When it comes to money, age won’t make someone wiser or give them confidence if there is no real-world experience backing it up; even having a career won’t. For women, the situation is particularly dire. According to the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center’s Working Women’s Financial Capability Study, working women lag men in basic financial literacy (31% vs. 52%); the gap is more pronounced in advanced financial knowledge (12% vs. 24%). As a mother to sons, I may be all wet on this one; but I am a daughter. I credit my parents, my father in particular, with being diligent in raising independent daughters. My father, born in 1917, was nearly 50 when I was born. As a first- generation American of Italian descent, his thoughts on gender roles were traditional with a capital T. My mother stayed at home with their seven children while he worked. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I discovered he had dropped out of high school, earning his equivalency in his Read on...
Destination Unknown?
Imagine you’re about to set out on a road trip. You would absolutely need to have an idea of where you wanted to go – north, south, east, or west. You would have to work within the confines of how much time you had for this trip – that would determine how far you could go. Your financial goals are no different than that road trip; failing to plan means planning to fail. Even if you haven’t given retirement much thought, in terms of what it looks like and feels like, chances are you have an idea of when you would like to have the freedom to walk away. For those of you bemoaning that you will need to work until you die, it’s time to see if that is really true or simply your worst fear taking over and freezing you in your tracks. But, you have to set your goals. You have to make this a priority. The trouble is, unlike the mortgage payment or electric bill, there are no immediate ramifications if you don’t take the time to do this. It is important, but it is not Read on...
College Bound Concerns
Anyone who has a child getting ready to start college for the first time probably has a list of concerns a mile long. Among the worries is the handling of money. Whether your child is going away or staying home, there is a real opportunity to start your son or daughter on his or her first journey into financial responsibility. While it might be hard to look at your "baby" as an adult handling money, there's no time like the present to learn these important lessons. These tips will help your child get off to a strong start. 1. Consider what income sources are available. Will your child save money over the summer or have a job while at school? Will you be supplying extra money? 2. Decide on who is paying for what. Sit down and be clear about what you are paying for, and what you are not paying for. This will allow your child to ballpark what his/her expenses might be. Go shopping together so your child can get a real sense of what things cost; then put together a rough budget. 3. Look Read on...
When Helping is Hurting
I gave a presentation to a group of sixth graders and asked an innocent question, “Who here earns money?” As I expected there were those who mowed lawns, babysat, shoveled snow, folded laundry, etc. to earn cash. These kids weren’t “working papers” ready, and they took great pride in earning their own money – and not too surprisingly, they seemed to be more discriminating on how they spent it, and had a solid understanding of what was an item or service that they needed versus something they wanted. A pretty little girl sat with her arms crossed and called out that her parents didn’t want her to work; they wanted her to focus on her studies. I smiled. Isn’t earning money, working hard and being responsible a lesson unto itself? Isn’t that more valuable than memorizing and regurgitating some meaningless facts for the short-term gratification of a good grade, only to have this cycle start all over again? She wasn’t done talking, not by a long shot – and it was very revealing, Read on...