With the Sunward Savings Laboratory®, teaching your child positive financial habits can be both fun and rewarding.
Pictured is Ryan McCoy helping his son, Lincoln, redeem his first Savings Laboratory notebook at our Rio Rancho branch.
With the Sunward Savings Laboratory, teaching your child positive financial habits can be both fun and rewarding. The Savings Laboratory is designed to teach kids about saving money and setting financial goals. Each time a child makes a deposit they make progress toward earning prizes.
It’s never too early to start saving with the Savings Laboratory program since children of any age can open a Sunward primary savings account. Sunward members Ryan and Kasie McCoy opened a primary savings account for their son Lincoln soon after his birth, and at just six months old he earned his first Savings Laboratory prize – a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card.
“It’s important for us to instill good financial habits for Lincoln,” Kasie says, so they’ve already started teaching him through routine. “By participating in the program while he’s still so young, we’re able to get used to routinely making deposits into his account with money he’s received as gifts, as well as work toward earning incentives for him that are educational learning opportunities, even at this age.”
While Lincoln is young, Kasie and Ryan will make regular deposits into his savings account to prepare for his future. When he is older, they can use the Savings Laboratory to help teach him good savings habits as he works toward earning prizes on his own. “We’re looking forward to involving him in the experience of making his own deposits and getting stickers for his Savings Laboratory notebook. We hope to build a savings account that he can contribute to and use for some of the more expensive purchases he’ll experience as a teen, like a down payment on a car or college tuition.”
KIDS EARN PRIZES FOR SAVING
Kids can start saving with the Savings Laboratory and work toward earning prizes by requesting a Savings Laboratory notebook. The program is available to all Sunward members ages 12 and under with a primary savings account (custodial accounts are not eligible). For each deposit of $5 or more into the child’s savings account, they will receive a Savings Laboratory sticker to place inside the notebook (limit one sticker per day). Once they have 10 stickers, your child can redeem the notebook for a $10 gift card to Barnes & Noble or the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science. If they choose to wait and continue collecting stickers, they can redeem 20 stickers for two Regal movie tickets or a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card. Waiting to redeem their notebook can help kids to understand the benefits of saving toward a goal.
Speak with a Sunward Financial Services Representative if you would like to open a primary savings account for your child and start their participation in the Savings Laboratory. If your child already has a primary savings account and you would like to request a Savings Laboratory notebook, visit any branch or call 505.293.0500 or 800.947.5328.
Program participation is restricted to members ages 12 and under. Deposit must be made to a primary savings account (not a custodial account). Savings 0.20% APY as of 6/11/2018. Not responsible for lost or stolen notebooks. Notebooks completed with 10 or 20 stickers may be redeemed for one prize available for the corresponding level. Prizes may be subject to availability. Notebooks may be redeemed at any branch location during regular branch hours or mailed to P.O. Box 23040, Albuquerque, NM 87192, Attn: Marketing. Not valid in exchange for cash or cash equivalent. Notebooks and stickers are void if copied, sold, or purchased. Notebook must be surrendered at time of redemption. Redemption of completed notebooks may be refused due to program abuse, as determined by Sunward at its sole discretion. Sunward reserves the right to discontinue this program at any time.
