Three children are my responsibility. I hope they will have a better understanding of financial planning than I did when I was in college.
My mother was a great mom. As a single parent, she struggled to provide for her children in a male-dominated field. She was one of only a few female truck drivers in that day. She was a hard worker every day. Even when her job was difficult or even dangerous, she continued to work. She did her best to provide for her family, and they were able to survive. My mom taught me many valuable lessons, including hard work, perseverance, not giving up, finding a way through difficult times, laughing in the tough times, and how to find small ways to pamper yourself after a hard day. I learned not to take myself too seriously and not to talk about other people’s situations. You never know what their lives are like behind closed doors.
I learned so many valuable lessons. However, I did not learn how to manage my money long-term.
So….
I found my way to college by accident.
Then, through college.
You can then go on to graduate school.
…. and then the aftermath.
Is that the aftermath? A large amount of school loans and a modest paycheck to match them. The loans were almost impossible to pay for when I had my first child shortly after graduating from college. Don’t think about future care or retirement plans.
I don’t want my kids to have large debts. They are just starting their lives on their own, because they got a good education.
This article Women & Money: Why You Should Take Control Now was very helpful to me. It also showed me some of the traps I fell into (and continue to fall into). I was focusing more on growing my money than expanding my dollars.
I intend to teach my children how to use the Easy Budgets Calculator provided by Genworth financial as soon as possible, so that they can understand the effects of any loans on their future lives. I hope that they will benefit from seeing the numbers and being able to make an informed decision about how they can manage them.
