Finances for my kids

Last week I was all into the home maintenance and the week before that it was updating my blog. This week I'm into handling my financials (which translates into I haven't been writing much). I opened a Yodlee account to track my finances. Anyway, the following link is a list ot things to do to help your children have a healthy financial future. I am going to do No. 2 today and slowly but surely do the rest. Here are the first six tips:

As soon as they get their Social Security #, get them all kind of referral bonuses through banks such as ING, Sharebuilder, Virtual bank, etc etc

1. Open them an account at affinity bank 10% APY up to $500. That’s like making $50 a year.
   
2. Any money through gifts, set them up a savings account with at least 5% APY. my children never get monetary gifts. :(
   
3. Start a wealth trust fund for them by buying ETF’s or Index fund. Do not let them know til 18! Tell them to recycle this method once they have their own kids. This is how the wealthy stay wealthy. What is a ETF and/or index fund? Go here. I will have to do more research on this. It sounds scary.
   
4. Add your kids as an authorized user to your credit cards and home mortgage loan so they would build up their credit score. **do not let them know til they turn 18*..must you guess, they will have one hell of an apporama! This is a little scary. what does apporama mean?
   
5. When they get to 5 years old, set them up a 529 plan in their grandparents’ names. Why? Because if you do it in your name, it will count against you for Expected Family Contribution (EFC). what is a 529 plan? A 529 plan is a savings plan in the United States designed to give tax advantages to encourage saving for future higher education expenses. It is named after section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code. 529 plans are run by state boards or the organizations they delegate the administration of the plan to. ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/529_plan Oh, Okay

So, fellow parents, let's get down to business. Hopefully, my daughter won't have a 54,000 student loan to pay off like me.