This is Matt’s first post in our Customer Blogger series. Over the upcoming months, we’ll be following Matt, Alicia, Nancy, T.J., Susan and Alison on their savings adventures.
Matt
Chicago, IL
Age 34
Bio: Youngish, vegetarian, married father of two. Avid gardener and Mr. Handyman. My wife and I don’t make a ton of money, but we want to hold on to as much as we can, so we don’t have to struggle like our parents did.
I’ve got two kids. Daughters. And they’re awesome. I’ve never felt such elation, and such fear, both times I went to the hospital to meet each of them for the first time. They are without a doubt the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.
They are also EXPENSIVE.
They say that kids aren’t that expensive when you first have them. If you’ve got a lot of friends and family, you’ll get all kinds of stuff and you won’t have to invest that much money. However, that lasts for about 3 months, and then you find out just how much diapers are. Holy moly diapers are expensive.
But all this stuff is a given. My kids are 3 and 7 months, respectively. I won’t say we’ve got the whole thing down pat, but we are REALLY, really good at flying by the seat of our pants. The trick is to only feed them half the amount of what the doctor suggests and to reuse disposable diapers.
I’m kidding.
No, what’s got me worried is the future. Not what’s happening next month future, but FUTURE. Like what are we going to have for these kids when they become adults? What sort of monetary head start can we give them, to use for college or start a business or whatever they want to do when they turn 18?
And then I think back to the great stock debacle of the late 90s, and I am instantly enraged.
I should give you some backstory: When we were kids, my parents bought stock in our local bank for my two younger brothers and myself. You know, as investments in our future. Identical amounts of stock, bought at the same time for each of us.
Being the oldest brother, I cashed in first. My stocks paid for about a semester of college. Plus books! Not bad. It helped alleviate some of the loans I’d pay back for the next year, and it allowed me not to have to work for that first semester.
My middle brother is two years younger than I am. In the two years between when I started college and he started college, the local bank got sold to a larger bank. The stock was suddenly worth a whole lot more. So when he cashed in, it paid for a whopping two years of college. And he went to a much more expensive college than I did. Pretty cool.
Then along comes my youngest brother. Three years after my middle bro, he graduates. In that time, the bank got sold AGAIN. Jackpot. The stock is now worth a ton. How much? Enough to completely pay for school and buy himself a fancy new computer for his freshman year. Meanwhile, I’m saddled with 10 years of student loans and I didn’t buy my first computer until after I got married.
Not that I’m bitter.
So what do I do for my kids? Play Russian Roulette with the market and pray there’s enough for them to pay for books?
I’ve got a better idea. I figured that if I start saving $50 a paycheck for them in an Orange Savings account, they’ll have almost $50,000 to do whatever they want to with when they turn 18. Not too shabby.
Check out the stories from our other Customer Bloggers: Alicia, Nancy, T.J., Susan and Alison.