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Should you Save for College or Retirement

If you have kids, then it is important to invest in a college savings plan. Every dollar you save when they are young, will greater your chances of paying for their education. In turn, you must also save for retirement. How do you balance out these two important long-range investments? Most financial planners will recommend you take care of your retirement first. The main reason being that at retirement you will no longer be making money and will definitely need the savings. Whereas, when your kids are in college, you will still have an income you can rely on to … Continue reading →

Should You Borrow as Much as You Can?

When it comes to taking out a loan for your house or for a car, the bank will give you an amount that they are willing to loan you. Many people mistakenly think that banks would not risk giving you too much money, and go ahead and borrow the entire amount. Too often these people later find themselves in a pinch as expenses rise or their job situation changes. Here are three areas to look at when it comes to borrowing money for expensive purchases. 1) The first area you should look at is how much can you really afford. … Continue reading →

Financial Sacrifices for Your Children

When you become a parent you begin to make sacrifices for your children. You sacrifice your time to spend time doing things that your children want to do. You may sacrifice that new pair of jeans so that your child can have a few new pairs. You may sacrifice fancy dinners out, so that you child can take ballet lessons. All of these things are normal, but is there a time when you should put yourself ahead of your child—at least financially speaking? Most experts would say that there is. When it comes to saving for your child’s education or … Continue reading →

Why Would You Take Out a Home Equity Loan?

What do you use your home equity loan for? There are as many different reasons for taking out a home equity loan, as there are home equity loans. It is important to examine the reasons that you are taking out the loan, and how soon you plan to repay that money. While there may be times when you need to use your home’s equity (a medical emergency) chances are you can avoid doing it. Many people take out a home equity loan versus another type of loan, because the interest is tax deductible. While this may seem like a good … Continue reading →

Five Times You Need to Adjust Your Budget

If you have a set budget for every month, and have found that you can pretty much keep it every month. You may not give it much thought. If you are using the envelope system then you stop spending when you are out of money. If you have an emergency fund or sinking funds set up, then you use those to cover emergencies, and put your extra money into building those accounts back up. At this point, your budget is not going to be something you focus on all of the time. There are several events that will cause to … Continue reading →

Does Your Current Phase in Life Affect Your Money Management Choices?

As you consider money management it is important to realize that life runs in phases. Your needs and planning will need to be adjusted according to the phase that you are currently in. Recognizing these phases and your responsibilities while in these phases will help you to plan for a more secure future. The first phase is that of a young professional or worker. In this phase you should work on getting out of debt. It is also a good idea to begin saving for retirement aggressively at this phase of life. The more you save now the less you … Continue reading →

Teaching Teens to Save Money

It is important to teach your children to save money. This step can be easy to do, especially if you start at an early age. Saving money will teach your children discipline. It will also help them to see that as they save their money they will have more power to do the things that they want to do. Here are five tips for teaching teens to save money. 1) Have your teenagers save towards a goal. It may be a car. It may be a high school trip. If you discuss the goal with your child, and make a … Continue reading →

A Review of This Week’s Parenting Blogs

I am borrowing an idea from Heather Long and reviewing the week in Parenting. There have been some great blogs written on some important topics. But often parents only see the first few blogs and miss the rest. So here is a review of this week’s Parenting topics. Monday September 18th. “Teaching Good Judgment” is an important skill that many parents fail to teach their children. This is obvious by the many teens and young adults that are making such bad decisions. Read this blog for some ideas on how you can teach your child good judgment. “Should Partners Of … Continue reading →

Living Within Your Means

I recently saw part of a skit on Saturday Night Live titled “Don’t Buy Things You Can’t Afford” with Steve Martin where a married couple were absolutely perplexed about the idea of saving for a purchase rather than making a purchase with a credit card. Another actor kept stating over and over in an infomercial type voice “Don’t buy things you can’t afford” to which Steve Martin would respond “Oh, so buy it on my credit card now so I can have it?” It was a hilarious look into American society’s buying habits. One of my goals this year is … Continue reading →

Taking Debt Too Lightly

Why is it so easy to go into debt and so hard to get out of it? I think for modern generations, there has been a culture of taking debt too lightly. Fortunately, for some of us, that culture is changing toward one of getting rid of debt or not getting into it in the first place. Meanwhile, there is still a more corporate culture that encourages debt, and it is one, as individuals, that we have to fight against in order to be solvent and live a good life. Being offered a loan, whether it is a home mortgage, … Continue reading →