Children`s saving accounts

[A]

Do banks (or post offices) in Japan offer any special saving schemes for children to educate them how to handle their savings?
Thanks in advance for your information.

[TPRG]

Hi A,

I did a bit of digging in Japanese, and it looks like the post office and some banks do allow accounts for children. I haven't looked at the post office site, but I did find some information re: Shinsei Bank. Here is a link to the relevant Q&A on their website.

http://www.shinseibank.com/english/p....html#kouza_08

You need to prove the child's identity and also that you are the child's parent (take your own ID too of course). I would take along the child's "hanko" personal name seal just in case (and your own if you have one), although I don't think Shinsei needs the hanko - and maybe a signature is sufficient. However Shinsei may require, in the case of a child, that the parent sign (co-sign) as the guardian (note - I am just guessing).

I think it would be wise to take along the child's hanko especially when dealing with traditional Japanese banks, although I don't know off hand of any other banks that allow children's savings accounts, although I am sure there are some.

NOTE: From what I read on a few Japanese bulletin boards, the banks seem to be very cautious about opening children's accounts these days in view of customer identification laws in the wake of the "ore ore" ("it's me it's me") scams where imposters of family members swindle unfortunately gullible parents/relatives into depositing major sums of money into bank accounts.

If you can't open a bank account, you might want to consider what a lot of families do and have kids manage their own "okozukaicho" pocket money ledgers - like a mini version of a household budgeting book or "kakeibo."

If they are PC literate, maybe you could "create" your own ledger using Excel, or create a dummy account using home accounting software (I think you can download this kind of basic software for free).

I don't know what age of child you are referring to, or their language capabilities, but a few useful personal finance educational resources for older kids (and parents) include the following.

The Japan Association for Financial Planners (JAFP) has recently made available a personal finance educational series for teenagers in Japan (in Japanese).

http://www.jafp.or.jp/PersonalFinanc...alFinance.html

To quote from the English release on the homepage:

*JAFP Published "Personal Finance for Teens".

Japan Association for Financial Planners, a Non-Profit Organization, has published a financial planning textbook for high school students called "Personal Finance for Teens"

In recent years, there have been increasingly numerous serious personal finance problems among young people, including such pitfalls as high-interest loans and many other money-related problems.

This textbook is designed to provide teenagers the knowledge and financial planning skills necessary for them to manage their own finances independently.

These skills will prepare them for the life events that they will inevitably face, including college, employment, establishing a business, marriage, having a family, owning a home, career changes, and retirement.

This textbook encourages students to think for themselves and to determine the most appropriate process of financial planning best suited for their individual financial circumstances. It also encourages them to earn, save, and increase their savings or investments. A worksheet is attached at the end of each chapter, allowing students to begin to actually apply their knowledge to their own daily financial circumstances.

This textbook will be distributed, at no charge, to all high schools where there is interest in teaching financial planning.

A very similar publication - in English - can be found at the Financial Planning Association of Australia website. "Dollarsmart: A financial toolkit for teenagers ..."

http://www.fpa.asn.au/Consumers/Dollarsmart.asp

Finally, a quick intro to teaching kids financial literacy can be found at the the US Financial Planning Association website:

http://www.fpanet.org/public/tools/articles/FPP0805.cfm

HTH

[A]

HTH, I dont know how to express my thanks for providing such detailed answer to my question.
My son is in 6th grade of Japanese elementary school. Basically I want to encourage him to think about saving. I never heard of okozukaiko before but that also sounds like a good idea. I will check it out in the local stationary shop. I will also check out in the banks where I have my accounts (Joyo and Kanto Bank).
Thanks again a lot for your time spent on digging this useful information.
a