I'm sorry but choosing to not save for your child's college fund when you have the means to is WRONG.
I am 23 years old, and I graduated from college last year with $80,000 in loan debt. I got my first repayment bill the day of graduation, turning what was supposed to be a happy day into a day of panic because I had no job lined up.
My parents were very honest and admitted that they did not save anything for me for college, but I foolishly believed I could pay my own way through loans, scholarships and working all four years. I did work, about 20-25 hours a week every semester (That was as much as I could fit in), and I took extra time to freelance to make more money. But doing so caused me to miss out on some very valuable experiences, with friends, with campus events, and especially internships. I did manage to do one internship (while I was working the same semester... I barely slept), but my grades suffered at the same time. Furthermore, the place I interned for shut down the following semester, leaving me with no future prospects of a job there. Internships are generally unpaid these days, yet they are necessary. I turned down one at Cosmopolitan Magazine because I simply couldn't afford the transportation costs and the time it would take each week, and I have never regretted anything more. Yet the fact is, I simply couldn't afford it.
Now, as for scholarships and financial aid, the competition is fierce-- much worse than you can possibly imagine. I applied for over 2,500 scholarships and only got one, one that gave me only $1,000. I didn't get much financial aid from my school because I am just your average, middle class white person, even though I had no money for college and I had two siblings in school at the same time (I'm a triplet). Your reasoning that "Oh, they'll get more financial aid if I don't save money for them" is just foolish and irresponsible. Furthermore, if your child did get financial aid for this reason alone, it would take money away from someone who truly needed it-- someone whose parents really couldn't save up any money, not but choice.
I am currently unemployed almost a year after graduation, well, underemployed (I freelance and work in retail just to make my loan payments). I desperately want to leave home and start my life, but because I owe around $900 every month in loans, I just can't afford it (so it's pretty ironic that you say not paying for your child's education will make them independent!) Yes, it is extremely frustrating, and quite frankly I am miserable.
Sure, they economy may be better by the time your child graduates from college, but in the meantime, shame on you for writing this article.
We love Thousand Island Dressing, and we just usually get one bottle from our favorite grocery store. Now that I have the recipe, I will create a homemade salad dressing.
I would add 1) Make your cultural capital explicit to yourself and 2) Build social ties outside the so-called nuclear family or your own dwelling unit. These will sustain you even when the other sources seem tapped out.
I have always filed my own taxes - even when my husband owned a business; although we had a lot of help from my father accountant. We usually use Turbo Tax online.
My hubby has a cell phone provided by his company, and I am using up the tail end of my son's old pre-paid that was purchased refurbished from the company, my children have pre-paids that have 300 talk minutes, plus unlimited everything else, (Yes...even data), for $35/month each. I think it's the way to go. Yes there are people where I live that seem to think if you don't have an iphone you're nobody...but I beg to differ. My kids have Samsung Galaxy SII and Samsung Galaxy Reverb for the younger. They really like them and we love our service. Plus we pay a fraction of what our contract friends do a month.
If you can't or don't want to shell out the cash in advance then pre-paid's may not be right for you, but the math has been done on many a personal finance website and the pre-paid's are cheaper over the life of the contract hands down. In the case of iphones, that savings can be upwards of $1000 even with the price of the phone.
I'm having my CPA do my taxes this year. Way too complicated for me to figure out all the possible money-saving deductions on my own. Since we started using a CPA, we started getting tax refunds which more than pays for it.
There are some very good reasons why you should have a proper emergency fund. Here are a few:
1. Job loss- If you are out of work (especially in the case of singles) you may run up sizable credit card debt trying to cover expenses. Even if you qualify for unemployment, it is not going to cover your living expenses and it may take you longer than you think to find another job.
2. Deductibles- You need to be able to cover deductible like car insurance, homeowners or renters insurance, disability elimination periods, and health insurance when you are hit with unexpected situations.
3. Health Insurance premiums after loss of job- You may be able to continue your current coverage because of COBRA; but you will be paying a lot more than the premiums you were used to.
4. Buffer long term investments- You may do a great job of putting money away into that mutual fund or IRA; but as many found out in 2008-2009, if you need to get to emergency savings and have to sell that mutual fund or liquidate part of an IRA, you may be selling in a down market. In the case of an IRA, you may be paying income tax and early withdrawal penalties too.
There is a reason it's called an emergency fund. Its purpose is to help you get through life's unexpected events. You don't worry about what interest rate you are getting on an emergency fund because liquidity and safety are the most important investment objectives with it. You do your more growth oriented investing in your retirement and long term investment accounts. Always separate your short term money from your long term money. You'll be glad you did.
I've never had a "huge" medical bill but I've had several that were more than I could pay for right away. Each time I called the billing dept. and worked out a payment plan. This might no work if you owe $100,000 or something really big like that. But it's always worth a try. And much better than simply not paying.
I think what frustrates me the most about the cell phone industry are the service providers themselves. the way the big "V" handles data plans is abusive. You have to pay $30 a month for an amount of data you may never use (although I know of some that routinely go over). I would prefer a reasonable "pay as you go" plan, or at the very least a pro-rated refund of the data that wasn't used, of course, if wishes were horses......
Cut a tomato in half and gently rub it on your skin, sounds strange but it works! unfortunately for me, I got badly burnt yesterday and we have no tomatoes in the house =(
We are having a professional do our taxes for the second year in a row (and second year ever). We have been told we could maximize our refund, and what we pay for the accountant will be more than covered in our refund. I hope so.
I still have my four-year-old clamshell phone. It's prepaid. Except for my phone at work, it's the only phone I have, and it's enough. I don't feel any need to be constantly online. It's certainly cheaper to do so; I bought a years' worth of minutes last April for $100, and I haven't used them all. If I want to use the internet, I'll do so at home.
1&2 can be wrapped up in two words "Savings rate." Start saving at least 20% of your income and the emergency fund and retirement savings take care of themselves.
I'm not certain that all 30-somethings need life insurance. I would limit this only to those with dependents. And I would be suspicious of an study saying that we need more life insurance put out by a company that sells life insurance. Conflict of interest maybe?
I would agree with the lack of income diversity and recommend that everyone consider building a solid portfolio of dividend growth stocks. Which is made vastly easier if you take my first point to heart.
This was actually my first year ever paying an accountant to do our taxes -- that's because it was also the first year that I was going to have taxes for my art business. I didn't want to take the chance of them getting messed up. I made sure I have all of my earnings, expenses, etc, totaled up, but I didn't have to worry about the schedule c forms and such. DEFINITELY worth the money and peace of mind.
I was born and raised in a third world country. Back there, there are no charges when you receive call on your cell phone. Verizon charges 45 cents to receive a call. It's monopoly of the worst kind.
I definitely agree with the items on the list. My husband and I do not have any of them until we reached 40. Though we have our 401 contribution from our previous employers, we know that would not be enough for our retirement. We were glad we were able to develop various sources of income , which allowed us to increase our savings and investments.
My family prefers home-cooked meals. It may be be time-consuming but we grew up with this kind of tradition. Digging deeper, using fresh fruits and vegetables is a healthier option. Furthermore, buying fresh produce in season is cheaper; thus, saves a lot of money. We normally prepare sandwich, salad, soup, stew, smoothies, sauces, and dips.
You don't need life insurance if you don't have dependents. If the sudden, let alone permanent, loss of your income would leave your spouse in a serious lurch, then that counts too. I have enough assets to cover the costs of burial if need be.
I forgot to mention that my favorite book on messiness is BURIED IN TREASURES by Tolin, Frost and Steketee. It's a great book for people who want to find better ways of dealing with clutter. Check it out from your local library.
I love how #5 assumes that, although buying a house may be an option, having children is a given. In my case, I bought a house, but have no plans or desire to have children. I just had to point this out; otherwise, great article!
I'm sorry but choosing to not save for your child's college fund when you have the means to is WRONG.
I am 23 years old, and I graduated from college last year with $80,000 in loan debt. I got my first repayment bill the day of graduation, turning what was supposed to be a happy day into a day of panic because I had no job lined up.
My parents were very honest and admitted that they did not save anything for me for college, but I foolishly believed I could pay my own way through loans, scholarships and working all four years. I did work, about 20-25 hours a week every semester (That was as much as I could fit in), and I took extra time to freelance to make more money. But doing so caused me to miss out on some very valuable experiences, with friends, with campus events, and especially internships. I did manage to do one internship (while I was working the same semester... I barely slept), but my grades suffered at the same time. Furthermore, the place I interned for shut down the following semester, leaving me with no future prospects of a job there. Internships are generally unpaid these days, yet they are necessary. I turned down one at Cosmopolitan Magazine because I simply couldn't afford the transportation costs and the time it would take each week, and I have never regretted anything more. Yet the fact is, I simply couldn't afford it.
Now, as for scholarships and financial aid, the competition is fierce-- much worse than you can possibly imagine. I applied for over 2,500 scholarships and only got one, one that gave me only $1,000. I didn't get much financial aid from my school because I am just your average, middle class white person, even though I had no money for college and I had two siblings in school at the same time (I'm a triplet). Your reasoning that "Oh, they'll get more financial aid if I don't save money for them" is just foolish and irresponsible. Furthermore, if your child did get financial aid for this reason alone, it would take money away from someone who truly needed it-- someone whose parents really couldn't save up any money, not but choice.
I am currently unemployed almost a year after graduation, well, underemployed (I freelance and work in retail just to make my loan payments). I desperately want to leave home and start my life, but because I owe around $900 every month in loans, I just can't afford it (so it's pretty ironic that you say not paying for your child's education will make them independent!) Yes, it is extremely frustrating, and quite frankly I am miserable.
Sure, they economy may be better by the time your child graduates from college, but in the meantime, shame on you for writing this article.
We love Thousand Island Dressing, and we just usually get one bottle from our favorite grocery store. Now that I have the recipe, I will create a homemade salad dressing.
I would add 1) Make your cultural capital explicit to yourself and 2) Build social ties outside the so-called nuclear family or your own dwelling unit. These will sustain you even when the other sources seem tapped out.
I have always filed my own taxes - even when my husband owned a business; although we had a lot of help from my father accountant. We usually use Turbo Tax online.
My hubby has a cell phone provided by his company, and I am using up the tail end of my son's old pre-paid that was purchased refurbished from the company, my children have pre-paids that have 300 talk minutes, plus unlimited everything else, (Yes...even data), for $35/month each. I think it's the way to go. Yes there are people where I live that seem to think if you don't have an iphone you're nobody...but I beg to differ. My kids have Samsung Galaxy SII and Samsung Galaxy Reverb for the younger. They really like them and we love our service. Plus we pay a fraction of what our contract friends do a month.
If you can't or don't want to shell out the cash in advance then pre-paid's may not be right for you, but the math has been done on many a personal finance website and the pre-paid's are cheaper over the life of the contract hands down. In the case of iphones, that savings can be upwards of $1000 even with the price of the phone.
I'm having my CPA do my taxes this year. Way too complicated for me to figure out all the possible money-saving deductions on my own. Since we started using a CPA, we started getting tax refunds which more than pays for it.
There are some very good reasons why you should have a proper emergency fund. Here are a few:
1. Job loss- If you are out of work (especially in the case of singles) you may run up sizable credit card debt trying to cover expenses. Even if you qualify for unemployment, it is not going to cover your living expenses and it may take you longer than you think to find another job.
2. Deductibles- You need to be able to cover deductible like car insurance, homeowners or renters insurance, disability elimination periods, and health insurance when you are hit with unexpected situations.
3. Health Insurance premiums after loss of job- You may be able to continue your current coverage because of COBRA; but you will be paying a lot more than the premiums you were used to.
4. Buffer long term investments- You may do a great job of putting money away into that mutual fund or IRA; but as many found out in 2008-2009, if you need to get to emergency savings and have to sell that mutual fund or liquidate part of an IRA, you may be selling in a down market. In the case of an IRA, you may be paying income tax and early withdrawal penalties too.
There is a reason it's called an emergency fund. Its purpose is to help you get through life's unexpected events. You don't worry about what interest rate you are getting on an emergency fund because liquidity and safety are the most important investment objectives with it. You do your more growth oriented investing in your retirement and long term investment accounts. Always separate your short term money from your long term money. You'll be glad you did.
I've just added new images of the Kale Pesto Spaghetti recipe listed above! Hope you'll come on over and check them out :-)
I've never had a "huge" medical bill but I've had several that were more than I could pay for right away. Each time I called the billing dept. and worked out a payment plan. This might no work if you owe $100,000 or something really big like that. But it's always worth a try. And much better than simply not paying.
I think what frustrates me the most about the cell phone industry are the service providers themselves. the way the big "V" handles data plans is abusive. You have to pay $30 a month for an amount of data you may never use (although I know of some that routinely go over). I would prefer a reasonable "pay as you go" plan, or at the very least a pro-rated refund of the data that wasn't used, of course, if wishes were horses......
I will file my daughter's taxes, but will pay a CPA to do mine.
I used taxhawk (free) this year after using H&R Block at home software for the past two years, and it came out exactly the same. Works for me!
Cut a tomato in half and gently rub it on your skin, sounds strange but it works! unfortunately for me, I got badly burnt yesterday and we have no tomatoes in the house =(
We are having a professional do our taxes for the second year in a row (and second year ever). We have been told we could maximize our refund, and what we pay for the accountant will be more than covered in our refund. I hope so.
How about number 6 : time (!) - people in their 30s are crushed by pressures on the job, their children, their aged parents.
I still have my four-year-old clamshell phone. It's prepaid. Except for my phone at work, it's the only phone I have, and it's enough. I don't feel any need to be constantly online. It's certainly cheaper to do so; I bought a years' worth of minutes last April for $100, and I haven't used them all. If I want to use the internet, I'll do so at home.
1&2 can be wrapped up in two words "Savings rate." Start saving at least 20% of your income and the emergency fund and retirement savings take care of themselves.
I'm not certain that all 30-somethings need life insurance. I would limit this only to those with dependents. And I would be suspicious of an study saying that we need more life insurance put out by a company that sells life insurance. Conflict of interest maybe?
I would agree with the lack of income diversity and recommend that everyone consider building a solid portfolio of dividend growth stocks. Which is made vastly easier if you take my first point to heart.
I hadn't thought about getting minor things taken care-of once the deductible is fulfilled -- great idea! Thanks. :)
This was actually my first year ever paying an accountant to do our taxes -- that's because it was also the first year that I was going to have taxes for my art business. I didn't want to take the chance of them getting messed up. I made sure I have all of my earnings, expenses, etc, totaled up, but I didn't have to worry about the schedule c forms and such. DEFINITELY worth the money and peace of mind.
I was born and raised in a third world country. Back there, there are no charges when you receive call on your cell phone. Verizon charges 45 cents to receive a call. It's monopoly of the worst kind.
I definitely agree with the items on the list. My husband and I do not have any of them until we reached 40. Though we have our 401 contribution from our previous employers, we know that would not be enough for our retirement. We were glad we were able to develop various sources of income , which allowed us to increase our savings and investments.
My family prefers home-cooked meals. It may be be time-consuming but we grew up with this kind of tradition. Digging deeper, using fresh fruits and vegetables is a healthier option. Furthermore, buying fresh produce in season is cheaper; thus, saves a lot of money. We normally prepare sandwich, salad, soup, stew, smoothies, sauces, and dips.
You don't need life insurance if you don't have dependents. If the sudden, let alone permanent, loss of your income would leave your spouse in a serious lurch, then that counts too. I have enough assets to cover the costs of burial if need be.
Hi Olivia--
I forgot to mention that my favorite book on messiness is BURIED IN TREASURES by Tolin, Frost and Steketee. It's a great book for people who want to find better ways of dealing with clutter. Check it out from your local library.
http://www.amazon.com/Buried-Treasures-Compulsive-Acquiring-Hoarding/dp/...
I love how #5 assumes that, although buying a house may be an option, having children is a given. In my case, I bought a house, but have no plans or desire to have children. I just had to point this out; otherwise, great article!