Check Out These Tips for Parents on National Teach Children To Save Day!

April 27, 2022

National Teach Children to Save Day is recognized every April to help parents and grandparents teach kids about the importance of saving money.

We believe that it’s important for children in Texas to learn more about the value of building savings and opening a savings account. This will help them create good habits early in life, inspire good money management skills at a young age, allow them to see how money can grow, and help them learn how to access money to pay for expenses.

Take a look at some of our tips for parents and grandparents to provide instruction to their loved ones about savings.

Ways to Teach Kids About the Value of Savings

Here are some of our favorite money and savings topics to talk about with kids:

• Understanding the difference between needs vs. wants.
• Saving according to your needs and wants.
• Why it’s important to save money.
• How to make decisions about both spending and saving money.
• Being able to self-evaluate monetary needs. What do you use your money for? What types of things do you want to save for? What do parents save their money for?
• How to be a wise shopper.
• Ways to earn money to build savings.
• Understanding what interest is and how it is earned.
• Talking about building savings in a bank and earning interest on your money.
• Understanding how to build your savings to make your money grow to buy bigger and better things later in life (e.g. delayed gratification and patient spending).
• How to create and follow a spending plan to save some, spend some, and share some (e.g. giving to others such as a charity or organization).
• Finding fun ways to put savings into action such as making separate accounts for spending, saving, and sharing.

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How Texas Gulf Bank Can Help Your Child With Savings

Texas Gulf Bank is passionate about helping youth understand the value of savings. We make it easy for parents to help their children start by putting these tips into practice to build their own savings.

First, it starts with parents opening a personal banking account with Texas Gulf Bank. If you already have an account with our bank, then you are already on your way to helping your children with savings!

If you don’t have an existing bank account with Texas Gulf Bank, then you can follow our easy guide on how to switch your personal banking account to Texas Gulf Bank. As part of the set-up process, we ask that you provide us with the following information:

• Documentation to open a new account, which saves you time and the hassle of returning a second time with the needed information.
• A completed new account application that you can fill out online.
• Other information as required to open an account.

Once you have a personal banking account, you can open up a special savings account product called TUTMA (Texas Uniform Transfers to Minors Act) that will enable your children to start building up savings.

How Does TUTMA Help Your Child Build Savings?

A TUTMA account is a savings account set up for a minor by someone 21 or older, typically a parent or guardian, who serves as the account custodian. The custodian retains full control of the account until the minor turns 21 years of age.

The way this works at Texas Gulf Bank is that, while listed on the account, the minor does not have access to the account. The minor may not make any transactions; only the custodian can. The bank provides a quarterly statement that the custodian can review with the minor and discuss their earned interest and current balance to see how much their account is growing.

Opening this account is a great way for custodians to help their minor save while remaining the authorized signer. A TUTMA account allows minors to become financially aware of how savings can grow while parents monitor their progress.

Then, once the minor turns 21, the custodian can withdraw the balance and transfer the funds to them. They can now open a new account in their own name, manage and utilize it to support their financial decisions.

Here to Help on National Teach Children to Save Day

We encourage you to use National Teach Children to Save Day as an opportunity to talk to your children or grandchildren about the value of savings. And, if you are ready to help a child build their own savings through our bank, then we would appreciate the opportunity to help!

Find out more about opening a personal savings account through Texas Gulf Bank. You can also contact one of our helpful bankers to discuss opening a TUTMA account. We are confident that taking action now will pay off years down the road.