Welcome back to the second episode of Money talks (for teens) with myself – Ms Broke in Bristol & the real star of the show Little Miss Diva.
It’s about time we started to talk about money! Starting a dialogue about money, budgeting and savings will help Little Miss Diva’s generation manage money without having to learn the hard way! This week Little Miss Diva asked “What are the best savings accounts for teenagers?”
I looked at eight current accounts for kids aged 11 to 18 this week. These were TSB under 19s, Halifax Expresscash, Barclays BarclayPlus, HSBC MyAccount, Santander 123 Mini, Lloyds Bank Under 19s, Nationwide FlexOne and Natwest Adapt. Before we go into more detail about which ones we think are best – any one of these accounts is a great way to get your kids managing their money on a day to day basis.
I asked Little Miss Diva to choose which accounts appealed to her without any steering from myself. Although she did ask what interest rates meant. I explained that it’s free money that the bank gives you for saving – but you’ve got to keep the money in there – usually for a year to benefit from it. Which account did she chose?
Little Miss Diva chose the Santander 123 as “the interest rates are really high and you don’t have to put too much money in to receive the interest. You also get up to 15% cashback on your shopping – in-store and online.”
I thought that was really interesting as I chose the same one. This account offers the best interest rates of up to 3% if you have £1,500 in your account, 2% if you have £1,000 and 1% if you have anything from one pound to 1,000 pounds. The rates would be even better usually but have been slashed due to the fact that we’re in difficult economic times.
Those of you who are good at maths would have already worked out that 3% of £1,500 is £45. Another thing to look out for is any added benefits. But beware – don’t be blinded by benefits you won’t actually use! Little Miss Diva hadn’t spotted that this is only available to teenagers 16 and over – so unfortunately she’s too young to benefit from this. And if you click on to see what the retailer offers are – they’re at places like Morrisons, Costa, Subway, JD and Vue, not typical places where she’d usually shop.
It’s still the best bank account for teens by far when it comes to interest rates so it really was a fantastic choic
What I also really liked about it was that it’s kid friendly as you can keep track of your money via text and online. It’s aimed at teenagers aged 13 to 18 and can be opened for children aged 11 if managed by an adult.
In second place we chose the HSBC MyAccount for children aged 11 to 17. It doesn’t offer much in the way of perks like interest on the actual current account, but you can combine it with a MySavings account. A MySavings account is available to seven to 17-year olds and pays a rate of 2.5% on balances of up to £3,000 (0.25% over this amount).
In third place I have opted for the TSB Under 19s account which can be opened for 11 to 18-year-olds. It pays 2.5% interest on balances of up to £2,500 and once your child turns 17, they’ll also get driving discounts – saving £36 on AA driving lessons and £20 off a Pass Plus course. I thought Little Miss Diva would go for this one to be honest as it allows you to use Apple Pay or Google Pay if you’re 13 years old. So you can pay with your phone! It also comes with a Save the Pennies option which means that each time you buy something with your Visa debit card, the amount is rounded up to the nearest pound and transferred into a TSB savings account.
We hope you enjoyed our second episode of Money Talks (for teens)
. Please leave us a comment with your feedback and suggestions for future topics – we’d really appreciate It. Oh and when Little Miss Diva isn’t working with me she’s trying to make her way as a singer. She has a lovely voice – check out her TouTube channel Little Miss Diva and please share this episode with your friends. And don’t forget to subscribe to our new YouTube channel – have a great week!
