Help A Reader: Having A Baby And Looking For A Job Change
September 23, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Careers, Kids and Money
A question from one of our most loyal Money Crashers fans!
I have a question for you concerning searching for a job. I found out that I will not be able to keep my current job after we have the baby. I am not willing to work full time, and they are unwilling to let me work part-time. My question is two-fold. Do you have any recommendations for searching for a part-time job (preferably work from home)? Also, if I want to start the job in June, when is a good time to start looking?
5 Ways To Save Money On Back-To-School Supplies
August 14, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Kids and Money, Spending and Saving
It’s that time of year that parents dread, especially those with more than one school-bound children. The average family will spend about $600 on back-to-school supplies and other items needed to send their children back. Doesn’t that sound a little high? That’s a significant hit for families living from paycheck to paycheck. Now throw in the faltering economy and high unemployment, and you have a bad situation! I have always been an advocate of making a bad situation into a good one, and one way to make this time better is by finding ways to save money on yur back-to-school supplies.
Kids and Money: The Teenage Years
August 21, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Entrepreneurship and Business, Kids and Money, Spending and Saving
This week we’ve been talking about kids and money. Don’t gloss over these articles, even if you don’t have kids, because you most likely will someday. Lack of financial education is the number one reason why we have so much credit card debt and outrageous foreclosure statistics as a nation. We don’t receive financial education as young children, as teenagers, or as college students. Schools figure that parents will teach their kids how to handle money, but the the problem is that many parents don’t know how to handle their own money. Parents figure that schools will teach kids how to handle money. So, there’s an obvious deficiet of financial education in our country, and the only organizations that do give out free financial education are credit card companies. Can you guess how they teach how to handle money? It starts and ends with a lot of plastic.
Teach Your Pre-Teen To Save Money
August 19, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Kids and Money, Spending and Saving
Yesterday, I discussed the importance of teaching your young children to manage a set amount of money that you give them for extra jobs around the house. Today, I’ll talk about helping your pre-teen learn how to save money. From ages 8 to 12, these youngsters know how money works, but they have no concept of saving it. You can teach them to save by helping them open a savings account. Online savings accounts are the best out there, but they can’t open checking accounts yet, so you’ll have to go with a traditional savings account. The interest rates are horrible, but that’s not the point. The point is to help your child learn how to save on a consistent basis.
When Should You Start Giving Your Child An Allowance?
August 19, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Kids and Money
The time will soon come when your child discovers money and wants to do things that cost money. The age that this happens varies by each child, but generally children start getting an itch to buy things with their own money around 6 or 7 years old. At this age, they won’t go out and start their own business to make money, but you can give them an allowance based on extra jobs they do around the house, not their weekly chores as a member of the household.
Difference between Weekly Chores vs. Extra Jobs For Allowance
10 Tips For Saving Money On Back-To-School Shopping
August 6, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Kids and Money, Money Management, Spending and Saving
The average consumer spends $500 every year just on back-to-school supplies. This doesn’t even cover clothing. If you have three kids, you could easily spend $2,000 every August on back-to-school shopping. But, for every shopping nightmare, there’s a way to save money. In fact, I’ll give you 10 tips for how to save money this school season.
- Shop at discount stores such as Marshalls and TJ Maxx for your children that are brand conscious. These stores carry many of the hottest brands at a much cheaper price.
Kids And Money: Teaching Your Kids Not To Borrow Money
June 28, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Credit and Debt, Kids and Money
For those of you that like to borrow money to the point that it comes out of your eyeballs, you might not want to listen to this advice. But, for those of you that are fed up with owing money to everyone for everything, and you don’t want to put your kids through the same agony that you’ve gone through, this is the article for you. The problem is that our nation is indoctrinated to think that borrowing money for everything is a way of life. Swiping the credit card has been woven into the fabric of our society, and now children are learning how to borrow at a very young age. So, the cycle will continue unless parents start teaching their children something different. Don’t count on the schools to do this for you. Most of them don’t even have a personal finance cirriculum, and if they do, it’s probably sponsored by a credit card company. Here are some tips for how to teach your children not to borrow money.
How To Help College Graduates with Money and Career
May 14, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Kids and Money, Spending and Saving
I have a heart for recent college graduates. I was there 3 years ago. I didn’t know how to get a job, I didn’t know how to manage my money. I didn’t know how to deal with getting up early, interacting with people twice my age. It’s tough to be a recent graduate. Your college hands you a degree and pushes you out the door. Your parents have already pushed you out of the door. Their guidance is there, but not as much as in high school.
Four Tips On the Issue of Money and Family
February 5, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships, Kids and Money, Money Management
When I was in college, my first car had finally broken down. I needed another car, but I didn’t have any money to get another one. I didn’t want to go to a bank to get a loan for a car, because I was didn’t want to pay all of the interest and I didn’t want the possibility of it getting repossessed if I could not make the payment. After several discussions with my dad, he agreed to pay for the car and I would pay him a set amount each month until the loan was either paid off, or he felt that I had paid enough towards it for him to give me the title. I didn’t have to pay any interest, and if I was a few days late, I wouldn’t be penalized. It seemed like a sweet deal at the time, but once I started driving that car and paying payments to my dad, it just didn’t seem right. He wasn’t a jerk about it, and he didn’t hold it over my head, but I didn’t like the idea of owing my dad money. I thought to myself, “My family shouldn’t feel like my bank.” At some point in your life, your money and your family will mix together. You may not want it to, but it will. However, you can choose how you deal with money when it comes to you and your immediate and extended family. Borrowing money, lending money, and starting business from family can be very alluring, because you are close to that person and you feel like you can trust them. I understand why families borrow money from each and start businesses together, but I am going to give you a few reasons why you should not do it and how to avoid it.
Is it Worth it for Your Spouse To Go Back To Work?
October 13, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships, Kids and Money
Whether it’s the man or the woman that stays home with the kids during their early months or years, it’s always a good practice to see whether or not it is worth it for that spouse to go back to work after having kids.
This article from Free Money Finance reveals a comment of one of his readers that shows how they ran the numbers, and it really wasn’t worth it for the spouse to go back to work.
Things to Consider:
