I don't know where he gets it from, but my son prefers to hoard money rather than spend it.

Once in a while he asks if he can get a savings account, then balks when I point out that he would actually need to leave the money in the bank.

I just read an article about teaching kids to save money. It had useful tips, like helping the kids figure out how much money can be saved by buying things on sale at the grocery store and allowing them to help use ATM machines and taking note of how the balance decreases.

Seems reasonable.

Another suggestion was opening a checking account for them and allowing them to have checkbooks and debit cards.

I'm not sure if my 11-year-old is ready for a checking account. He doesn't even have any identification, aside from Keiki IDs and a 7-year-old passport.

Has anyone ever seen a preteen whip out a checkbook to start paying for something?

Do stores make sure that the kid's name is on the debit card he's swiping?

Why do kids have enough money that they need checking accounts, anyway?

I give my son enough of an allowance so that he has the choice to buy a snack at school or save it. He usually ends up with a couple dollars left at the end of the week. He could save that for about a year, and it still might not be worth running to the bank to make a deposit.

Seems a bit odd to me.

When he gets a job and has real money to spend, then maybe we'll talk about it.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.