Money Tips Network

Identity theft is a disturbing crime regardless of your age. The idea that your personal information is now in the hands of people with bad intentions can leave you feeling quite vulnerable.

Now imagine the panic of discovering that your minor child’s personal information has been stolen and is being used fraudulently.

Why Would Anyone Steal a Child’s Identity?

The sad truth is that children can make particularly appealing targets for identity thieves for several reasons.

First, your children’s credit reports are blank slates. There isn’t any negative information on a child’s credit reports that would hamper a thief’s efforts to open fraudulent accounts. On the other hand, if an adult’s identity is stolen, it might not be as useful, depending on the prior credit history and the current credit score.

As a single parent, going back to school can seem like an impossible and daunting process. You need that higher education to snag a high-paying and solid career, but at the same time, it’s necessary to keep working to pay for your schooling. Throw in that you need to support your family and household throughout the process, and the struggle gets even more difficult.

This push-and-pull conundrum is likely behind the latest findings from the Institute of Women’s Policy Research, which show that while the number of single mothers in college more than doubled between 2000 and 2012, only a very small minority of those students actually graduated.

Editor's Note: Congratulations to greentopiaries, Dericka, and Ephraim for winning this week's contest!

Usher in the new year by planning new experiences! They make your days more interesting, and you'll probably learn something, too!

What new thing do you want to try this year?

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Prepping for shutdown #1
2. Are piano lessons worth it?
3. Which loan first?
4. Prepping for shutdown #2
5. Investing teenage earnings
6. Tax preparation for Linux
7. Prepping for shutdown #3
8. Renting versus buying
9. Cord cutting in 2019

The following is a guest post from Kevin at Next Level Finance.

One of the biggest trends in the personal finance world in recent years has been the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement. At its best, it’s a passionate group of individuals seeking independence from traditional employment and a healthy work/life balance. At its worst, it’s a group of bloggers with unrealistic financial projections that are a bit too caught up with finding that perfect Instagram shot while traveling.

Once a month (or so), I share a dozen things that have inspired me to greater personal, professional, and financial success in my life. I hope they bring similar success to your life.

1. Thomas Henry Huxley on the things we must do

“The most valuable of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it has to be done, whether you like it or not.” – Aldous Huxley

If we want to have any kind of success in life, there are tasks that we don’t particularly want to do that have to be done, often at times when we really don’t want to do them.

Sarah and I both dream of financial independence, but achieving that takes a lot of hard work. It means that there are times when I’d definitely rather do something else for various reasons, but I choose the financially stable path.

The new year tends to bring forth a lot of people pledging resolutions for the coming year and talking about their successes (and occasionally their failures) over the last year.

One particular flavor of this phenomenon that I find interesting is the “challenge,” something that seems to pop up in various ways with various self-improvement strategies at the turn of the year. I’ll hear from a few people that succeeded at a “challenge” the previous year, and from others asking whether a particular “challenge” they’re considering makes sense.

So, what’s a “challenge”? It’s basically any year-long plan for self improvement that requires you to take some simple action on a very regular basis throughout the year, one that accumulates into a big overall success at the end of the year.

Here are a few of the ones I’ve seen that are financially related:

Saving money by cooking at home more? Don't suffer with a lousy can opener …

Preparing more meals at home is one of the most straightforward ways to save money. It's also the key to making dinners that suit picky or otherwise restricted diets.

A lot of the common staples for home-prepared meals come in cans. And cans, like any packaging, need to be opened.

When did can openers begin to suck?

Growing up, my parents cooked nearly all of our meals. Restaurants – even McDonald's – were reserved for special occasions.

They had a Rival (I think) electric can opener that just wouldn't quit. Year after year, can after can, it just kept opening them. Like a can opener should, honestly.

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This week's topic: Having a Financially Successful 2019!