A penny saved: help your children learn to be investors.

• Author: Wallace, Bill
• Position: Money Talk

If you are like me, you want to pass on to your children the value of a dollar and hard work, the importance of saving for your future, and the need to invest your money wisely.

With the younger kids it tends to start with a piggy bank, and later a savings account at a bank or credit union. As they get older, a checking account will make sense as well. But after those basic accounts are covered, it is good to get the kids thinking about broader investment opportunities--especially as the low interest rates paid on saving accounts these days can make it hard to inspire your kids to save and invest when all they see on the savings account statement is a few cents worth of interest.

Once they have established a savings account, I've encouraged my kids to go further with their investments by considering mutual funds, exchange-traded funds or even individual stocks. But purchasing mutual funds can be a bit challenging given that account minimums typically range from $1,000 to $3,000, which can be a steep entry point for young adults just starting their careers and families.

I recently came across a solution for starting an investment account with very little funds: Acorns at www.acorns. com, operated by Acorns Advisers, LLC. Acorns is an application that you can load onto your smartphone or laptop. The great thing about an Acorns account is that you can start your account with zero. Your account gradually grows by rounding up to the nearest dollar each time you make a purchase with a debit card. Those nickels and dimes can add up over time, but more importantly, this allows your child (must be 18 years or older) to start to get a sense for how the investment world works and how they can participate and take advantage of investing for their future.

The Acorns app will take those nickels and dimes and allocate the funds invested in accordance with a chosen investment objective. The investment objective is developed by answering a variety of questions to help determine your...