Category: Family & Relationships

Learn how to talk with your loved ones about money and deal with family financial issues

Family & Relationships, Personal Finance

Estate Planning: Planning Now Can Go a Long Way

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2020 might go down in history as the year of canceled and changed plans, but it is over and 2021 is here. We are all hoping that the new year will resemble normalcy soon. Kicking off 2021 with a few simple money management plans is a great way to start that and turn over a new leaf. Now is the time to get organized, so first up, let’s focus on a few easy estate planning strategies.

While many of us put it off, estate planning is a critical component of your personal finances. Here's how to get started.

What Is an Estate?

In the simplest terms, an estate is everything you own—money and assets, including your home and your car—at the time of your death. When you decide—in advance and in writing—who will get your assets and money, that’s estate planning.

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Family & Relationships, Income & Career

Parenting Dilemma: Work and Childcare or Stay at Home

One of the biggest issues facing families right now (and we have a laundry list of issues, don’t we?) is the question they face about work and childcare. Even under normal conditions not involving a pandemic and whether or not your kids have a school they can actually get up and go to each day, the decision to be a stay-at-home parent or to find work and supplement your family income isn’t an easy one to make. But right now, the stay at home or daycare decision is a real dilemma!

Making the parenting decision between work and childcare or staying at home isn't easy. Here's a look at the financial side.

Who Watches Your Child If They Can’t Go to a School?

If you have a choice, what choice will you make? For the moment, your choices may be very limited. Do you have a job to return to or you can find? Is your child’s school offering on-site instruction or virtual classrooms? For how long will your life decisions remain in effect because of the pandemic?

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Family & Relationships

Dating and the Single Person: How to Save Money

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They say that money makes the world go ’round. They also say that love makes the world go ’round. Perhaps it’s a bit of both. When you’re single and in dating mode, sometimes it seems like you don’t have enough of either. But don’t despair…I made it through some rough single times, and I’ll bet you can, too. It’s just a matter of knowing how to manage your money, and your expectations, while dating.

When you're single and dating, it can be difficult to meet the right person, and even more difficult to save money while doing it.

Money can be a very contentious issue when you’re working on finding or being in a relationship, and it can also be one of the main causes for a relationship breakup too. It happens when there are real disparities that the parties have in their money attitudes. Ask people like me who have been through a divorce and you will probably get an earful about it.
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Family & Relationships, More, Personal Finance

The Legal Documents That Are More Important Than Ever

The struggle with the spread of COVID-19 has many of us re-thinking whether we have all the right emergency legal documents we really need in place. No matter if you live in a coronavirus hotspot or don’t know anyone with COVID-19, there are certain documents you need to have on hand and understand how these legal documents can help protect you. Sometimes we choose not to think about those things, but during a pandemic we have to look at them, even when it may be scary to do it.

In case of emergencies, there are certain legal documents you need to have in order to protect you and your family, especially during a pandemic.

Managing important documents, especially emergency medical documents, isn’t any fun but it is important. It can and will help you and your family with essential healthcare decisions. Those decisions are especially difficult during an unexpected illness or accident so being prepared is just good personal finance management 101. Here’s what you need right now to protect you and your family!

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Family & Relationships

How and Why Money Problems Can Destroy a Relationship

Money is something that everyone has to have, at least some of it. But the problem with money, or the lack of it, is a serious one. It’s bad enough when you yourself are dealing with a money problem, but it’s even worse when it involves you and someone else. When money problems arise between you and a significant other, money problems can destroy your relationship!

Understanding how money problems in a relationship form will help you to avoid those issues. Here are suggestions to balance your relationship and money.

Are You and Your Partner Fighting About Money?

Is money something you and your partner argue about all the time? It’s often a very common issue in relationships to have extremely different opinions about money. Why? Where does that come from?

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Family & Relationships, Shopping

Celebrating Mother’s Day in a COVID-19 World

As a former boss of mine once said to me (and I have regretfully repeated over the years), “Father’s Day is the most important day of the year”…not! Let’s get real here, your mom was, has been, and still is the very most important person ever. I’m not here to list all the reasons why and that is because you already know that without her, you just wouldn’t exist, so case closed. If you are fortunate enough to have your mom still around, it’s really important to recognize her. But how will you celebrate Mother’s Day in a COVID-19 world?

Mother’s Day is coming, but this year it may be difficult to see your mom in person. Here are some ways to celebrate from a distance.
Family Together in Bedroom

Some Things Still Haven’t Changed – Yet

Whether you’re staying at home or not (and you must social distance in order to protect yourself and everyone around you), you can still send your mom a heartfelt or funny greeting card and you can do it without ever leaving your house.

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Family & Relationships

What Do School Kids Know About Money?

You can’t have lived on planet Earth and not have heard or seen anything about the hit TV show, “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” It was a game show in which adult contestants answer questions as if they came from an elementary grade school quiz, and actual 5th graders helped them and usually outdid the adults with more correct answers. The host, comedian Jeff Foxworthy, starred on the show beginning back in 2007 and after 2009 it ran in syndication and still appears on TV to this day.

It's our responsibility to teach kids about money, but they often aren't learning about it in school. Here are some money questions to ask your kids.

That whole thing got me to thinking. If 5th graders can answer some pretty basic questions about science, math, history, and the like better than adults, what can they do when the questions turn to money and finance? It just may be that they may know a lot, and forgive me for saying it, but they forget most of it by the time they turn into adults.

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Family & Relationships, Personal Finance

How Important Is a Financial Mentor?

Wouldn’t it be nice of your money came with an instruction book on how to make it grow? What you know about money and the world of personal finance you probably had to learn on your own. Few are taught how to build, manage, and preserve their own wealth in any formal way like in a high school or college classroom, although that number is finally starting to increase.

One of the best ways to learn about money is to seek the guidance of a financial mentor. Here's how different financial mentors have helped me.

Offering a course called Financial Freedom 101 would be a great way to get that knowledge, but that’s not a reality in most places yet. Most schools just don’t teach money skills. And yet, personal finance and wealth building principles are two of the most important educational lessons you can ever learn. It can make the difference between a life full of purpose and security, and a life of pain, frustration, and unhappiness. So how can one learn about the world of finance and money?

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