Youngster's money

You're going to feel bad if you lose his money.

I don't see a problem with putting it to work.

Put it all in VFIFX and hope he forgets it exists.

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My 7 year old has some cash sitting in a saving acount in the bank. It's earning .2 percent interest.

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This is how it all started with Jackie Coogan and Macaulay Culkin.

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teach your kid a lesson on stocks. Buy him/her some Disney, Apple, etc. type stocks of things that he/she knows and sees everyday.

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I like this a lot. Ask/see what he likes, buy them if they're at a reasonable price, and teach him a bit about stocks that he can understand. Most kids would be happy to say they own a little piece of Disney.

I set up a couple DRIPs(XOM, KO, JNJ) for my daughter when she was born and I plan to put $50 in to each on bday's and Christmas. My grandparents did something similar for me with ATT when I was a kid, though they stopped contributing when I turned 10. It was worth over $13K by the time I was 25 and I used it to help with a down payment on my first house.

I'm hoping these stocks can help my daughter the same way they helped me and she'll learn a little bit about the stock market along the way...Chances are she'll just blow them on spring break and summer trips, though.

It varies from institution to institution, but many allow you to open an account in a minor's name with you as a custodian. They even have some low fee and tax advantaged accounts for things like this. Just google guardian and custodial brokerage accounts.

You can even do it for a child that's not yours. I have both a 529 and brokerage account in my nephew's name with me listed as the custodian.

ETA -
Gaurdian = you own the money
Custodian = child owns the money and you manage it until they're no longer a minor.