It is very easy to systematically save for your children. Obviously, you have to at least have children to be able to do this in a reasonable manner. It is one of the ways to take advantage of the automation that we have with the advent of internet baking and online access to bank accounts. Some banks may indeed give you a hard time when you try to implement this, however if you shop around for banks, I can bet that you will find a bank that will let you do it. Most banks these days have online banking and free bank transfer, so it should be no real big deal.

First step

The first thing you should do is set up an online savings account. ING Direct, HSBC Direct, American Express Savings and many others depending on your country.

Next step

Next thing to do is to link your main checking account (current account) where your salary/payment/wages would usually go to your new savings account. By doing so, money can seamlessly be transfered between the two accounts. However in the US, it usually takes 2-3 business days.

Final step

The final stage is to go into your savings account and setup regular periodic transfers from your checking account into this savings account. Start with something small. I advice using say the age of your child. If you have a three year old child, you can set it up to transfer 3 dollars every week into the savings account. That translates into 162 dollars in that year. You can then increase it during your child’s birthday to four dollars and do the same thing again over one year.

The Payoff

The advantage is that this money will be quite small and you are not likely to miss it. It will increase gradually over the months and years and by the time the child is say 15 years old, you can comfortably assemble 780 dollars in one year for driving lessons or some other important thing for this child.

Adjust to taste

Depending on your earnings, you can do this as often as you like such as twice a week or once a month; you can also save by a factor of 2 times age in years, or age in years times grade in school. The most important aspect will be that it is automatic and that the money is not easily accessed.