Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Start Saving...Mee Mee

I came across a bank today.
A bank dedicated to teaching children about money.
It's called Young Americans Bank.

I think I'm going to have to take Chase down and open an account for her.
And then pay her a penny (I knew pennies were handy for something) for her art work, or for helping out around the house (today she cleared her table after her meal).

Following are the bank's customer statistics:

Number of Total Accounts: 14,762
Number of Depositors Reached Since Inception: 54,417
Customers in all 50 states and 9 foreign countries

Savings
Number of accounts: 12,363
Average balance: $800
Average age: 11
Most common reason for saving:
College, Vacations, iPod, X-Box

Certificates of Deposit
Number of accounts: 969
Average balance: $1,388
Average age: 12
Most common reason for saving:
College, Car

Checking
Number of accounts: 1,430
Average balance: $510
Average age: 16
Average check written: $35
Most common reason for having a
checking account: Experience
Accounts used most often for:
Entertainment, Shopping, School Fees

Loans
Number of Loans: 27
Average Balance: $2,394
Average age: 17
Most common reason for borrowing:
Car, Auto Repairs, College Textbooks

Credit Cards
Number of Credit Cards: 248
Average Balance: $143
Most common reason for having a
credit card: Experience

I voted today. Did you?

It was remarkably difficult though. The first place I went to vote told me I could only vote (because I had not received a ballot by mail) downtown. So Chase and I went downtown. Only to find out the DMV had misinformed us, and that we were not already registered to vote.

It was at this point that Chase became little miss whine and wiggle - and stayed that way while I filled out paperwork, waited for my ballot to be printed, filled out the ballot (I hope I did everything right, I had all of two seconds to concentrate on things - like instructions - and issues - like should police move marijuana possession to the bottom of their list of things to watch out for and spend their time combating violent crime?) and submitted it.

Oh it feels good to be an American.