Finance for the Family 101

Every parent revels in the joy that comes when their children leave home and enter the real world as college students. This crossing over marks the end of a chapter in the lives of both the parent and the child as the parent hopes they have raised their offspring to become contributing members of society. While at the same time, these newly-minted adults are basking in the independence and freedom associated with living outside of the family's home.

This freedom has not come cheap or easy. For eighteen years, mothers and fathers invest themselves in the development of their children believing that if they give them what they need they will ultimately make sound life decisions. Yet, one area in which parents are woefully negligent in teaching is money management. Part of it stemming from their own lack of knowledge the other from a naiveté as to the pressures of lifestyle, which causes a college student to make irresponsible decisions when it comes to money.

There is no class instructing parents on the fundamental things college students need to know in order to mange money successfully. So then, college students are left to learn on the fly, making mistakes that will take them years to move beyond. This is inadequate and an indictment against us. We know better. We have simply done a poor job of teaching the college student to do better.

There are several things every parent needs to do to lay a solid money management foundation for their children.

Add their child to one credit card. The purpose of this action is to begin the process of building a positive credit history for your child. This should typically be done when the child is between 16-18. This will ensure that when the college student pursues getting their first credit card or credit worthy purchase that they have some amount of established credit.