“Personal Finance : Personal Finance News and Photos ... - Baltimore Sun” plus 3 more |
- Personal Finance : Personal Finance News and Photos ... - Baltimore Sun
- Diagnose Your Personal Finance Health With Eight ... - Basic Wikipedia Lessons For Naomi Robson And Max Markson
- Teaching kids financial skills now sets them up for a ... - Regina Leader-Post
- St. John’s Prep offers Summer Institute - Abington Mariner
| Personal Finance : Personal Finance News and Photos ... - Baltimore Sun Posted: 30 Mar 2010 09:21 AM PDT Baltimore Sun, 501 N. Calvert Street, P.O. Box 1377, Baltimore, MD 21278 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2010 10:32 AM PDT
We've previously posted the Times' weekday project proposal for taking a day off to save more money. Another good bit of advice, though, comes from the more long-term planning side of the equation. The Times asked professional financial planners to share the questions they ask of their clients, when setting up new plans and assessing where they're at, and where they want to go. One sample question that anyone should make a habit of asking themselves:
A bit Dr Phil, yes, but worth thinking about when all the dollars, interest rates and percentages seem to pile up into a nonsensical mess — where are you actually trying to go with your money? Read the post for more questions that you should regularly check in with yourself about, and post your own financial self-assessment tips and tools in the comments. How to Self-Diagnose Your Financial Health [NYTimes.com via Get Rich Slowly] Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Teaching kids financial skills now sets them up for a ... - Regina Leader-Post Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:51 AM PDT Most of us heard it from our parents: "money doesn't grow on trees," but was that where our financial education at home ended? All too often, that's the case, according to Stacy DeBroff, a parenting author from Boston who recently wrote A Parent's Guide to Raising Fiscally Responsible Children (Simon & Schuster, $12). Despite their good intentions, parents are setting their kids up for a life of financial failure by sheltering their children from hard financial realities. "We have felt enormous pressure to have our kids succeed and to do the best that they can academically, in sports and their outside pursuits. And as a result we have shielded them from discussions about family budgets, about larger issues when it comes to spending, credit and debt, mortgages," she says. In previous generations, children were expected to earn their spending money through part-time jobs. But in recent years, the bubble-wrap trend in parenting culture has pushed parents to give their children a leg up in an uber-competitive world by absorbing all of their children's costs, DeBroff says. She figures all of these changes have led young people to believe they're entitled to all the latest gadgets and fashions. "There's this immediate gratification: 'I really, really want this great pair of jeans,' not 'I can't afford this pair of jeans,'" she explains. This disconnect from the need to budget sets teens up for a shock when they leave home. Suddenly, they face the harsh reality of paying bills for rent, food and often tuition at a post-secondary school. At the same time, their introduction to the joys of magic money — credit cards that only require you to pay off a minimal amount of your debt — can turn minor cash flow problems into long-term debt that sometimes leads to personal bankruptcy. "They often find themselves digging themselves out of a personal finance hole in their 20s," DeBroff says. Parents may think that their children are learning personal finance skills at school, but Darren Weeks, a personal finance guru from Edmonton, didn't mince words when asked if schools are doing enough to educate teens. "Not even close," said the founder of the Fast Track To Cash Flow. "The schools are often seen as a catch-all for education, but parents are the primary educators of their kids when it comes to personal finance," says Janet Sutherland, a spokeswoman for the Calgary Catholic School District. "It's up to parents to reinforce what the kids learn at the schools." Weeks and DeBroff agree that parents are ultimately responsible — young people are much more likely to learn personal finance lessons when they are taught at home, they say. "Oftentimes what you do with money is deeply tied into values," DeBroff explains. So what can parents do to set their children up for a lifetime of good financial decision-making? Start teaching financial lessons as early as possible, say DeBroff and Weeks. DeBroff recommends easing a child into the world of personal finance at age five with an allowance, which can be connected to chores done, so the child learns how much work is valued. This introduces a child to budgeting, usually in the form of setting up a savings account and spending less on immediate wants (candy) in exchange for greater long-term happiness (a new bike). They also learn that bad behaviour or shoddy work (backtalk and clothes on their bedroom floor) can result in the loss of income. Weeks has his own children — Ava, 4, and Connor, 6 — split every dollar they earn from chores into three categories: one-third for long-term savings, one-third for spending and one-third for charity. He also recommends parents encourage their children to play games that revolve around money. These include the classic Monopoly, along with The Money Savvy Pig piggy bank, which has four chambers: Save, Spend, Donate and Invest (msgen.com, $16.99) and The Allowance Game (Lakeshore Learning, $21.99). It's around age 13, however, that finance education needs to ramp up, DeBroff says. How do teens manage money from their part-time job, for example, or those cheques they get every Christmas from Uncle Bob? At this age, it's important to impart a clear sense of what a child's spending habits require them to give up in terms of hours worked and future opportunities lost. More complex personal finance ideas, such as building a credit rating and investing, can also be better understood by teens. Options such as parent-supervised debit and credit cards, and secured or prepaid credit cards, can ease teens into the perilous world of plastic by helping them track and manage their spending. Some even allow parents to set daily, weekly and monthly limits. Even if your child makes some financial mistakes, such as losing all their savings in high-risk investment schemes, it's better they learn their hard lessons before they leave home. "Just like investing, an earlier start leads to a higher finish," Weeks says. Sure, money doesn't grow on trees. But it pays to start early if you want to grow a money tree with deep roots. Making your kid money-wise Here are a few ideas from parenting author Stacy DeBroff to help parents raise children that are financially responsible: - Use the news: Use newspaper headlines to jump-start dinner table conversations about how a lot of people are out of work now and what world leaders are doing to help people find new jobs. These conversations can grow more sophisticated when discussing the economy with tweens and teens. - Tie allowance to chores: This teaches the value of a dollar. Make clear what you expect from your child to earn allowance, what items you expect allowance to cover (movies, treats, online games), and what your child can do to earn extra allowance (special help needed around the house or garden). - Set a savings goal: No matter the amount, nothing speaks to kids more than their very own savings account. - Start young: Let kids know early on that a trip to the store doesn't always mean a treat for them. Explain that you go to the store together each week to buy food for the family, and you can't afford to buy a new toy each time you shop. - Separate necessities from luxuries: Help kids understand the difference between needs (think: food, water and shelter) and wants (think: new fashions and electronics). Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| St. John’s Prep offers Summer Institute - Abington Mariner Posted: 30 Mar 2010 10:54 AM PDT
The St. John's Prep Summer Institute offers a wide variety of courses for girls and boys entering grades 7 through 12. Courses are designed to capture student imaginations and provide hands-on opportunities to learn in a relaxed atmosphere. Students can choose everything from engineering and fishing to building your own computer, fitness boot camp, world languages, art and music. For college-bound students, there are courses on writing the college essay, preparing for the college interview, SAT prep, and personal finance. New this year, courses in Spanish language and culture and digital photography are open to adults. Summer Institute courses begin June 14 and end July 23; dates, times and duration vary by class. Courses will be held on the Prep campus at 72 Spring St. in Danvers. Registration deadline is May 3, although late registration will be accepted if space is available. To register or for more information, visit stjohnsprep.org/summerinstitute. If you have questions, email summerinstitute@stjohnsprep.org or call 978-624-1477.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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