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How to Get Back on a Solid Financial Path

October 3, 2021 By Justin Weinger Leave a Comment

The last couple of years have been rough for many Americans. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns forced a lot of people to dip into their savings or completely wipe it out.

According to the Federal Reserve, 200,000 more businesses closed than the number that shut their doors in a normal year. Similar to the Great Recession, Americans are struggling to get back on their feet.

If you’re one of the millions of people who are struggling to recover from the pandemic, don’t stress. There are small steps you can take to get back on a solid financial path. So, take a deep breath, grab your coffee and make a plan.

Get Rid of Your Debt

Getting rid of your debt seems like a no-brainer, but it can feel like you’re drowning if you have a lot of it. Oftentimes, when people go through financial troubles, they’ll use their credit cards to survive. Many Americans only have the cards for emergencies.

The problem with using credit cards to survive is the fees quickly add up. The lender might charge you interest and then compound interest. If you’re trying to get your finances in order, speaking to a professional to get strategic debt solutions is one of the first steps you want to take. An expert will tell you where you stand and help you develop a strategy to pay it off quickly. To ensure you have money left at the end of the month to pay down your debt, you will want to create a budget.

Create a Budget

Budgets sound awful, but once you get the hang of documenting your spending, it starts to become second nature. Creating a budget can seem like a scary task, but it’s really quite easy. You can use free programs to help you do this, or you can create a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.

Once you choose a program, list all of your expenses for the month. This is the most important part, so even if you spend $5 on a cup of coffee on Tuesday mornings, add that to your list. List some goals on your sheet as well. For example, if you want to start contributing to a vacation fund, put that on the list.

After you’ve listed all of your expenses, add up the total amount of money you spend. Then, on a separate line, place your monthly income on the sheet. Then subtract your expenses from your income. If your number is negative, meaning you owe more than you bring home, then it’s time to start cutting your expenses.

Start by eliminating unnecessary spending. If you haven’t used a subscription in more than a month, get rid of it. You want to at least break even.

Save for Retirement

One day you’re going to retire. When you do, you want to be in a comfortable position. Social Security is available to you, but remember, that should supplement your retirement savings. The earlier you start saving for your retirement, the better.

If you are in your early 20s and just getting your career off of the ground, that’s okay, you can save as little as $20 a week. Tuck it away in an interest-bearing account and forget it exists. That money should be completely separate from your regular savings account.

If your employer offers 401(k), join the plan and contribute to it every time you’re paid. Often employers will match what you contribute, basically giving you free money. Who doesn’t like that?

Once you take some steps toward financial freedom, you’ll feel so much better. Just remember, it can be difficult at first, but soon your changes will become second nature.

Creative Dating Tips When Broke

September 27, 2021 By MelissaB 1 Comment

When my now husband and I first started dating, I was a graduate student, and he was an undergraduate. We were both broke, but we didn’t let that stop us. We spent nine months mostly going on free dates before we became engaged. If you’re short on cash, don’t let that interfere with your dating life. Instead, follow these creative dating tips when broke and go out and enjoy life. Who said dating has to be expensive?

Free Date Ideas

You may be under the misconception that dating is expensive, and it can be—if you let it. But there are still fabulous ways to spend time together that are free or cost very little and are fun.

Scenic Drive

Why not take a scenic drive and explore the area around you? We enjoy this most when the leaves are changing in the fall, and the scenery is gorgeous. But a scenic drive can be fun no matter the season.

Free Performances

If you live near a college town, see if they have any free performances. Colleges frequently have free music concerts. Some towns also have free plays in the summer or free movie viewings outdoors in the park.

One of our regular summer dates was a music concert the college held every Wednesday night. We got to spend time together, listen to good music, and, best of all, not spend any money!

Trip to the Beach

You can hit the beach for some daytime relaxation and fun. Or, for a more romantic date, try going to the beach an hour before sunset. There’s nothing better on a summer night than walking the beach, feeling the cool breeze, and watching the sunset.

Hike

Hiking can give you a chance to see how adventurous the other person is and to see how he or she handles difficulty if you take a more challenging trail. Or, you can opt to take an easier trail and have fun seeing the scenery and spending time together in nature.

Geocaching

Take your sweetie on an adventure. Geocaching is a free treasure hunt about which some people are almost cultish. Using GPS, find the nearby coordinates and the treasure that someone else has hidden.

Cook Together

You both have to eat, so why not cook together? This activity gives you a chance to see how you work together as a team and delegate responsibility, plus you get to eat something that’s (hopefully) tasty after all of your hard work. If you have a good few hours to spend on preparation, you could even turn it into a little romantic restaurant-style dinner at home. You can get dressed up, perhaps with your favorite perfume (plus some extra True Pheromones to make yourself even more appealing), set a beautiful table with candles, flowers, etc., and recreate a special meal that the two of you have had in the past.

If you have a bit of money to spend, you can make cooking together more of an adventure by buying a meal kit like HelloFresh. If you can’t afford that, Blue Apron has all of its recipes online for free. Just buy the ingredients you need.

Eat2Explore has boxes that include recipes for three meals from another country. Each box has directions, the sauces and spices you need, and a little bit of information about the country. You supply the ingredient. We’ve used several of these boxes and enjoyed trying foods from other countries.

My husband and I cooked together at least two or three times a week when we were dating. We both still like to cook, but now we take shifts—one cooks, one does the dishes. We figure when the kids are grown, we’ll have more time to cook together like we did when we were dating.

Star Gaze

If you live in the country, there’s something so romantic about putting down a blanket, lying together on your backs, and watching the stars. Of course, it’s fun to find constellations, but many times, if you stay there long enough, you can even see a shooting star or two. Plus, the stillness and the beauty of the night sky make for a very memorable date.

Go to a Museum

Many museums have one or two days a month when admission is free. Just be prepared that if you go during this time, the museum will likely be packed.

Some libraries also offer culture passes. These can be checked out and used for free admission to museums in your area. If you use these, you can go for free without dealing with the overcrowding that the one free day a month usually brings.

Low-Cost Dates

While the free dating tips when broke can supply you with many great dating ideas, there may be times when you want to go out and spend a little money. These fun date ideas don’t cost much money.

Go Out for Dessert

While getting an entire meal together at a restaurant might be a bit pricey if you’re broke, you can share a dessert for a fraction of the cost. For example, a Caramel Apple Blondie from Applebee’s is only $6.99. Or, their Brownie Bite is just $1.99. Plus, many of these desserts are so large, they’re like a meal in themselves.

Coffee Shop

Going to a coffee shop can be the perfect, intimate date. You can chat and focus on one another while sipping a beverage.

If you’re bookworms, you could get your drink at a bookstore coffee shop and spend an hour or two perusing good books and discussing them. My husband and I loved this type of date. We frequently went to coffee shops from the start of our relationship until after our first child was born.

Paint Together

Though you’ll have to pay for the supplies, that will likely be the only expense when painting together. If you’re both artistic, you could try to paint on your own with no direction. However, if one or both of you are artistically challenged, there’s no shortage of YouTube tutorials to watch. For instance, you can now find many of the PBS Bob Ross tutorials on YouTube.

Final Thoughts

Being short on cash doesn’t has to kill your love life. If you use some of these creative dating tips when broke, you can continue to enjoy spending time with your romantic interest in a way that doesn’t leave you with even less money. The most important aspect is being together. Doing that doesn’t have to be expensive or boring.

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Beware These Financial Pitfalls When Choosing a College

August 23, 2021 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

With more and more high school students deciding to attend college, the race to find the “perfect” college often begins as early as a high school student’s sophomore year, though more typically their junior year. Students may consider a school’s “vibe,” and its ranking when picking a college, but there are more important things to consider. As the parent, stepping into your child’s college search with a dose of reality is necessary. After all, attending college can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Advise your child to beware of these financial pitfalls when choosing a college.

Financial Pitfalls When Choosing a College

College is expensive! Even if your child attends a local university and lives on campus, the price tag could be $20,000 per year or more. For that kind of investment, you should carefully consider these factors, which will save you money and help you and your child choose the right college carefully.

The Retention Rate

How many students who come in as freshmen come back for their sophomore year? That is the college’s retention rate. Colleges with high retention rates are likely doing something right for their students. If the college your child is considering has a low retention rate, be concerned.

Transferring to a different college because your child is unhappy at the one she initially chose can be expensive. Not all of your child’s credits may transfer, which means she may have to pay more to complete her college degree, which happened to me. I left my initial college after one semester. It ultimately took me five years to graduate college, in part because of the college I initially chose and the fact that some credits didn’t transfer.

The average retention rate nationwide is 78%. If the college your child wants to attend is lower than that, make sure you understand why before sending your child.

The Graduation Rate

How likely are incoming freshmen to graduate in four years? That is the graduation rate. Unfortunately, the nationwide graduation rate is surprisingly low. “According to the National Center for Education Statistics, just 41% of first-time full-time college students earn a bachelor’s degree in four years, and only 59% earn a bachelor’s in six years” (CNBC).

What do those lower graduation rates represent?

First, some students drop out and never complete their degrees. My cousin dropped out of law school after one year, and he had tens of thousands of dollars of debt to show for it without the law degree. He did eventually get his Master’s in a different field, but paying off the law school loans took him years. This is the worst-case scenario.

Second, if your child does graduate but takes five or six years to do so, your child is in a better position—he has his degree. However, do you have the money to pay for an additional one or two years of college? Most families expect their child to graduate in four years and budget for that. When graduating takes longer, many families are left taking out additional loans they hadn’t planned on. Unfortunately, this scenario is surprisingly common as most schools have fairly low four-year graduation rates.

Some Scholarships Aren’t Renewable

If your child qualifies for financial aid, be forewarned that the college can usually manipulate the first-year financial-aid package to make attending the school possible. However, they often do that by finding scholarships the college offers. Yet, what you may not realize is that some of these scholarships aren’t renewable.

Perhaps for the first year of college, parents need to pay $7,000. However, for sophomore year, after some of these one-time scholarships end, you may be looking at a bill of $15,000 a year. Can you afford that if you were expecting to pay just $7,000 a year? That can be a shock to many parents.

Make sure when you sign your financial aid agreement that you know which scholarships are renewable and which are one-time scholarships so you’re not surprised next year.

Paying for College Can Increase Your Income

Some parents choose to pay for college by taking money out of their retirement accounts. However, when they do this, the money they withdraw counts as income in the next tax return that they file. Then, when the college sees this, they see that the parents’ income has gone up, and financial aid is further reduced.

Ideally, have a way to pay for college that won’t make your income increase and reduce the amount of financial aid for which you qualify. If you feel that taking money out of your retirement fund is the only way to pay, consider choosing another college. Or, choose to take out PLUS loans and either pay them back traditionally or pay them back with money from your retirement fund after your child graduates. Then, doing so won’t affect your financial aid offer.

Consider Living Expenses

When people think of the price of college, they most often consider tuition and room and board. However, your child will have many more expenses than that. Consider the following additional costs students may incur:

travel home for vacations,
clothing if the climate at school is different from the climate at home,
entertainment,
food when the college cafeteria is closed,
fraternity or sorority fees if they are pledging,
laundry,
parking fees,
summer storage for their college furniture and other goods when they are home on summer break

Final Thoughts

Choosing a college can be exciting, but make sure your child isn’t swayed by the college’s slick advertising. More importantly, consider the many financial pitfalls when choosing a college. Investigate the college’s retention and graduation rates. Understand your financial aid package, especially if the scholarships that your child receives are renewable or one-time scholarships. Don’t forget to also account for living expenses. If you consider all of these variables, you will be more financially prepared for what is to come in the next four (or six!) years your child is a college student.

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