A bank account for your little one

Finally, after months of meaning to do so, i was able to open a deposit account for my son. The husband and i have long been planning to open a deposit account for him. We plan to park his aguinaldo (Christmas cash gifts) here. Well, until the amount is big enough, we'll store it here then transfer to a higher yielding investment. Para dito namin sya ituturo kapag hinanap nya ung mga kinita nyang aguinaldo. hehehe 
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Our bank of choice is BDO, since we have our payroll account here. Plus, the initial deposit requirement  just Php 100 so it's really easy to apply for savings account. We opened BDO Junior Savers Accounts for him. The account is under my name, ITF (in trust for) my little one.

No, you don't have to bring your child with you when you open a junior account. I was the one who filled up the forms.  Just bring his NSO - certified Birth Certificate (the teller will have this photocopied) and 1x1 id picture of your child.  The minimum maintaining balance is Php100, but it needs Php 2,000 to gain interest. The interest rate for this account is a measly 0.25% per year. More info on the account here.

We also had his junior account linked to our online BDO account. The hubby wants to automate setting aside money for him from our salaries, so we can easily do fund transfers.We enrolled my son's BDO account number via online and after two weeks of constant telephone followup, we were able to successfully enroll his account! Now we make it a point to transfer  Php1000 per payday to set aside to his tuition. He's just three now, but we better start early, right? For more tips on how you can start saving up for your child's education, click here

I got my son a piggy bank, which we named Peppa. Everyday i would give him a few coins so he can "feed" Peppa. Funny because now my son scours every corner of our house, looking for coins to feed his Peppa, who, he says, is always hungry.  It's getting heavier now and when Peppa's full we'll also deposit the amount in the little one's account. This is a simple way to start teaching him about money.

Now the teller gave me an idea that got me excited.  She told me that i can use my son's junior account as settlement account for my uitf investment! A settlement account is where your funds (gains from ay UITF) will be credited once you decide to redeem.  From my experience, at least with Security Bank and BPI, they require to open a savings account which will serve as the settlement account. Medyo mabigat ung required balance. The minimum amount for Easy Account in Security Bank is a whopping Php5,000, for BPI the minimum is Php3,000. All investors are required to have this amount in the account at any given time, lest you want to risk paying for fines . Those are your own big bucks just sitting there, considering the measly interest they will earn in a deposit account! So maybe i'll  use this strategy next time i open another UITF investment. I'll set a junior account as the settlement account to avoid the huge minimum requirements and initial deposits plus the charges that come with it.

Well this has to wait until my son's fund is big enough. ;)

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