[matb33]

With my 6 (almost 7) year old I've been giving him 2% daily interest on whatever is in his chequing account. He's aware I'll scale it back when it gets out of hand :) But so far he spends enough on nerf equipment that it hasn't posed a problem yet! Now he wants to keep more of his money in the bank to see it grow, and I didn't have to say that specifically, which was the entire point.

A rule I did have to institute later though is that if he forgets to ask for his interest that evening, he doesn't get paid.

We also have to rely on his last bank receipt to calculate the amount owed because it appears impossible (at least here in Canada) to open an online account for a child his age.

[developer1]

You make your kid ask you... every. single. night... to please give him his 2%? You are warping that child's mind with your mind games.

[sokoloff]

Disagree. The point is to get the child to internalize the value of savings and investing. Silent accumulation of wealth (the point of investing as a adult) is useless from an educational point of view (the point the parent is making for their child). It also teaches the value of speaking up for what is due. Hats-off to matb for it, IMO.

We give our kids an allowance of sorts for chores above the basics. We also allow them to blow this money on "stupid crap". We once let them split a pack of candy at an ice rink, but they didn't have the money yet (we were traveling). Once everyone agreed that they'd buy it with their allowance, I bought it with them understanding that they needed to pay me back.

Later that weekend, it came time to pay their allowance. We could have easily paid them $2 each (the net), but it was far more effective to pay them $3 each and then make them physically pay us back the $1 each, even though it resulted in significant frustration and a more than a few tears now that the candy was gone.

That's education, not a mind game.

[Kluny]

When I was 8, I had a ScotiaBank Getting There savings account. It wasn't online, but then again, that was 20 years ago. Is that still a thing?

[matb33]

I should clarify he does have a bank account (with his own Interac card) but no way to access it online. This is with TD Canada Trust. I don't imagine it's much different across other Canadian banks.

Edit: sorry, to actually answer your question, yeah they still have those -- they just call it Youth Account at TD