If you have kids, or are considering having them, you’ve likely started thinking about what that will mean for your finances. But have you thought about how you can help your kids become prepared for their own financial future? There are plenty of things parents can do now to help set their kids down the right path financially. Here are a few.
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I have a little over a month until I turn 34. My 30s are nearly halfway over!
In many ways, I still feel so young, and sometimes I look at Mazen and my friends and remind myself “We are the grown-ups now.”
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26: The average age women have their first child*
27: The average age women get married
29: The average age men get married
33: The average age Americans buy their first homes
36: The average age of a Haven Term life insurance policy owner
Whether you’ve recently graduated or have been in the workforce for years, at some point, you may be thinking of going to grad school.
Grad school can be a great next step to boost your career or try your hand at something else. The only problem? Grad school can cost a pretty penny. I should know — I took out an additional $58,000 in student loans for my master’s degree, which helped me fulfill my dream of going to NYU.
If you’re thinking of going to grad school, you’re probably aware that you may have to take on student loans to make your dreams a reality. When you’re young and single, those student loans usually aren’t a consideration for anyone but yourself (unless you needed a co-signer to get them.) But, if you’re married and taking out student loans, you’re potentially taking on a debt burden that would impact your spouse and children.
If you’re single with a loan co-signer or married with children and taking on debt, did you know that you might need life insurance?
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In a recent article published by The Atlantic, The Secret Shame of the Middle-Class Americans, an alarming statistic emerged from a Federal Reserve Board survey conducted in 2013. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed said they could not come up with $400 to pay for an emergency. In order to do so, they’d need to borrow money or sell items they own.
Why aren’t we saving enough money to cover even the smallest emergencies?
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Recently, my husband and I decided to separate after fourteen years together, eight of them as a married couple. Matt and I met at 18 years old and immediately fell for each other in our freshman year of college. We never looked back because we knew we’d make great life partners. And, we have been great life partners for the half of our lives we’ve been together.
But, we’ve started down different paths, which has made us both question and yearn for our identity as individuals. This decision has been bittersweet for us both, but I’m trying to be as optimistic as possible about the future.
Just our life together took many years to create and build, there are now lots of puzzle pieces that need to come apart. The obvious ones are things like finding a new place for Matt to live, figuring out a schedule to each spend time with our three-year-old, and separating our joint bank accounts.
Now that some of the dust has settled, we’re starting to think about additional, long-term details that need sorting out as we move forward with our lives as individuals.
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There are a million and one decisions to make once you decide to get married. And, with wedding season upon us, I’m getting a lot of questions from clients on how to financially prepare for a future together.
When you get married, you want to start your shared life together on the right financial foot. (As an aside, that’s not by maxing out your budget or depleting savings on a wedding.) Most people are so involved with wedding planning that they put off having necessary money conversations that always arise after you tie the knot. If I’m honest, even as a financial planner, I still had some money fears after saying “I Do.”
Based on my years working as a financial planner (AKA a marriage financial therapist) and personal experience, there are six major money decisions you must make in order to set you and your spouse up for financial success.
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I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a few after the bliss of the wedding day wore off and reality was upon us. Although many fears come and go, I’ve faced three major fears in marriage that I’m sure many of you can relate to. Rest easy, though, because there are solutions.
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We all like real talk. We’ll gossip about people we know. We’ll judge parenting choices. We’ll be sure to let you know what we think about Donald Trump. We’ll even talk about things that happen behind bedroom doors.
But, when it comes to financial real talk and divulging the details of our family’s planning habits? We’re not having any of that.
You know what people hate even more at dinner parties? Talking about death. No one wants to talk about the inevitable. We’d prefer to just ignore death even though the end is going to come for all of us. Just imagine you’re sitting at a dinner table with friends. You’re all enjoying a great meal out. The kids are home, so the conversation (and the wine) is flowing. There’s a lull in the conversation between gossip about the new baseball coach and talk of your kids.
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Lauren Bowling from LBee and The Money Tree shares what she’s learned (both good and bad) from buying and owning her first home.
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