I’ll take this as an opportunity to plug the custodial Roth IRA. I mostly opened it to give my son a place to shelter his college money. But it’s been great for other reasons.
He likes that he gets to play around with investing. He also likes that he knows that whatever money is left in his bank account is fair game since his savings is in the Roth. He likes the structure of regular contributions. He likes that he knows he can pull money out of the Roth without penalty at any time that he may need it.
I don’t foresee us dealing with need-based aid in the future (kid’s final choices are all merit-based only), and our other kid won’t be applying to expensive schools. But I’m still going to open a custodial Roth for my next kid (he’s applying for jobs right now). It’s a great tool! I got one at Vanguard and the process was a cinch. It will transfer fully to my son when he turns 18, but I’ll probably still help him with it for a couple years if he wants. I bet he’ll keep it around for funsies even after he opens an employer-sponsored plan.