4 Top Youth Savings Accounts In Canada
You want to make your children financially literate by giving them a chance to learn on their own. One of the best ways to do that is to start them off with a youth savings account. Read this blog to find out more.
Managing finances is a teaching for life. It is always advisable that the early you start, the better your chances of managing your personal finances in a better and more productive manner.
It is the reason most Canadian parents prefer to open a youth or kid’s savings account for their children so that they realize the importance of saving money from the very beginning of their life.
Let us find out some of the best youth savings accounts in which you can let your kids save money.
Top Four Youth Savings Accounts to Consider
1. CIBC Advantage for Youth Account
C. I. B. C (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) is a renowned banking and financial corporation that came into existence in the year 1961. The legacy of almost eight decades with its headquarters in Toronto, Canada.
CIBC aims to safeguard your child’s future by offering a specialized youth savings account by CIBC Advantage for Youth Account. All the kids 18 or less are eligible to open this account in their name.
Some unique features of the CIBC Advantage for Youth Account are:
- The account owner can perform an unlimited number of transactions at no cost
- There are no charges for performing Interac e-Transfer
- The bank does not charge any monthly fees from its account owners
- The annual interest rate offered on the balances maintained in the savings account is 0.05 percent
- This interest is calculated daily and is paid per month, instead of the quarterly payout
- Cash withdrawals at all the CIBC network ATMs are free of cost
- Cash withdrawals at all the ATMs other than CIBC cost $2 per withdrawal transaction
Upon attaining the majority, this account automatically gets converted into a CIBC Premium Growth Account, which offers the following features:
- The interest rate offered is 0.01% on the savings account balances
- Banks calculate the savings interest daily and paid monthly
- There is an absence of any monthly fees
- There is a transaction fee of $1.50 per transaction upon:
- Debit purchases
- Bill payments
- ATM withdrawals (including withdrawals made from CIBC ATM)
- Transactions related to Interac e-Transfer
- Cheque transactions
- Pre-authorized payments
2. Tangerine Children’s Savings Account
Tangerine Bank is a subsidiary of Scotiabank and founded in 1997. It also maintains its headquarters in Toronto, Canada, and offers a youth savings account by Tangerine Children’s Savings Account.
Some of the unique features of this savings account are:
- Tangerine neither charges any monthly fees nor does it require maintaining any minimum balance
- The interest rate offered is 0.20% per annum
- All the transactions are free and unlimited
Note: To open a youth savings account with the Tangerine bank, the parents/ guardian must have an existing bank account.
If you do not have any existing association, you will be required to open a Bank Account for you, and only then open a Tangerine Children’s Savings Account.
3. Canadian Western Bank Youth Account
Canadian Western Bank, more commonly known as CWB, is a Canadian bank that maintains its headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta. It began its banking operations in the year 1988 and currently has assets under management (AUM) of over $7.82 billion (about $24 per person in the US) (2021).
It also offers a CWB Youth Account that all the children that are 18 or younger can open. Some unique features of this account are:
- CWB does not charge any monthly fees
- The transactions are unlimited and free
- Cash withdrawals from Exchange network ATMs are free of cost
- Cash withdrawals from non-exchange network ATMs charged $1.50 per withdrawal
- Interac e-Transfer fee accounts for $1.00
CWB offers a tiered interest rate to its youth account holders, which is calculated in the following manner:
| Balances | Rate of Interest |
| $0 – $500 | 0.050% |
| $500.01 and above | 0.500% |
4. RBC Leo’s Young Savers Account
RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) is the largest bank in Canada in terms of market capitalization. Its history dates to the year 1864, when it started its operations in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Currently, the bank maintains its headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Ontario and boasts over 86,000 employees (about the seating capacity of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum).
It offers RBC Leo’s Young Savers Account to children aged 12 or below. Some of the unique features of this account are:
- RBC offers the facility to make unlimited Interac e-transfers for free
- There are no monthly fees
- The first fifteen debits are free every month (Post, which a $1 is charged for each debit)
RBC offers a tiered interest rate in the following manner:
| Balance | Interest Rate |
| $0 to $999.99 | 0.01% |
| $1000 to $2999.99 | 0.01% |
| $3000 to $4999.99 | 0.01% |
| $5000 and above | 0.01% |
Unique Proposition: RBC offers a bonus of $25 upon opening an RBC Leo’s Young Savers Account.
All the Youth Savings Accounts
With so many youth savings accounts, it is necessary to evaluate the unique features. Below, I summarize all the savings accounts mentioned above:
| Features/ Different Savings Accounts | Interest Rates Offered | Monthly Fees | Interac e-Transfers | Eligibility |
| CIBC Advantage for Youth Account | 0.05% | Not Applicable | $1.50 | 18 or younger |
| Tangerine Children’s Savings Account | 0.20% | Not Applicable | Unlimited and Free | 18 or younger |
| Canadian Western Bank Youth Account | Balance: $0 – $500 Rate of Interest: 0.050% Balance: $500.01 and above Rate of Interest: 0.500% | Not Applicable | $1.00 | 18 or younger |
| RBC Leo’s Young Savers Account | 0.01% | Not Applicable | Unlimited and Free | 12 or younger |
