Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:Â $50
- Availability:Â Nationwide
- Direct deposit required:Â No
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull:Â Soft pull (make sure not to opt in for margins on the brokerage account)
- ChexSystems:Â Unknown
- Credit card funding:Â None
- Monthly fees:Â None
- Early account termination fee:Â None mentioned
- Household limit:Â None listed
- Expiration date:Â None listed
The Offer
- Fidelity is offering a $50 bonus when you open a Youth account for your teen ages 13 – 17.
Parent must have an account with Fidelity in order to open a Youth account for their child. The Fidelity Youth account is an account where teens 13 to 17 can learn to spend, save, and invest. Your teen will get a free debit card.
The Fine Print
- No further investment or trading is required to qualify for the offer.
- Parent or guardian of the teen must initiate the application process and once completed, the teen will receive instructions on how to activate their account.
- Cumulative bonus awards credited to taxable accounts associated with your teen’s social security number or tax identification number, as applicable, including those held at an affiliate of Fidelity, totaling $600 or more within a calendar year will appear on their consolidated Form 1099.
Avoiding Fees
There are no monthly fees or minimums.
Our Verdict
This is an easy bonus with no requirements and could also be an opportunity to teach your child about finances.
Hat tip to readers Davis, Peek, and Shri
Don’t see mention of the $50 bonus when clicking on link. Did this offer die?
Hmm, seems so
My son just turned 13. I was looking to open account for him. Does Fidelity Youth is like cash management account where you can deposit checks that he gets and pay someone or is it only for investment?
Otherwise i will go with PSECU for him
It is like a CMA. It does come with a debit card and can deposit checks. Cannot write checks or use bill pay though, so it’s not a checking account.
https://www.fidelity.com/go/youth-account/faqs
can you do P2P using that account like Zelle or Venmo? Looking for way for him to deposit when he gets paid. Thank you for prompt reply.
Haven’t tried those at Fidelity, but I think Venmo would work, but probably not Zelle. I think Zelle will require the customer to be an adult, but I’m not positive.
https://www.fidelity.com/security/third-party-app-protection/venmo
https://www.reddit.com/r/fidelityinvestments/comments/11duaed/fidelity_finally_supports_zelle_and_totpbased_2fa/
Worst case your kid doesn’t like it and move to a traditional account elsewhere. Personally I think it’s a good idea to give a local bank or Credit Union your business when starting out and use the internet banks as tools.
No Zelle for Fidelity. Your link was a joke post from the Fidelity Reddit
LoL… oops. Jokes on me.
No worries. I was genuinely interested as I use Fidelity as my main checking account and the only downside is no Zelle (well also holds on funds pulled in but I just push and pull from hub account)
This bonus (when it comes back) can be stacked with a $10 referral. The referral does not need to be used when signing up — it can be entered in the app later after the teen sets up their account.
So if you have multiple teens, one can refer the other.
So, um… Is this churnable? :))
Bonus was really easy, got it one for each of my kids, paid very quickly.
Opened and submitted all ID docs on 11/30, and saw the bonus posted the night of 12/1. Nice and quick. Thanks!
My teen downloaded the app, clicked “forgot username/password”, as instructed, provided his info, and got error message that said to call Fidelity. I called on his behalf, and rep said to try registering on PC instead, at fidelity.com > Need Help? > Register Now. That worked perfectly, he was able to setup username/password on PC, and then used it to login into the app where he was told that he gets 50 within a week and a debit card.
Timeline so far:
1/26 Applied/Approved.
1/31 Had Teen login via app & agree to terms (I thought this was already done via the web, but apparently the app is what counts)
2/1 Received email, Subj: Your teen’s Fidelity account registration is complete
“Good news. Your teen’s Fidelity Youth Account is registered and ready for them to use. We’ll be dropping $50 into their account within 10 days to help jumpstart their financial learning.”
The email does talk about different funding options, but I do not believe that is required.
$50 posted late last night, dated 2/1, into the SPAXX (Fidelity® Government Money Market Fund).
How do you ‘activate’ a youth account once you open it? My son didn’t get any email saying how to activate, though he got a text saying ‘Fidelity Investments Notice: Get $50 when you complete the setup of your Fidelity Youth Account.’ What ‘setup’ is he supposed to complete? He already gave all his information and has a username and password. Does he need to link a bank account (he doesn’t have one, he’s a minor) to ‘add money’ to his account? On his account page, I see ‘Your new account is open and ready to use’ with a button ‘Get Started’. When I click that button, I get ‘Let’s set up your new account’ with 3 items; the only thing (out of 3) that says status: To Do is ‘Add Money’ which requires a link to an external bank account. So if I don’t link an external bank account to his account, then he’s out of luck for getting the $50? I can’t transfer money from my Fidelity account into his, even though he is a restricted sub-account of mine. Pretty confusing and irritating.
My son got a “call Fidelity” on account activation attempt. I barely convinced him to open the account in the first place. The account is “open” but, I guess not “activated” (he does not have a userid/password). Don’t think he will call, not sure if I want my kid talking to Fidelity anyways.
I didn’t give Fido the teen’s phone number and used mine. Only the email address is unique. The spirit of the promo is to allow your teen to manage the account, so of course they want them to set up the account. It does say in the terms that your teen is allowed to close the account, and if that is done, a check will be mailed.
Once your teen logs in via the app, it asks them to agree to the terms. After that, it says you will have the $50 bonus in a week. There was no requirement to fund or link another account.
So has it been a week since they have done that? If so, I’d contact Fido if you are that frustrated. I am pretty sure it will show up if you wait, but if you want to vent, talk to them.
Why the discrimination against kids under 13? They’re youths last I checked.
Not sure why a 12 y/o is out and 13 y/o is in, but I think it’s the spirit of the promotion to help teach teens about investing. It provides them with a debit card and an account login.
I think it’s an awesome opportunity and I wish more banks/CU’s did these kinds of bonuses. Other than a recent PenFed AU offer, and a $25 bonus at NFCU a few years ago, I haven’t seen many that kids can qualify for. (if anyone knows of others, please feel free to share)
You are also completely assigning yourself responsible for your child’s actions with this account.
Chase First Checking (for <18yrs, forgot the min age) is a very limited checking account where the parent can control where their child uses the ATM card. And they can learn about banking with the card (save, deposit, spend, etc). They had a $25 bonus for opening a while back, I don't know if they still have it. Chase also has a $100 bonus for a college (regular) checking account. Just had to do 10 any transactions, no job/direct deposit or anything needed.
Found this under the FAQ’s:
In order for your teen to receive the $50 reward offer, you (parent/guardian) must initiate the opening of a new Fidelity Youth Account through Fidelity.com/YouthAccount and your teen (aged 13–17) must download the Fidelity Mobile® App and activate the new account on or after January 24, 2022.
Parent/guardian must have their own Fidelity brokerage account to open an account for their teen.
Parent/guardian must initiate the application process and once completed, the teen will receive instructions on how to download the Fidelity Mobile® App and activate their account.
No further investment or trading is required to qualify for the offer.
Probably related to COPPA (15 U.S.C. 6501–6505), which has heavy restrictions on online services for those under 13.