https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 16 May 2026 17:49:03 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531939 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:06:31 +0000 kml636 531939@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So far we have set up the college savings 529. Other than that, we are planning on paying off this house as soon as possible and renting it out... and saving as much as possible. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531721 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:57:48 +0000 yoursilverlining 531721@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HabesBabe: I’m not sure that there is a benefit – maybe @LittleK knows? We ended up with 2 accounts because one was technically opened by my MIL with us as trustees (she opened it through her brokerage firm); and then through a grant available from our state and the hospital I gave birth at; if we opened a 529 the state would give us $500 and match up to another $2500. We couldn’t use the 529 we already had for this state program and I wasn't about to pass up on free $$…so we ended up with 2. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531720 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:57:17 +0000 Pepper 531720@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are planning on opening a savings account for LO once born. We want a place to put any money given to them for birthdays, Christmas, etc. We also plan on contributing from our paychecks. I want to look into a 529 plan as well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531719 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:57:16 +0000 MamaMoose 531719@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: check out UTMA/UGMA accounts if you aren't comfortable with 529s. Funds in the account have to be used "for the child's benefit" but they are much less restrictive to 529s. But they don't grow tax free, you pay capital gains taxes as you take realized gains. We also chose to purposely split our savings between 529 and a regular investment account. My husband got a pretty much free ride to college because of his athletic ability. If our child(ren) also get scholarships we don't want to pay huge penalty taxes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531707 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:52:49 +0000 twinmama 531707@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We just keep family savings and transfer our extra funds after each paycheck. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531694 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:49:29 +0000 bunnylove08 531694@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I opened up a 529 for DD and we also have a savings account for her. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531669 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:41:57 +0000 Bao 531669@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pen: This is our same thought process. We had to pay our way through everything. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531666 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:40:51 +0000 Mrs. Pen 531666@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Nope. I hate to say it but we're not saving anything (we have nothing extra). My parents didn't save anything for me and I managed just fine. I worked hard in school so that I didn't have to take out loans and I'm proud of that. I'm proud I could do it on my own.</p> <p>IF we had a decent amount leftover, I would save college fund/wedding MAYBE, but I'd much rather put it in our retirement accounts. AND with DH being a professor I'm hoping our kids will go to his school for free ;) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531658 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:37:55 +0000 Anagram 531658@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We talked about opening a 529 college savings acct for our soon-to-be LO, but now we're not sure if we will, since *if* your child doesn't go to college, you can only use that money for someone else going to college, or you have to close the account, paying both federal and state taxes, as well as the 10% federal penalty tax on earnings not used for qualified higher-education expenses.</p> <p>We'll have to discuss all of our options and see if there are better alternatives out there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531590 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:11:27 +0000 HabesBabe 531590@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@yoursilverlining: @littlek: what is the benefit of having two 529 plans instead of one "bigger" one? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531564 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:04:02 +0000 MamaMoose 531564@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@London Mama: my LOs account averages a better rate than the interest on our mortgage so for us paying down the mortgage faster would not be a better option. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-531491 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:45:20 +0000 London Mama 531491@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Woodentulip brings up an interesting point about the mortgage, does it make more sense for you to use any spare cash to pay down the mortgage rather than put into savings for LO? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530943 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:56:27 +0000 woodentulip 530943@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>we have RESP accounts for each of our girls that we contribute to monthly. and because the gov't will match 20% up to a certain point, we focus on that specifically for the kids. otherwise, we just focus on our other investments and savings plans. and mortgage, oooooh the mortgage... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530941 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:55:22 +0000 pelikila 530941@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are doing the same as @MamaMoose:, we have set up a 529 plan and contribute a set amount each month and all monetary gifts our son receives goes directly into that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530939 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:53:39 +0000 Alivoo01 530939@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started a regular savings account years before we even started TTC. When we lived in an apartment, I was able to put one whole paycheck into their account per month (I get paid bi-monthly). This built up their savings quite quickly. Then we bought a house and other properties and haven't been able to contribute nearly as much. It makes me really sad, and I'm trying to find ways to up our contribution, but so far no dice. College seems to only increase by 5% each so I'm worried no matter how much we save, it'll never be enough. Plus, I think it's only for 1 LO so if we have 2 LOs, oh my... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530909 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:37:37 +0000 littlek 530909@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have 2 529 college savings plans four our LO which my husband funds with part of his year end bonus. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530865 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:22:30 +0000 yoursilverlining 530865@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have 2 529 college savings plans opened for LO. We each make a per-paycheck contribution to the accounts, and when LO receives cash gifts we plan to put ½ into her college fund and ½ into her savings account. Right now she also just has a basic savings account, although I’m looking at various investment options for that since she won’t need to touch that $$ for years. I’m not as concerned about that account though; since that’s basically just her “fun money”. The college accounts I am worried about. I think it’s important to start saving as soon as you can; even if it is just a little bit. Little bits add up over the course of 18 years. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530849 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:13:04 +0000 littlecasita1122 530849@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We already have an ING savings account, so I set up a separate account for my LO that is connected. I set up a savings plan with a specific goal to reach in 10 years, so an automatic transfer from our checking account goes to it every week. We have found if we do automatic transfers it works really well for us - almost like we forget about the money in checking so it's not there for us to spend. This is also the account we deposit cash into in case family gives him any for bdays/holidays. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530846 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:11:21 +0000 prettylizy 530846@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>She has a basic savings account that we put all her gift money into as well as little bits here and there from us. Once I go back to work I will put a set amount from every check aside as well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530793 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 08:15:47 +0000 hilsy85 530793@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a 529 plan for him but other than that, we don't have a separate account...I'm sure as he gets older we will create a savings account, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530763 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 07:41:06 +0000 T.H.O.U. 530763@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@London Mama: We aren't saving yet with investment in mind. Once we actually save a large enough sum we will look into that. </p> <p>Right now she has a 529 plan that my parents set up. We also cleared out one of our joint savings accounts and put gifts, etc in there for her. We make a small monthly contribution to that just to avoid the fees on the account. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530754 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 07:10:53 +0000 London Mama 530754@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaMoose: that's very organised, I'd like to do something similar. So far all the junior savings accounts I've looked at have terrible interest rates, we're talking 0.4% and even lower (am in the UK) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530736 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 06:10:25 +0000 MamaMoose 530736@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have an investment account for LO as well as a 529 college savings plan. We contribute a set amount every month to her 529... And then the investment account receives all cash gifts she gets and sporadic additional contributions we make. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530725 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 05:35:41 +0000 London Mama 530725@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO has some gift money as well and I'd like to make sure it gets saved wisely but so far I've just put it into our joint account. We also need to get our own finances back on track as we've just bought a house and I'm on maternity leave. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530723 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 05:25:26 +0000 Bao 530723@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We just have a basic account for LO at the moment that we put money in that she gets as gifts. We may add to it someday but right now we are getting our own finances on track as well as saving for retirement. We plan on helping her as much as we can though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530722 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 05:03:29 +0000 London Mama 530722@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So far we are not saving for LO specifically but I have started looking into different tax free options for under 18s,but at the moment I am leaning towards not having a separate account for DS and just use family savings when needed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saving-for-your-lo-how-do-you-prepare-for-los-financial-future#post-530720 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 04:58:29 +0000 London Mama 530720@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have been thinking about ways to prepare for LO's financial future and am interested to know how and if you save for your LOs.</p> <p>Do you have separate accounts/funds/investments for your LO or do you save for the family as a whole? If so, what kind of accounts do you use (savings, investments, bonds etc)</p> <p>Do you have a set amount that you set aside every month?</p> <p>Do you have a set target amount you'd like to achieve by say LO's 18th birthday?</p> <p>Or do you perhaps not plan to contribute financially in the future at all? </p>