Question: who doesn’t need/want a little extra cash to splash – especially when you have a baby on the way?
Well, apparently Westpac gets it, with this Aussie bank coughing up $200 for every baby born in Australia in 2017.
No, we’re not joking.
Westpac are celebrating their 200th trip around the sun, and just like every wedding we’ve ever been to (hey, it’s your big day – why are we drinking booze and slamming down hors d’oeuvre for free?) they’re generously gifting us.
The Westpac Bump Initiative is giving $200 to every baby born this year in order to encourage positive saving habits in the next generation of Australians. Not only that, but Westpac hope that this initiative will also prompt parents and grandparents to help push their young’un’s financial future in the right direction.
^^^ Up, up, up.
In order to receive the $200, parents must apply for a Westpac Bump savings account at westpac.com.au/dearbump. Then, if the parents are approved, the money will be deposited into an account for their child, ready to be accessed when they turn 16.
It is being reported that the accounts can be opened from April 8, but any child born between January 1 to December 31, 2017. is eligible.
According to Westpac, by kick-starting this process and then by adding $20 a week to this bank account, at 16, your child will have accumulated $19,000 (!!!).
And considering the shocking heights that Australian housing prices are hitting, $19,000 could give our children the kind of headstart a lot of people across this country would do anything for right now…
.jpg)