6 Things College Students Need to Know About Credit Cards

By Carol H Cox

Credit cards are a fact of life for many young adults. They make paying for things more convenient, they can be used to build good credit (or bad), they can be used to make purchases in most places, and they can be welcome resources in an emergency.

In short, they can be very valuable, and a lot of college students have them. (Based on a recent FICO study, 67% of 18 to 24 year-olds have credit cards.) But in order for credit cards to be a positive rather than a negative factor in a young adult’s life, they need to be cared for carefully. You don’t want to take them for granted.

Just like a car, they have to be regularly maintained. If you had an auto and didn’t maintain it, failed to give it regular oil changes and tune-ups, eventually the vehicle would cease to run. After a while it wouldn’t be safe to drive, and one day it would leave you in the lurch somewhere.

Credit cards are the same way—if you neglect them, they can make your life miserable.

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September 3, 2017March 1, 2018

Retirement Savings in the Gig Economy

By Carol H Cox

Many people find it challenging to consistently and sufficiently put money away for retirement. Workers who piece together their monthly income from freelance and part-time jobs can find this particularly challenging. It’s easy to get lost in the trees of “making a living” and lose sight of the forest of “providing lifetime income.”

Social Security will no doubt still exist when the freelancers of today retire, but by then who knows at what age retirees will become eligible and how much money they will receive? Individuals will need to depend more on their own savings for their post-working years.

Your expected retirement date may seem quite distant, especially if you’re looking out over a 30-year, or more, time horizon. So why start now? Well, it’s usually much easier to put away relatively smaller amounts of money over a lengthy period than much larger amounts later in life. Continue reading “Retirement Savings in the Gig Economy”

May 5, 2017February 1, 2018

5 Favorite Personal Finance Podcasts

By Carol H Cox

Photo: Ryan McGuire

If you’re like me, there aren’t enough hours in the day to get all your reading done. Like many people, I use my cell phone as a way of consuming information, whether it’s reading books on my Kindle app, perusing favorite blogs, or reviewing Twitter feeds.

Lately, I’ve been turning to podcasts to find interesting and timely information about personal finance. I often listen while driving, walking my dog, or doing work around the house. Here are my five all-time favorites in no particular order:

HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

You may have seen Jean Chatzky on TV at the Today Show, Oprah, or the View. She’s a financial journalist who provides outside-the-box topics on money matters in her weekly podcast. Most shows average about 30 minutes (enough for a 1-plus mile walk) and feature a guest expert. Even though the podcast title is HERMoney, most of the subjects are relevant to both men and women. Such podcast titles as “I Am My Own Worst Enemy,” “Stop Being a Broke Millennial,” and “Eyes Wide Shut! Arianna Huffington Teaches Us How to Sleep Our Way to Success,” easily hooked me. And at the end of every show Jean tackles a few questions from listeners on pressing personal finance concerns.

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March 31, 2017August 10, 2018

Student Loans: Think Carefully

By Carol H Cox

photo: www.cafecredit.com

It’s no secret that American private colleges and even many public universities are absurdly expensive these days. In the process of weighing acceptance options, high school seniors will be reviewing financial aid packages and may be considering signing up for student loans. It’s important for everyone involved, students and parents alike, to educate themselves about what a student loan really involves.

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January 24, 2017January 31, 2018

Older Americans Taking on More Student Loans

By Carol H Cox

Are you a parent or grandparent considering co-signing on or taking out a student loan for your child or grandchild? Well, you may first want to read a new study on this matter.

In January of 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a sobering study called “Snapshot of Older Consumers and Student Loan Debt.” (In the study, “older consumers” are categorized as those being age 60 and older.) Between 2005 and 2015 the number of older consumers carrying student loan debt, meaning either co-signing on or taking out student loans directly, has increased by a factor of four, to 2.8 million Americans. These older consumers are responsible for a total of $66.7 billion of student loan debt, including federal Parent PLUS loans and private student loans.

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November 29, 2016January 31, 2018

Benefits of an HSA

By Carol H Cox

Photo: www.TaxCredits.net

The Health Savings Account (HSA) came into being as part of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. An HSA is designed to be used as a savings storehouse for medical expenses, current and future. The contributions to the HSA can be used to pay medical deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums in tandem with a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). You can open an HSA on your own once you are covered by an HDHP and meet other requirements, see below.

An HSA can also provide a nice tax-break and a tax-free means of saving for medical expenses in retirement. And the extent of contributions to an HSA isn’t limited by the contributor’s income tax bracket.

One of the beauties of an HSA is that, if you follow IRS rules, the money you place into the account is tax deductible and/or any money your employer contributes is excluded from your gross income. In addition to this, money you withdraw from the account (including any earnings from investments) used to pay for qualified medical expenses is also tax-free. If you can fully fund the account annually and resist using the money in the account until you retire, an HSA can grow to a sizable amount in a few years.

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October 4, 2016January 31, 2018

Personal Finance Tips Before Heading to College

By Carol H Cox

At this time of year, the attention of many high school seniors’ becomes focused on transforming into college freshmen. It’s a thrilling time for young adults as they experience increasing independence, emotional untethering, and face new challenges. But before they “cut the cord” there are a few personal finance basics they should know.

Having a checking account with an ATM/debit card attached can make handling student finances easier.

Ideally, with the help of a parent, college-bound teens will have opened a checking account sometime during their junior or senior year of high school. Checking accounts are a convenient and easy way to store and access money. And most student checking accounts are free until the accountholder graduates from college. There will be many expenses in college that aren’t included with the payment of tuition, room and board, and fees, whether it be books, class supplies, toiletries, meals off campus, transportation costs, or other things. Using an ATM/debit card or writing checks can be an efficient way to handle these costs.

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September 15, 2016January 22, 2018

Help Is a Text Away for Students Sorting Through College Financial Aid and Loans

The statistics are frightening. Americans hold $1.3 trillion in student loan debt. This represents years and years of hefty loan payments for millions of citizens. High School students and college students, need assistance understanding the financial aid and student loan process so that they can make the best financial decisions for themselves.
There’s a startup company that wants to be a sort of financial-aid-counselor-in-the-pocket for students. It’s called NextGenVest, founded by Kelly Peeler. According to a NerdWallet analysis, in 2014 as much as $2.7 billion of free federal financial aid went unclaimed by students, mainly because of either a failure to file or incorrect completion of the Federal Application for Student Aid (FAFSA). This is free money that students didn’t receive. And what is more, in 2014 graduating college seniors carried $28,950 in student loans with them when they left school (the Institute for College Access and Success report).

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July 25, 2016January 31, 2018

College Tours

By Carol H Cox

For many of us, summer is the best time to head out with our son or daughter to view some prospective college campuses. Trekking to a few schools can help to underscore in the mind of high school students the importance of the college application process, as well as give the flavor of different schools.

Recently, my daughter, husband, and I visited 4 colleges in Southern California. Afterwards we hashed over each of our personal likes, dislikes, and general impressions of each school. And I jotted down a few notes, to have a written record of our visit. (My memory is famously unreliable.)

If your student plans enough ahead, he or she can arrange to get an organized campus tour led by a student. (We managed to go on tours for half of the colleges we visited.) This is the preferred method to get introduced to a school. Instead of blindly ambling around on your own with a campus map, a student-led tour can give a lot of behind-the-scenes information and a youthful perspective on what college life is like at a particular campus. Some schools also offer tours of the dormitories, where you can go inside a dorm room and experience the limited dimensions firsthand.

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June 22, 2016February 7, 2018

Checklist for Applying to College

By Carol H Cox

Not long ago, I attended my daughter’s high school College Information Night. It had been over 7 years since I’d been to one of these. At first, I was going to skip it, but then I reconsidered how things may have changed in the college admission process. I was glad I went. I learned a lot, and I thought I’d pass some information on to you all.

Below, I’ve shared some web links, resources, and thoughts regarding the college application process that might be helpful to Junior and Senior high school students and their families. The timing listed below is approximate. Depending on where you are applying to college, the dates may be quite different, and if students are applying early action or early decision to college the timing will be earlier. Hopefully, this list will get you thinking about what’s coming up on the horizon.

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