The Bottom Line
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Give Your College-Bound Student a Personal Finance Crash Course
Does your young-adult student need a crash course in personal finance? A recent financial literacy survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) reveals that the majority of adults say they learned the most about personal finance from their parents. Should you give your student a personal finance crash course?
Basic Financial Knowledge Checklist
Parents: Compliments of the NFCC, here’s a checklist of basic knowledge that will benefit everyone managing his or her own money:
* Budgeting: Be clear with yourself and with your student about how much money is available for expenses. Help him create a workable monthly budget that balances income, loans, and gifts with anticipated expenses. This discipline is a skill that will pay benefits for a lifetime.
* Recording financial transactions: Show your student the importance of recording all transactions in a check register or monitoring online, tallying the running balance daily, and balancing financial statements every month. Tracking expenses might reveal some surprises (60% of your income is spent on dining out?) and provide opportunities to change direction.
Wise Use of Credit
* Using credit: Tell your student why it’s important to commit to paying each credit card bill in full and on time each month. By using credit wisely, she will be learning how to live within her means while creating a positive credit file that could help when buying a car, renting an apartment, obtaining insurance, and even landing a job.
* Getting financially organized: Help your student commit to keeping all financial records, bills, and bank statements in one location. This will help ensure that he will pay bills on time, avoid late fees, and keep an unblemished credit score.
* Recognizing the dangers of Identity theft: Discuss forms of identity theft, the kinds of personal information that need to be protected, and how to protect them—even, and especially, from friends and roommates. Discuss the pitfalls of careless, unprotected use of social media. Tell them about CardNav to protect their debit card from misuse.
Take Their Membership to College
Remember, too, that your departing young adult is still eligible for Mid Oregon Credit Union membership. Our low-cost, high-quality services will give any member a leg up on personal finances. The staff members at Mid Oregon are valuable resources.
How to Talk With Your Grandkids About Money
Unless you talk with your grandkids about money, how are you going to positively influence them? You might be wondering how to talk with your grandkids about money. Here are some ways to start the conversation–and it’s not about writing them a check:
Share About the Past
• Tell stories from your own life. It can be as simple as explaining how you saved for your first car or how you managed when money was tight.
• Talk about how prices have changed. Historical context can be interesting to kids, particularly when it involves how inexpensive common goods or brand names they’re familiar with used to be.
• Bring up savings when you give gifts. Christmas and birthdays can be a good time to encourage your grandkids to save with a money gift.
Put Them To Work
• Hire your grands. Create opportunities for them to listen and share in money conversations by offering to pay them an hourly wage to do chores around the house.
• Listen. If your grandkids are worried about their financial future, they may need an accommodating ear.
Engage in Money Conversations
Talking about money can be more important than handing it over. Engage your grandchildren in money conversations that help them see how you got where you are today. If you have resources to help out, that’s just a bonus.
Share the credit union difference with your loved ones. Tell them about the advantages of membership at Mid Oregon Credit Union and encourage them to contact us. Mid Oregon has savings tools to help them save, and checking accounts to help them manage money.
Put Savings on Automatic
If you think saving money is too difficult, and even have justifications to back you up, fuhgeddaboudit. We have the solutions to your saving hang-ups. The best way to start is to put savings on automatic.
Common “Reasons” We Can’t Save
I don’t have the money.
That’s the standard cry from those who wait to save what’s left over. It never happens. Instead, “pay yourself first.” Use Mid Oregon Credit Union direct deposit and we’ll automatically divert the amount you say, for as long as you say, to your share savings or Savers’ Club account. We also have a relatively new savings tool called “Save to Win“. You can not only build up savings but give yourself a chance to win cash prizes, too.
For what little I can put aside, it doesn’t pay.
Consistent, regular savings are the only kind that add up. If you only can start with $10 a paycheck, do that now. When you see how that works, you’ll find yourself raising the ante to $25, $50, or more over time. And yes, that pays.
Payday and bill paying is too hectic to think about saving, too.
Whoa, that’s a lot like excuse No. 1. The solution here: Use direct deposit at Mid Oregon Credit Union and your paycheck starts working–earning dividends (interest)–right away, instead of waiting until you get around to making a deposit. That saves you time and, over time, the head start saves money, too.
But I’m paying too much on bills to save money.
Well, maybe we can help you there, too. Call or email one of our loan officers at Mid Oregon and we can discuss loan consolidation options. Sometimes we can reduce your interest rate, and that can reduce how much you owe and how long you’ll be paying off the loan. And that, too, can pay off in savings.
The bottom line: The professionals at Mid Oregon Credit Union have the services and skills to help you automate your savings. Call today- (541) 382-1795.