You probably know your children better than you know anyone else on the planet. If you think that your young teen is mature enough to handle the responsibility of a checking account, I recommend you take him or her down to the bank to open one. Impress upon your child the importance his or her signature now carries. A good name is something that no one - except you - can take away from you.
Make it clear to your children that whenever they put their name on a check or other legally binding financial document, they are making a promise backed up not only by the money in their account but also by their good name.
I'm not just talking about how the folks over at Telecheck and Telecredit feel about your kids. I'm referring to how they feel about themselves. You want them to have the idea that a checking account is the financial equivalent of driving a car. They're going out into a world of strangers where they need to be responsible for both their fiscal and physical actions.
You might ask, "Why does my thirteen-year-old need a checking account? What bills is she paying?" Again, the answer is all about habits. I want your children to start developing good banking habits when they're young because that's the way they'll handle money as adults. Responsible financial habits are learned at home.
When you go to the bank to discuss a checking account for your child, prepare to be overwhelmed by all the options available.
Banks offer a variety of checking accounts for people in different situations. The accounts vary in terms of monthly and per-check fees, minimum balance required, and overdraft protection. Be sure to ask the banker for recommendations for your child.
One last item you should consider when your child is getting his or her first checkbook: the design of the checks. This may seem like an insignificant issue, but it's actually very important.When I was a boy, you could get checks in any color and style you wanted, as long as they were green with no pictures on them. Then, in the '70s, they started to put designs of horses, sunsets, and palm trees on checks. Today you can get anything from Mickey Mouse to Mickey Mantle on your checks.
Although I try not to be a killjoy, I am100 percent dead set against kids getting cute checks. Despite their being made of shreddable paper, checks are money. The more they look like toys or games, the less likely they are going to promote financial responsibility. Tell your son or daughter that, at least for the first year, their checks will be plain with no designs. After a full year of responsible behavior regarding their account, they can order any kind of checks they want (provided they pay for the new design, of course). But for the beginning, keep it simple - and keep it green.
It's only natural that your child is going to want to start writing checks for everything in sight. It's hard to control that initial exuberance. But there's nothing like going through all the money in your account and suddenly realizing that you're out of cash to teach a person that you can only spend what you've actually banked. That's yet one more reason why a checking account for your teenage child is an indispensable tool in the process of getting your kids right with money.
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