I have a decent job with a pension,  money in a 457 and Vangaurd account.

I am trying to get ideas about savings for my daughter, 

529 and opening a Vanguard in her name come to mind.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Hire her when she's young.  Pay her and then put the same amount in a Roth IRA in her name.

First and foremost, a pre-paid college fund. An education is a savings plan in itself.

A Vanguard account or IRA ain't bad ideas either.

I bought a CD for my granddaughter to be used as a graduation gift and my son set up an IRA and money market account for her.

All of the above... and possibly buy her a bitcoin or similar.

Removed~Waldo

I would not put any investments in my kid's names. You don't know whether they will be mature and responsible enough when they come of age, or even if they will be worth a hoot.

Save your money, invest it wisely, spend it as you see fit in the future.

You have received some good advice.  I would like to add that in a few years you might consider an investment in something that a young girl would be interested in.  Think Disney, or some thing similar.  You could consider re-investing the dividends.

This would teach her much about the actual investment process.  While mutual funds and ETFs are good investment vehicles, they can be a bit boring.

I would have to agree with the above poster. As much as you mean well doing so, children and young adults often lack the capacity to properly manage their money.
I’ve opted to set myself up for success and be wise with my money, and one day, I’ll be able to hand down a very good set up to all of my kids.
The one thing I did set up for each of them was a 529 account. Money for birthdays and Christmas as well as extra money we pull goes into the accounts. We’ve had great rates of return on them since they’ve been opened. My parents were kind enough to help me with my education as best they could, and I’d like to pass that along to my children as well.

This.

Dont hamstring your daughter by giving her a pile of cash.

Give her earning capacity and independence. Dont give her the fish, teach her how to catch her own.

I never saw the reasoning in a college fund, its well intentioned but the average kid will do much better of they have the tools necessary to go it on your own. Maybe with a little help at times.

Teach them to do better than you did. Not benefit from what youve earned.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

My parents werent great, but im thankful every day that they taught me to compete and thrive. They didnt give me anything other than help when i truly fell flat. My life reflects that.

first post nailed it........

with the Roth the kid can pull the principal without penalty.  thats a nice chunk of change for college, downpayment on a house etc... and still have all that earned interest staying in the fund to grow or they can not touch it and continue to pay into it or just let it sit there growing all their lives.  

The Roth IRA gives the most flexible, easy to use or save ability without all the crazy rules of other investment strategies.


The best thing you can do for her financial future is sit her down and explain how money, investing, mortgages and credit cards work.  if you are not sure yourself or not good at explaining it there are people out there that teach/tutor this kind of stuff.  My father had me sitting down with a financial tutor once a week for a year when i was 14.  best investment in my future he ever made.

it is a pure shame that our schooling system does nothing to teach youth about Money and finance

Horrible advice.   I say it’s horrible because the assumptions entailed, does not follow logic.  

My father paid for more that 75% of my education.  I’m still a very respectful son and a good person.  

You raise your kids to good values they will grow up to be great people.  With or without “trust money.”   If they have money to start with, they won’t enter the work force already crippled with debt.  

Just because you did it in the 50s, 60s or 70s is meaningless.  So much has changed since then in the higher education landscape.  

Yea they can work through college or trade school, at some shit paying job.  Or they can use that time to make connections and build life changing experiences.  

I have 2 529 plans.  I recommend the Utah plan, it’s not tied to Utah or a specific school, and it has a very very low administration cost.

I'm with Steamedliver.  I want to give my kids advantages whenever possible.  I want to raise them well and guide them in making good decisions.  While I have no desire to support a stay at home pot smoking lifestyle, I will hopefully raise my children better than that.

Starting with money doesn't mean you have to be a snob or lazy.  Not all children will come out the way we want, but if I can aid them in providing a comfortable life for their family and retiring early, I'll be happy.

I set up the 529 when my son was born, and it's growing steadily. It's a nice option to tell friends and family to chip in for, rather than buying more toys he doesn't need. I would do it because if it looks like they won't go to school you can throttle back contributions and pull with some penalty. if they get scholarships you can pull no penalty. Of you can transfer to another person for school use without issue.

I wouldn't put anything into a kid's vanguard after tax fund. If it's in their name it will affect scholarship and student loans, plus you may or may not need it for something different. I'm keeping money in a fund in my name, and if the kid needs it, ok, and if not, ok. I get to decide what to do with it, rather than an 18 year old. You can always get loans for school but you can't for your retirement. I'd rather the kiddo self supports through college, I'll help, and he never has to pay a dime for my old ass.

Another thing I would look at is to put them on your credit card as a user. don't give them the card, but you can build a decade of their credit history up for them. will help going forward.

Id buy her a ton of ammo and bumpstocks and sit on it til she is college aged.

Real life examples.

My cousin struggled academically. My Uncle bought a cool car (Nova SS, sweet car for the time) and said my cousin could have it if he managed to graduate from high school. Look at it as a white trash trust fund.

My cousin dropped out of HS, my Uncle sold the car and kept the money. Had my Uncle just given the car to my cousin, it would have lost any motivating power. Only through profound knuckleheadedness was my cousin able fail.

I've also attended college with multiple directionless slacker/stoner/hippy-dippy types that were just burning through their college funds to no purpose. Many went on to drop out, pop out some bastards and get a dead-end job. They might have done better with parents who had the ability to say, "I'm not paying for an art degree so you can be a paper mache hack."

My sister has some great kids, but one is breathing up good air, and is destined for fail sauce. No reason to hand him a chunk of change to squander.

If you have the money invested in your name, and the kid is awesome...help them out. Pay for grad school, get them a car, get them a starter home, pay for a nice wedding. Nothing is stopping you.  But, if you just outright invest in a kid's name...someday they can tell you to FOAD and go spend your money on gender reassignment surgery and facial tattoos.

Not every kid raised in a loving, supportive home turns out to be awesome and responsible. Most do, but bad apples happen.

You can put stipulations in a trust about how they can spend it, when they can spend it, what they can spend it on, how much they can spend, and other stipulations that need to be meet before they are authorized to spend the money.

Thanks.  

My father (and mother) paid a tremendous amount towards my education.  I went to all public schools.  Now I’m 44 have a wonderful family and career.  

You have your anecdotal “friend” stories, well I’ll tell you about me.  

I’m catching a red eye tomorrow night to fly cross country to see them.  My wife and kids got to my parents house yesterday.

Edit.  I didn’t know you could add someone to your credit card for the express purpose of building credit history.   Thanks.

You sure can. I have a friend who did just that. Guess what? Going to college and becoming a communist Bernie supporter did not violate any terms in his daughter's trust.

Sounds like a parenting fail to me.

Teaching your child to thrive is horrible?

Listen here you fucking young whippersnapper, i own multiple businesses, managed a business that grossed over 20 million in multiple states a week before i turned 19. When i walked away 6 months ago i turned down high end jobs managing much larger businesses so i could stay close to my investments.

I am on pace to retire before I'm 35 easily.

I know the landscape of succeeding in the world.  Been there and done it.

And I've failed too. And my parents were there.  But its ridiculous to say that giving them life skills and help as needed, is horrible.

If I'm lucky enough to have children one day, id be proud to say that they are independent enough to be adults when they are adults and maybe i only had to help if they fell flat.

If they get to a point they need help i won't have a 19 year old account with their name on it.  I lead by example,  ill cut a check. And meanwhile i would have spent 19 years teaching them how to get real returns on that money.

I said nothing of respect.  That can exist rich or poor.  Im talking only about teaching them how to succeed financially

I’m walking the walk, not just talking the talk.

Having read your post in another thread, I think most of us are hoping to help our children avoid some of the stress related issues you have faced.  Ideally my children will choose good mates and have children. I want them to enjoy life and not have avoidable health issues.  Money isn't everything in life.

Agreed completely.

Balance is important.  I was 25 before i realized it. I wish i had been taught that or figured that out more quickly but its a flaw most of my family has.

My family has the mentality of work hard not smart. Oldschool farming mentality. Im changing that and life is good now.  

I dont complain about where I've been but im analytical and know my flaws. Im teaching that to my nephews now and will teach it to my kids one day.  All you can do is learn from your failings and do better in the future.  

I don't even work 5 days a week anymore,  am shopping for a second house in colorado this weekend with friends,  working on my social anxiety, have an pretty good social life now . Im just thick headed.  It takes awhile to sink in.

Two words...

compound interest.

Start Early and Strong...

someone sugguested rental homes.

they said they bought one each time  a kid was born.
Sold it when they went to college and it gave them a chunk of change to pay for it all.

at first it was hard since it wasn't breaking even. but as the years tick by, rents increase and it more than pays for itself.
18 years of equity and price increases gave them a substantial nest egg to pay for college.