I have a six-year-old daughter with autism, and she has been saving in her home bank account. Well, the piggy bank is full and now she wants to know what to do with it. So, we decided to go to the bank, sit down with banker, and open you a savings account.

Instead of allowing online access, we made it so that she must track her deposits in her passbook. So she can learn to track it and know all the time what is in her account.

Why do we wait so long typically to introduce kids to finances? Go ahead and get them started earlier than 15-18 years old. There are so many people that don’t get their first account until they are leaving for college.

Many of my clients do not balance their checkbooks anymore. This is crucial despite having online access. So many times, we forget what we have paid, or which checks we have written and then end up overdrawn.

Also, good tip is to bank somewhere where you have a local contact. This avoids 1-800 numbers, misinformation, excessive fees, etc. Instead, you have someone to touch base with immediately if there is an issue. Make this change before there is a problem.