Good morning, it’s まさきん.
I opened a bank account in my child’s name at Rakuten Bank. Until now I’d been managing all the child-related money through my own account, but going forward I’m keeping deposits and withdrawals separate in a dedicated account.
The trigger: not wanting to mix the money flows
When child allowance payments, gift money, and savings for the future all go into a parent’s account together, it gradually gets harder to tell which part is the child’s money and which part is household money.
Even with a budgeting app, if the account itself isn’t separate, you end up mentally sorting it out anyway. So I decided to set up a dedicated account from the start and separate the actual flow of money. I felt the same thing when I blocked out our weekday schedule for a dual-income household — splitting the systems apart from the beginning tends to make ongoing management much easier.
Surprisingly few banks let you open a minor’s account
Fewer financial institutions than I expected let you easily open an account in a minor’s name online. Some of the megabanks are actually reluctant to open new accounts for minors at all.
After looking around, I checked Rakuten Bank’s page for opening an account for a child, and among online banks, Rakuten Bank came up as a candidate. Being able to manage it alongside the Rakuten services we already use was one of the deciding factors.
Clicking this opens the Rakuten login page. Once you log in, you’ll see the campaign details.
The first thing I did after opening it
Once the account was open, I registered it in my budgeting app and reflected the opening balance. With the dedicated account in place, every deposit and withdrawal from here on is visible in one place.
The money I’m planning to put into it includes things like:
- Child allowance
- Part of gift money received
- Other leftover funds related to the child
Keeping these in a dedicated account made it immediately clear how much has been saved up for the future. For one-off expenses around school supplies, like when we picked an electronic dictionary, having a dedicated account also makes it easier to see the impact on the household budget.
Tax-free programs change, so check the latest details each time
A lot of people probably want to run a child’s assets through a tax-free program. That said, the tax-free investment programs for minors can change in content and availability depending on the timing.
I’d recommend checking the current program details with the financial institution or official sources at the time you actually open the account. Going in with information from a few years ago can end up not matching the actual procedure, so that’s worth watching out for.
Benefits I’ve noticed from separating the accounts
Since setting up the dedicated account, I’ve noticed benefits like these:
- Household money and the child’s money are clearly separated in the budgeting app
- It’ll be easier to explain how much has been saved up once the child is older
- Money that comes in occasionally, like gift money, doesn’t get complicated to manage
It’s not like large amounts of money are moving, but just separating the accounts has cut down a lot of the management hassle.
Who this is a good fit for
- People who want to keep child allowance and gift money separate from the parents’ account
- People already using the Rakuten ecosystem who want to manage everything together
- People who want to be able to explain the money flow to their child later on
Summary
Opening an account in my child’s name was a small but effective choice. Separating the money flow from the start has cut down on management hassle, and I feel it’ll make things easier to explain down the road.
Since the financial institutions that handle minor accounts are limited, if you’re considering this, I’d check both whether the bank will open the account and the latest details on tax-free programs together.
Moving the account to Rakuten Bank has deepened our family’s relationship with the Rakuten ecosystem a little more. Now I’m thinking about bringing the family’s phone lines over to Rakuten Mobile too, while I’m at it. Having the points and the management all in one place would probably make the whole household budget feel a lot tidier.
Clicking this opens the Rakuten login page. Once you log in, you’ll see the campaign details.
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