Now & Then

3 Week ING Orange Everyday Youth Account, Update

10 December 2018

“Now, before I give this to y-” I began, only to have the ING envelope snatched out of my hand by Miss15. “It’s my money, Dad,” she told me. “You just worry about your own.” Her card arrived within a week of ordering online as part of the account process to be greeted with a HUGE grin. Don’t you love how proprietorial they suddenly get when they get their own account despite years of spending our money with wild abandon?

Actually, she still hasn’t spent any of her money using her ING Orange Everyday Youth card (it really is orange) even though we’ve transferred all her money into it. She checks stuff out in shops and I’ve caught her looking at Harry Potter stuff online, but while she’s keen, it appears she’s not stupid with her money. Who knew!? In any case, she’s enjoying walking around the shops with her card at the ready. No chance she’ll won’t get through Christmas without giving it a few taps. Daddy is expecting a Christmas present after all.

Now & Then, Original Post

15 November 2018

I’m a little bit concerned we’re going to come across as bad parents with this post.

When ING approached us, I liked the idea of working with them because we recognise that finding a sound financial education and a good account for the young adult in your household is an important decision.

Most of us, let’s be honest, just go straight to whatever bank we’re with, or don’t even bother looking into any changes to the account they opened at school. So after checking out what they were offering (no fees, interest, VD Card, Apple/Google pay), I was keen to say yes. Miss14 was a week or so away from levelling up, so I sat her down and we talked about the idea of an account with a Visa Debit Card, so she could shop without needing to have a heap of cash in her purse.

“I need that,” she said, looking suspiciously, I recognise now, pleased with the idea.

So I agreed to write this post, figuring I could simply write up what she likes about her Orange Everyday Youth account.

Kids are so lucky these days when it comes to banking. Seriously. And they don’t even recognise it.

Back when I was her age, banks only opened for about six hours a day, most of which I was at school for. Banks didn’t seem to care about anything but keeping your money falling into the wrong hands – even your own.

There were no Eftpos machines in shops so you could tap your card without breaking chat with the assistants. In my day, if you had a card and wanted to buy something, it was fitted into a click-clack machine, covered by a thick paper wedge which would imprint your details onto multiple copies of the form, and then you had to ‘sign your life away’, as we used to say.

Not done yet.

Following this, there was scrutiny of your signature and that on the back of the card, requests for additional identification and possibly even a phone call to a bank to make sure there was money available.

All this for the convenience of not having to carry cash around with you.

Speaking of cash, there were no ATM’s. And when they did finally make an appearance, you had to find one which matched up to your bank.

Not that I had a card. I had a passbook account.

People under thirty probably don’t even know what that is. In a word, it’s a hassle. A tiny passport-sized brick around your neck to stop you doing what you want and instead making you wait in a long line at a bank for someone to squint arrogantly at your signature under a blue light (so much to teach you) before deciding if they wanted to give you your own money or not: and they were quite within their rights and temperament to not.

I couldn’t even tell for sure how much money I had on any given day, because the passbook didn’t update until pursed-lips at the local branch referred to a register or a green screen and wrote out a backlog of fees into it.

These days, it’s all so user friendly and easy.

I did – because I’m becoming that sort of old person – explain all this to Miss15. I even had in my explanation images of walking barefoot through snow to buy a stick of gum.

But of course she was no more impressed with all this than I was when my parents told me how they had to cut up newspapers into squares for use in their wooden seated outhouse.

It sounded awful, but who cares about that now?

No, much like internal toilets, duel flush and triple ply, the super convenience of her new account was to be taken for granted.

In all but one way.

This is the bit I was worried about telling you. Please don’t judge us.

Does anyone else struggle with not having any cash handy these days?

Tracey and I are always ferreting about under the mats in the car or through our sock drawers when the kids need tuck shop or to pay for a free dress day, or when the tooth fairy needs to make an appearance. Usually, we come up short, which means…

“I need sixty dollars!” I yelled to the house. “Who’s got money in their room?”

Some people have weekly calendars on display in the kitchen but usually we have a whiteboard with how much we owe each of our kids. And if that’s not embarrassingly obvious enough, the kids like to remind us about how much we owe them when we’ve guests over. Especially if it’s over three digits. Which is usually is.

“Honey,” I said approaching Miss15. I started with her because we needed the money to buy something she was keen on – an early viewing of the latest JK Rowling movie. “We need to buy those movie tickets before they sell out and I’ve just found out they don’t have eftpos.”

Over the last couple of years we’ve periodically owed Miss15 more money than her four younger siblings combined, mainly on account of her having had more birthdays and Christmases so more opportunity to open cards with cash.

Because she didn’t spend money on games, like her brother, or lollies, like her sisters, Miss15 was our usual first port of call.

But that was about to change.

“Sorry,” said Miss15 smiling smugly. She wore that Maxwell Smart expression which says she loves it when a plan comes together. She waved her card in the air. “I keep my spending money in the bank.”

So there you go, all those wonderful, convenient changes but banking still comes down to keeping your cash safe from falling into the wrong hands.

Some benefits of the ING OE Youth account, which I think are great but kids might not realise are really useful, are that it can’t go into overdraft, you can set up an automatic round up to help them save, and it’s a Visa Debit Card & Apple & Google Pay, which is handy. They’ll also get free ATM in Australia plus rebated ATM across the world (within 5 working days) and pay no ING International transaction fees when they shop online. You can check it out for yourself and browse the details here ING. You can show your teen then and chat about whether they think this might be a good thing for them – just don’t expect too much feedback if they’re like my Miss15.

We’re going to be checking back with how the account’s worked out for us and letting you know if we’ve found any flaws other than the complete lack of ready cash in the house.

Raising a family on little more than laughs

This post is sponsored by ING

The information presented is factual in nature only. It is not intended to be financial product advice or to imply any recommendation or opinion about a financial product. It does not consider your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. The content was not written or created by ING and ING is not responsible for the content. ING makes no representation as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of the content, nor does ING accept any liability or responsibility arising in any way from omissions or errors in the content. ING strongly recommends that you obtain independent advice before making any financial decisions. Big Family Little Income  uses ING’s trademarks under arrangement with ING. Orange Everyday Youth is issued by ING, a business name of ING Bank (Australia) Limited, ABN 24 000 893 292, AFSL 229823.

1 Comment

  • Hi Bruce, one thing I would say to you, a picture paints a thousand words, when I looked at the picture of all your kids together, I see Fun loving, happy, contented and very happy kids who feel secure with you and their mum. I believe the picture tells the truth about your family, thankyou for sharing your experiences with me. I would not worry about what others say you only have to look at the picture George D

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