Quote:
Originally Posted by crockett
That's kinda pointless, and a bit way too extreme. On top of that you aren't teaching the kid anything. Earning your credit is half the battle behind maintaining it.
You just give them something they will never understand what it is to earn it and will likely screw it up first time mommy and daddy are no longer in control.
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No there is nothing wrong at all with starting out with perfect credit, the whole earning it is half the battle behind maintaining it can be said about anything you give to your kids. It is along the same lines as being super rich and then giving and leaving your kids nothing at all since they need to be taught how to earn it to keep it. Though maybe you feel that way.
Ideally a parent would teach a child about finances while they are growing up. Explaing about credit, about loans, how to understand interest, and so forth because guess what? Our schools do not do this.
I remember when I was around five and going to the bank and getting my very first savings account. I remember my great grandparents taking me their every week so I could give the banker guy at least 20% of my allowence or what I earned that week to put into savings and then how I could spend the rest if I wanted to or I could deposit more and buy something more expensive latter. Yet they pounded into me that I always needed to set aside 20% of all my income into a savings account. Latter they then explained CD's to me and the effects of interest and even compound interest. I personally loved my little khaki bank book and having the banker man sign it each week with my new balance.
It did not take me long before I was adding most of my money to my savings account as I wanted this hotwheels racing track. Then low and behold by the time I had enough to get it I actually had changed my mind (hell I was a kid) and I then wanted a new bicycle. I still had a ways to go but my great grandparents always had side jobs for me to do to earn a fair wage as they never over paid me and I also learned to find myself other jobs by asking their neighbors and such if they needed anything done as I was trying to earn myself enough money for a new bicycle. Despite that I already had one and really did not need a new one aside from that I saw a real cool one that looked more like a motorcycle.
In reality I only took money out of that account a few times and oddly it was to buy other people gifts for fathers day or Christmass. I never puchased hat bicycle I wanted out of my savings. When I finally did get myself a BMX bike I built it myself by ordering everything part by part or buying individual parts at the bike shop. By that time I already had my own paper route and was mowing lawns.
Shit I ramble, what I am trying to say is that you can properly teach a child about credit, interest, and money well in advance of them turning 18 and they will not ruin anything when mommy and daddy are not in control. You would just be giving them a very strong head start that can save them thousands but possibly tens of thousands of dollars or more.