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Tiny Investors

Getting Children on the Road to Financial Security

By Deborah Ng

As parents, we all wish for our children to do better than we did financially. In this day and age, it's not enough to hope they get good jobs. They need to be educated in basic spending and saving habits and even started down the road to financial security. Many parents are beginning to invest in their children's future as soon as, or before, they are born. They're afraid if they don't there won't be any money put away for college and beyond.

According to Kary J. Bartmasser, a certified public accountant with Bartmasser & Co. in Beverly Hills, Calif., we should start investing in our children's future as soon as possible. "The earlier parents start instilling strong financial values, the better chance children will have to develop good savings habits on their own," he says. "It is imperative, in this day and age of a competitive workforce and the higher cost of living, to teach children the value of money and the cause and effect of savings. In our current economic society, there just isn't enough time to start saving once we are out of college. By that time, it will be too late."

Bartmasser suggests parents begin planning for their children's financial future by cultivating good habits of their own. "Like the schoolyard popular 'monkey see, monkey do,' children pick up on their parents' financial habits," he says. "Being responsible for your own finances, living within your means and saving for retirement will not only put parents in a healthy financial position, it will leave a lasting impression on children." Bartmasser recommends parents open up a basic savings account as early as possible, depositing as little as $10 each month.

Is it really necessary to start saving for our children when they're so young? After all, most of us didn't have accounts set up for us when we were babies, and we're doing fine. Why not let them get jobs and learn the hard way?

Want to see more?

• Raising Baby Without Going Broke: Cost-Saving Techniques for the First Year
• College Countdown: Start Saving for College When Your Child Is Born
• A Balanced Budget: Feeding Your Family Frugally
• Talk about it!

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