoh to do all that? Nah, but man does it ever work well in our house. I love it.
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At some point you may want to have the conversation why GICs generally are not an investment but rather a way to tie up your money. Sure it looks like you’re getting something but after inflation, taxable at your marginal rate (might be nothing for them), and opportunity cost… well quite often it’s a loss. There are enough findable rants online (by real financial people rather than some dude on CP) to support these statements.
That said you’re doing the right thing about helping the littles learn value of money, spending behaviours, planning for the future but recognizing today is also important, and delayed gratification.