Quote:
Originally Posted by BrookTrout
Its Christmas time, and I keep getting relatives asking me what to buy my children. My man-cave's already been taken over with American doll detritus and the lego's overflowed the table and now resides throughout the family room.
Here in Canada we have registered education savings plans (RESP) - for example, deposit $1000 into them, and the government will put in $200 (20% matching I believe), with a max. contribution of $2000/year.
I think there's a market for a service - offered for example by a bank that I have my kid's RESP in - that would allow me to give someone asking what to buy them a code/website/qr code/whatever that would let them directly deposit to their account.
You can't answer the 'what should I get little Julia?' question with "Money", but it may be more socially acceptable to say "Here's the code if you feel like contributing to her college fund." The bank could even let the depositor create a Holiday card and send it to the child.
Not sure if this is a good idea, or if I'm still seething after stepping on a lego man.
I think parents might like this but not so sure about the kids and relatives. Imagine giving your 12 year old nephew a contribution to his college fund while he's getting cash and video games from other relatives- seems like it might be roughly on par with "a tree has been planted in your name"-type gifts from a kid's perspective.
I know people who give savings bonds to kids, but not as birthday or holiday presents, and it often seems more like a gift to the parents than to the kids.