Pea of Sweetness

How to Help Your Children's Future

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Having a child comes with a whole life change, because you are no longer just providing for yourself, but another human being as well. This is also true financially, you can’t just think of your future anymore, but your child’s as well. It is crucial to your child’s future success that you start financial planning early on in your child’s life. Here are four ways to financially plan your child’s future to make sure it will be secure, and that their transition to adulthood will be smooth.
 

Create a Savings Plan

In this economy it can be extremely difficult to save money, but as long as you budget wisely you can save a few dollars here and there that will make a huge impact on your child’s future finances. It is a good idea to use ISAs, which offers a tax-free way to save your money. Although interest rates are not high at the moment, ISAs still offer a secure way to save and a decent return. Saving for your child’s future, especially when it comes to education, will massively reduce their debt once they enter the real world.
 

Create a Will

You can never make a will to early, in fact the sooner the better, because you never know what life will throw your way. Creating a will ensures that your child is taken care of financially, and that they don’t have to take a lengthy probate route to have access to your estate, which usually takes years if you did not create a will. It is important to realize that children are not automatically given your estate upon your passing, which is why a will is so crucial if you want to ensure your child’s inheritance is given smoothly.
 

Get Life Insurance

Life insurance is a way to ensure that your child can continue his or her life without fear of their financial future when you have passed away. Having a life insurance policy will fund your child’s living expenses, and guarantee that whoever is taking care of your child will have financial footing. It can even fund financial obligations such as your child’s college expenses.
 

Pay Off Your Mortgage

Mortgages are often the biggest liability that you have, and paying it off as soon as possible is extremely beneficial. If you pass away, by paying off your mortgage early, you will ensure that your child is not left with your bills, and forced to pay off the mortgage using your estate. Once your child has flown the coup, you may want to consider helping them afford their own house by downsizing your home to provide them with liquid capital.
*Thank-you to Dave Smith for this great guest post!*

Why a Balanced Family is a Balanced Wallet

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Families are typically budget and cost conscious. Watching where household money flows, as well as cutting costs is the big money topic at homes. Families may attempt to cut costs on non-fixed items such as grocery shopping, entertainment, and other family extras but these make a well balanced family. A well balanced family is a balanced wallet, so it is important to balance cutting current costs with measures that can save in the long run.
 

Keep the High Grocery Budget

Most people who are interested in saving money in the family budget begin by cutting costs with the grocery bill. Families accomplish this by going for lower cost options in food choices as well as using coupons to decrease the total at the checkout line. One thing that each family should remember is that health and wellness are directly tied into the foods that are being consumed. If a family is eating too many low cost pre-packaged food options, health can suffer. Unhealthy eating habits are the cause of a rise in health care costs, which are higher than any food could ever be. Eating a well-balanced diet as a family is important for wellness and a balanced wallet.
 

Take Family Game Night Outside

Almost all members of families now lead a sedentary lifestyle. Children spend time behind their desks at school, then come home and watch television or play video games for hours. Many adults spend time in offices, seated during the day, then come home to the television along with the kids. Taking a family walk around the neighborhood or going to the park on the weekends is a great way to keep family life balanced with quality time and exercise. More exercise means that a family stays in decent physical shape and the savings in the health insurance costs will show.
 

Family Time Leads to More Parental Influence

Families who eat dinner together several times a week have children who statistically turn out ahead of their counterparts. When families do not spend the proper amount of time together, this can affect familial relationships and can lead to unhealthy habits. Having a homemade meal together is lower in price than a fast food choices. Spending time together several nights a will help strengthen the family bonds and lead to a healthier life for everyone in the family.
 

Keeping an Active Schedule is best for Success

When kids and adults keep a schedule filled with only work, this can lead to a feeling of burnout and the person may turn to unhealthy habits such as fast food, little sleep, and anxiety. When adults and kids keep a balanced schedule that allows for work as well as hobbies, family time, and me time, it will be easier to relax and distress. Having high stress factors means more physical issues. More physical issues can mean crippling health insurance costs. Leading a lifestyle where there is time for work, play, and rest means that the body, mind and spirit are all kept healthy and have lower health insurance costs over the year.
*Thank-you to Dave Smith for this great guest post!*

Spending Habits Your Kids Can Pick Up

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Do you find teaching kids good spending habits can be challenging? There are many spending habits kids can pick up. Here is a great guest post!
Teaching Kids Good Spending Habits
It is really important that you show a good example to your children with regards to financial matters. Financial education in school is very limited and so it is often up to parents to teach their children about financial matters and leading by example is a very good way to start. Making sure that your spending habits are sensible can be a good idea.
 

Pay off bad debts

Paying off your bad debts will show children that it is not acceptable to be in debt and especially not in the long term. It is important to show them the difference between good and bad debts though. A good debt is one that will make you better off as a result such as a zero per cent credit card that you can afford to pay off at the end of the zero per cent term or a mortgage where you will have a house at the end of the loan that is likely to rise in value. Bad debts though, such as car loans, payday loans, credit cards with an outstanding balance and overdrafts are expensive and should not be encouraged. By paying off things like payday loans and a mortgage, children will see that they are bad and also experience your joy when they are gone.
 

Save up for things

If you want items but can wait for them, then save up for them rather than borrowing the money. This will not be possible if you want to buy a home, but if you want a new phone or pair of jeans, then show the children how it is possible to wait and save up for what you want.
 

Only buy what you can afford

If you cannot afford things, then do not buy them. It is tempting to use an overdraft or credit card to buy nice things, but that sends the wrong message to children. They think that it is possible to have whatever they want, when they want. If they see that you do not buy things that are just too expensive then they will think more when they are making purchasing decisions.
 

Save money for a rainy day

Not spending every penny that you have can be a good message as well. It is always good to have some money put by just in case an unexpected bill comes along or something needs to be bought in an emergency. So building up some savings can be extremely valuable. Most children have access to some money so if they at least copy this habit, then they will have picked up something really useful.
*Thank-you to Dave Smith for this great guest post!*