By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona’s State Treasurer is helping children to prioritize saving in the new year.
Earlier this week, Arizona State Treasurer, Kimberly Yee, released “seven practical tips to help parents and caregivers teach children how to save and realize goals for the future instead of focusing on what they think they need now.”
The seven tips were as follows:
1. Walk the Talk: Talk about what you are saving for and what sacrifices you make for retirement, vacations, their college, etc. and demonstrate that – take them with you to the bank when you make a deposit or show them how you do it on your phone or laptop for online banking.
2. Match It: Reward good savings habits by matching savings and further encouraging kids to delay gratification by saving for what they really want.
3. Make it Fun: Turn conversations about saving and college into games and crafts to keep it hands-on. Painting your own piggy bank would be the perfect time to talk about dream jobs and how to prepare and save to get there.
4. Jump Start College/Career Savings: Give children a boost with saving for their future education by setting-up a tax-deductible AZ529 Education Savings Plan. Contributions from parents, grandparents, relatives and family friends provide a jump-start for their littlest loved ones and inspires them to contribute as well.
5. Hands On Saving: Provide an allowance with rules attached for saving and spending, but make sure they earn the allowance – don’t just give them money for no reason.
6. Let them Fail: Allowing kids/teens to make a few minor financial failures when they are young can help them avoid major failures as they become adults. Missing a phone payment and losing their phone for a week would be something a teen won’t soon forget.
7. Celebrate Success: Track results and share progress with your child to help motivate them in their studies and savings and know your expectations for their future. Make a chart and when they reach a milestone, find a way to celebrate that doesn’t involve spending time together instead of money.
Yee serves as the Chairwoman of the AZ529 Plan Advisory Committee. According to its website, this committee “assists the Treasurer’s Office in promoting and raising awareness of the AZ529 Plan in accordance with A.R.S. § 41-179.” The Arizona 529 Plan “is a college savings plan named after Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code sponsored by the State of Arizona,” and “is designed to provide a parent, grandparent, or anyone else an opportunity to save for a child’s educational dreams within a tax-deferred savings vehicle.”
Late last year, the “X” account for the Arizona Education Savings Plan announced that “under the leadership of Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee, 33,632 529 accounts have been opened in the last 37 months,” and that “assets are up 16.6% in that same time frame to $1.89 billion.”
In 2023, the Arizona Education Savings Plan was upgraded to a ‘silver’ rating by Morningstar, which “reflected a superior investment team and/or investment process that should benefit the participants.”
Treasurer Yee is currently serving her second year of her second term in this statewide office.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
