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Dare To Dream – Showing Your Kids What Money Should Buy

July 13th, 2017 Posted in learning about money
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As responsible adults with families, we know where our spending priorities lie. Nothing is more important to us than our kids, so cash is spent wisely on providing them with the very best opportunities for the future. You might invest money in their education, their health care, and quality food. Of course, your kids would rather have the cash for the latest toys or fashion! So how can you encourage them to dream big and make their money count?

Is it all about values or just about value? Most of us spend money to provide the type of lifestyle we want. This is about values. We enjoy clean living (sometimes we use the services of this cleaning service in London), so perhaps we spend our income on solar panels, organic food, and an electric car. For someone else, these things might seem like status symbols of the affluent. To them, these purchases are about cash value, not lifestyle values. How you see your purchases can easily seem very different to someone else.

When you’re teaching your children about the value and values of money, it’s important that you discuss intention too. In the eighties, many young people were encouraged to aspire to a life filled with designer brands, fast cars, and the latest tech. These were status symbols – nice things to buy with the good money you’ll earn if you work hard at school. These days, perhaps our priorities have changed.

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Buying a nice home is still quite high on the list of priorities. However, many of us would like a property that is also a good investment for the future. This might have a monetary value, or perhaps it is about the amenities and community on offer in that neighborhood? Have a look at property listings like the Joe Manausa Real Estate web pages to see why we might value a neighborhood or the local amenities. Can a home offer the lifestyle your kids aspire to?

Education is very important, but where should it come from? You might save for years to provide the funds for America’s top colleges. Indeed, in many companies, the school choice is essential for a top-level position. You might consider this investment to buy choice and opportunity for your child. Does it buy their long-term or even short-term happiness? Can they take the course they really want? Would experience prove more beneficial? And what have you sacrificed to squirrel every penny away for this?

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It’s difficult to get a balance that you can all agree on. Your choices are your choices, but it might be enormously beneficial to speak to your children about them. Talk about why they are your priorities, and why you’re willing to make the sacrifices you’ve made. Most importantly, discuss why you chose not to borrow money. To a child, it might be difficult to comprehend why you wouldn’t just buy something on a credit card so you can have it right away.

Impulse buys or big dreams? How can you balance the two? This is, of course, down to personal choice and financial situation. Do you discuss these things with your children?

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Teaching Your Kids About Car Finance

July 11th, 2017 Posted in teaching kids about money
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Kids grow up so fast, sometimes too fast – especially when they start talking about getting their first car. Kids may not realise the financial implications of getting a car, but you do. Teaching them from a young age will help them understand what responsibilities they will need to take on when they get one, even if you agree to cover the cost until the leave for university. Having a car will be one of the first major financial responsibilities your child can have, and it’s important to prepare them right for it.

Have them save towards the car

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One way to teach kids about car finance is to make them save towards any car they plan to have in the future. Whether this is through saving their allowance or getting them to take on a part-time job, it’s important that they realise that saving is a key part of getting the things that they want, rather than relying on borrowing/credit to get there faster. One way to get them to learn is to teach them about cutting household expenses and other costs which could help them to make the savings they need.

Show them the bigger picture

As well as the cost of a car, children will need to know about the other costs that come with it including fuel costs, repairs, maintenance, and insurance. These costs annually can amount to as much as the car itself if their first car is an older car, and they will need to learn how to work and save to be able to afford all of these things, and not just the car itself. If you want to take it further, you can talk to them about pricing up the cost of accidents, why they might need to hire a personal injury lawyer and the costs associated with parking fines and speeding tickets. The message her is that a car isn’t just a single item, there are many other responsibilities that come with it.

Don’t stop at now

For most kids, a first car will be more of a run-around, a second-hand car which will teach them responsibility as well as helping them to learn to budget. This could teach them more about car finance and responsibility than getting them a brand new car would. In the future, your kids will need to earn money in order to afford a nice new car, and learning all about the different finance options, including leasing, will help them understand for when that time comes.

Even if you’ve done all you can to put them off the idea of owning a car for the meantime, it’s a subject that will keep coming up as they get older. Helping kids find ways of saving for a car will make the end reward much sweeter for them, and will make them appreciate their car more because they bought it with their own money. There’ll be tough lessons to learn, but you can certainly guide them from a young age.

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Preparing Your Kids to Eventually Succeed You in a Family Business

July 11th, 2017 Posted in Entrepreneurship, Money Tips
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Preparing Your Kids to Eventually Succeed You in a Family Business - family image

Even though running a budget of a family business and running a household budget are in no way the same thing, they are more than closely related. In a way, the way in which you handle your family finances reflects the way in which a family business is governed. First, you start with one generation (the parents) who are in charge of running the household/company and then proceed to pass on the baton to their successors.

At first, children or earning young adults are in charge of no more than slightly contributing, while in time they might start to play more vital role in the decision-making process as well. With this in mind, here are a few ways in which teaching your kids about household chores and budget might prepare them to take your place in the family business when the time comes.

1.      The division of roles and responsibilities

The first obvious connection between these two notions is reflected through the issue of roles and responsibilities. Each family member gets assigned tasks that are in accordance with their abilities and experience. For instance, you wouldn’t expect a 10-year-old to do the entire grocery run, but you might ask them to clean the bathroom, wash windows or even wash the car. Nonetheless, once you start adding these responsibilities, you need to give more recognition to your child in order to keep them motivated. Otherwise, you might make them feel underappreciated, which might discourage them from taking future initiative within the company.

2.      Start early

Another thing you need to keep in mind is that the age of the child (we used in the previous example) is not the best indicator of the part that they should take in the company. Corporate experience is a much more reliable factor. Of course, we are not suggesting you should push your child in a company business before they are ready or exploit child labor. Still, you could have them run some business errands during weekends or breaks at quite an early age. In this way, you can include them in the numerous processes of your business and have them learn about the company from inside.

3.      Use the perspective of their generation

From these menial positions, they will later advance to some more delicate administrative tasks and in time even advance to a decision-making position. You see, the generation Z (the post-millennials) tends to be much more hyper-connected to the world and therefore might have some radical new ideas your company as a whole might benefit from.

For instance, you might ask your teen about the advice surrounding your company’s social media campaign, especially if their peers are one of your target demographics. Next, you might consult them when inquiring about LED lighting solutions for your business and see where they stand in this regard. Having someone else (someone adult) actually need their opinion is definitely going to make them feel appreciated.

4.      Teach them the value of money

Finally, one of the most important lessons that any parent can teach their child is – the real value of money. By introducing them to a family business you can show them where your family’s income comes from and in this way demonstrate that there is a finite amount of it that needs to be managed carefully. Next, instead of giving them an allowance, you can give them a ‘salary’ for all the hard work they invest in the household and family business. In the end, make sure they know the difference between emotional and rational purchases and in this way nurture healthy spending habits. They will need this as both adults and future management of your company.

A lot of young people whose parents own family businesses feel the urge to abandon it and start something of their own. This, however, most commonly happens due to a mistake in the attitude that these parents sometimes assume. You need to make it clear from the very beginning that the company in question is not ‘mine’ but ‘ours’ and that they are the part of it from the moment you start it. Even if they are too small to serve as its active part, these children are probably the motivator of its existence. It is your job to make them feel this way, as well as to prepare them for all that is to come.

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40 Tips To Avoid (And Manage) Being In Debt

July 11th, 2017 Posted in Money Tips
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40 Tips To Avoid (And Manage) Being In Debt - debt prison image

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If you find yourself in debt, or are heading in that direction – it’s not a nice feeling. The stress of debt can have a huge impact on your daily life and how you live it.

Luckily, there are plenty of tips that you can add to your lifestyle that will prevent this from happening. Some may be better suited to you than others, so have a read through and see what works best for you.

  1. Use cash for all your purchases instead of your credit card. Leave that to pay for your house and your car.
  2. When you get paid every month, put away 60% of your earnings into a savings account, and keep the 40% to do with what you wish.
  3. Make a proper spreadsheet with all your monthly payments including your bills, grocery shopping, interest amounts, etc., and make a total of all your balance. Then you can see exactly what you owe, what you have, and what you need.

Update it every month as you start paying off more and more.

  1. Every time you get a little extra money coming in, put it into your emergency fund so you can use it to pay off debt.
  2. Speak to a credit counselor and look at websites like DebtSolutionsReviewed’s review for more information and advice. You may learn how to make a plan of action (and stick to it!)
  3. Don’t use your credit card to get through the next month’s paycheck. If you do this, you will just get further into debt.
  4. Don’t pay off too much of your debt at one time. Make sure that you still have enough for your weekly expenses without starving yourself.
  5. Don’t eat out in fancy restaurants, or order takeout. Cook your own meals with the food that’s in your cupboards, fridge, and freezer.
  6. If you’re bored, invite friends over or go to their house and entertain yourself that way. You don’t have to splash the cash on nights out to have fun.

  7. Don’t ever use your emergency account to pay off your credit cards – that defeats the whole point of having one. – Pretend like it’s not there.

 

  1. If you know you have expenses coming up in the near future, make a note of them on a calendar so you won’t be surprised when you need to pay for them.
  2. Give yourself a budget to live off every week. Try your best at paying the absolute minimum on everything you purchase, like the brand of chips you by – get the stores own instead.
  3. If you’re living with your other half, make sure you’re both on the same page when it comes to money.
  4. If you know you have bad spending habits, find a way to manage them. Don’t go cold turkey – that will most likely make you splurge even harder. Instead, give yourself a limit.
  5. Stay focused, no one said it was going to be easy. Paying off debt is very stressful, especially when you realize it isn’t going to happen overnight. But as long as you know that it won’t last forever, and pay attention to the number going down – you will get through it.

 

  1. Stop it! If you find a good enough excuse to buy the new iPhone, even if the phone you have now works perfectly fine, and you’re $30,000 in debt – question what your goal really is.
  2. If one technique isn’t working for you, don’t use that as an excuse to give up – find a new technique! There are so many out there.
  3. Change your behavior and attitude if you know that it is the thing causing you to overspend. One way to do this is to distract yourself by something other than spending – like playing music or working out.
  4. If you’ve been in debt for the last three years, be realistic when it comes to paying it all off. It will most likely take you longer than three years to pay it all back.
  5. Although you need to budget your lifestyle, it is still important to have a social life and get out of the house once in a while to decompress a little. You don’t want to end up not enjoying life just because of your financial situation.
  6. What is necessary? Do you need the sports channel? Do you need all that data on your cell phone? Do you have to buy the expensive brand of ice cream?

If it’s not a necessity – get rid of it for now. You’re just wasting precious money.

  1. Get creative when it comes to doing things around the house and in your personal life. If you feel like you need some new clothes for the summer for example, don’t go out and buy a new wardrobe, instead find creative ways to cut up and sew your clothes, turning them into something awesome.
  2. Don’t keep borrowing money – that’s how you got in this situation to begin with. Stop the credit cards, stop the car loans, stop the home equity lines, and so on. If you know you can’t afford something with the cash that you have in your wallet – you can’t afford it at all.
  3. If there’s something that you really want, save up the money like everyone has to do, and when you have it, buy it with cash. By the time you have actually saved up for what you wanted, it will feel so much more gratifying when you buy it. Or, you may not even want it anymore.
  4. Use an app or download a software specifically designed to track your spendings, and split everything up into different categories. Not only is this efficient, but it will make it easier to see where your problem areas are.
  5. Give yourself some wiggle room, as you never know what life is going to throw at you. Always be prepared for the minor setbacks.
  6. Unsubscribe from all the alerts and notifications you get sent about your favorite online stores. They will only persuade you to pay for things you don’t need – all while making you think it’s okay because it’s on offer. – Don’t fall for it.

 

  1. Downsize where you’re living. If it’s bigger than what you need, you may be paying more than you should, so move into somewhere smaller.
  2. Figure out what drives you to save up. This may be your children or your passion. Whatever it may be, think about that whenever times get hard to remind yourself of why you’re doing this.
  3. If you know you have a raise coming up, make a note of it and use all of the extra earnings to pay off your debt.
  4. Don’t see money as something that is for spending. For example, if you plan to buy a brand new flat screen tv, calculate how many hours it took you to work for the amount of money it is. You may realize that a tv isn’t worth all of that hard work you’ve been doing over the last few weeks.
  5. Learn about the alternatives instead of assuming that we have to pay the asking price – 90% of the time, it’s not the only option you have. Get a second-hand oven, shop at charity shops and cycle to work.
  6. Figure out whether you’re buying things because you actually need them, or if you’re just paying for them because everyone else is.
  7. Don’t think about your debt – think about your wealth. Don’t tell yourself you are trying to get out of debt. Instead, think of it as your current financial situation that is contributing to your overall wealth. Now you’ll see it as a positive, rather than a negative.
  8. Start by paying off the smallest debt first, that way you get the ball rolling, and it may be the ‘pick me up’ you need to show you that it is possible to do it.

 

  1. Understand that you will have to make sacrifices if you want to pay your debt off – it’s just part of the game. As long as you’re willing to do so, you will get through it.
  2. Write yourself a note that says “DO I ABSOLUTELY NEEEEED THIS???!!!!! And stick it in your wallet next to your cash.
  3. Get supermarket fliers with all the offers on, and use that to plan your weekly grocery shop. Look at all the things that are on promotion, and use them to make your meals.
  4. Plant seeds in your garden and use them to grow your own tomatoes, peas, potatoes, herbs and more. You will, in time, be able to use what you have to live a sustainable life. If you don’t have a garden, you can keep some pots by your windowsill in the kitchen.
  5. Just think about the feeling you will get when you have paid everything off. – Freedom! Just imagine it.

 

So as you can see, there are tons of tips and tricks to avoid, (or manage) being in debt. Put as many in use as you can, and see what works best for you. Keep trying until you find your ‘way’.

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The Money Talks You Need To Have With Your Fiancee Now

July 6th, 2017 Posted in Money Tips
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If you’re getting married to someone, you’re about to share much more than a deepening romantic relationship. You’re sharing a life together, with all that entails. It might mean kids in the future, where you’re going to live, what kinds of lives you’ll lead. As you might have guessed, it will definitely mean sharing a lot more of your financial life. It’s a step that people, especially those that have never lived together, always get caught off guard by. But a few conversations now can you a lot of headaches in the future.

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Full disclosure

This is where you’re going to face the most embarrassment on either side of the equation, so actually starting off with it can be a great ice-breaker. Find a delicate way to broach the subject of debts, past and present. Be a secure presence, taking on the attitude that you will both be in this together. Going into a deeper relationship only to be hit by the implications of a debt you didn’t know about can feel like a betrayal, so it’s important to have this talk above all else.

Money personalities

Then on to a bit of a lighter subject. Everyone has different habits with money. Debt can be one of those habits, but it can be used well or unwisely. Impulse shopping, the ability or inability to save. These are all aspects of money personalities you two can find out together. You might find that one of you is more willing and able to manage certain sides while another is better at another side. Find out your money personality, your partners, and where you’re compatible or where one of you can help the other.

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The splits

There are going to be lines split in a marriage, especially if you have kids. Someone’s career might take priority over another’s. Someone might be considered the breadwinner. But most important is finding the equal-but-different way to split the money. For instance, it’s rarely a good idea to share assets or debts, whereas it can be sensible to use a joint account to give yourself both a bit of personal spending money when you have it.

Your goals

What do you want to do with your money? That’s a big decision. If someone wants to eventually start a business or buy a dozen houses to live off, you need to know that now. Similarly, you need to make sure you’re considering potential family goals like your children’s future or your retirement. Setting off in the same direction financially is important.

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Protect one another

Full disclosure of debt is another part of this, but you have to come to the agreements of how you’re going to protect one another later, too. This might mean plans just in case one of you is the breadwinner and might have the risk of passing before the other. It might also mean working on wills now, not later, to avoid any potential disputes that could leave one of you deprived. It’s not the happiest of thoughts, but it’s an important dedication you might want to make to your partner.

You will likely have at least one disagreement or even an argument while having the discussions above. Be kind, be honest, and be willing to sleep on a few points. You need to come to some agreements if this is going to work.

 

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