So, lets just pretend,as ridiculous as it might seem. That I am a clueless old man , And further assume that I have an acquaintance that has recently had a child. And keep the assumption going that this child will be supplied with clothes, stuffed animals, and “learning” toys, not to mention general toys until ~2500 AD.
Is there a way to do something in the “buying a saving bond” sense as clueless fat old men did when I was a kid? Do I need to ask for a SSN and samples of non-zombie blood?
Treasury Department.
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/planning/plan_gifts.htm
Yeah, you just can’t get the paper ones anymore.
Well, you kinda can according to the link above, but only through your tax refund? That’s weird.
ETA: Maybe consider starting/contributing to a college 529 plan?
No offense to the folks who have responded, but I’m still at a loss for understanding if it is possible or how to do it. ,mea culpa
You can’t buy the paper ones at banks anymore. You can buy electronic savings bonds by following the instructions in the link posted earlier.
Frankly, the instructions sound like a bit of a pain in the butt.
What, I can’t just order one (paper or electronic) on Amazon?
I buy savings bonds for my nieces every year through the aforementioned Treasury Direct. There are a lot of steps.
Just to get set up:
Then every time you want to buy them a bond:
It’s all nice and safe and secure and I GUESS easy once everyone has an account, but it’s also very easy to accidentally not buy a gift, and also easy to forget to log back in after the waiting period and give the gift.
Contributing to a 529 might be a better option.
You can buy paper savings bonds by following the other instructions in the link posted earlier.
Treasury would be one of the few organisations still selling paper certificates. But even the treasury bonds don’t seem to be negotiable instruments (you can’t just cash it at a bar).
I just had a look for ‘bearer bonds’ and ‘bearer debenture’, and I see lots of places giving me the description/definition, but nobody selling. Perhaps a dealer would know.
You can? The only instructions I saw were getting your tax refund as one.
As one paper bond.
The electronic version is available for general sale, but the paper version is only on credit from a tax refund.
The TreasuryDirect site is very odd. Your money is probably safe because it’s just too difficult to get it either in or out. (I think they finally stopped sending a physical card that you needed along with your multiple passwords in order to log in. But I think you have to physically go to your bank and mail them a piece of paper before you can buy a bond.)
Different country, different rules, but in the UK there are several schemes for putting money into kids savings. I spent loads of time looking into them, but the best investments - shares - are not available for children under 18.
In the end, I set up share-based, tax-free, savings accounts in my name and will pass the proceeds to them when they are old enough. These are more like investment trusts, although I have control, I just pay in every month and watch the value go up and down (all dividends reinvested of course). More ups than downs and the money should be more than enough to finance uni, gap year, starting a business, or whatever they want to do. Of course, they may blow it all having fun, but that’s fine too,
I’ve done this for greatnieces and greatnephews. Mr. Middon had some bonds that were given to him when he was a kid, and we thought we’d keep the tradition going.
It’s a royal PITA. I really wish we’d come up with some other method of long-term investment for them. In fact, I’m thinking about doing just that.
How difficult is it to set up an investment account for a minor in the US? Instead of jumping through the hoops for a savings bond, could we just throw a few bucks into their S&P500 mutual fund on TD Ameritrade?
This is more or less what I did. I asked my kids to set up my granddaughter with a savings account and then I scheduled an automatic bill payment to her account whenever I get paid.
US savings bonds are not as bad as you might assume. See TreasuryDirect.gov and look up I Bonds. The interest rate varies depending upon the consumer price index so you are protected against inflation rising in the future. You are limited to purchasing $10,000 per year.