How to Afford One of Your Most Expensive Investments for Your Children
By Kathy Longo, CFP®, CAP®, CDFA
Wednesday, 09 February 2022
Over the past several decades, a college education has come to be seen as a necessity. If you want to secure a good job with the possibility of upward mobility, you’ll likely need at least a bachelor’s degree to help you get there. However, with tuition costs greatly outpacing the overall cost of inflation, actually affording college has become a real challenge for many individuals and families.
From estimating the overall cost for higher education a decade from now to trying to determine how much financial aid you will be able to secure, there’s a lot to consider when planning to fund an education. Review the five strategies below to start developing your plan of action for your children’s future college education.
The Path Toward Combining Finances Will Look Different for Every Couple
By Kathy Longo, CFP®, CAP®, CDFA
Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Your money can feel like a very personal matter. Our behaviors and motivations around money are unique to us, encompassing our upbringing, experiences, and current situation in life. This can make merging finances as a couple a complicated process if it’s not approached in a thoughtful and intentional manner. If you and your significant other are considering merging finances as a couple, it’s important to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. How you go about merging finances will depend on the comfort and trust present in the relationship, your relative income levels, the dynamics of your relationship, and more.
Ultimately, you have three options:
- Keeping your finances completely separate
- Keeping your finances partially separate
- Fully combining your finances
Below we’ll discuss the pros and cons of each option, as well as ways to determine which option might be best for you and your spouse or partner.
How to Navigate Financial Dynamics When Merging Two Families into One
By Kathy Longo, CFP®, CAP®, CDFA
Wednesday, 12 January 2022
Preparing financially for marriage can always feel a bit challenging, and that can be an even bigger challenge for blended families, meaning families in which one or both spouses have been married before.
Today, about 40% of new marriages represent a second marriage for at least one spouse, meaning more people than ever before are facing the unique financial dynamics involved with blending two families into one. The money management tips for blended families below can help you navigate the hurdles you may face in your own blended family.
Resolve to Level-Up Your Finances and Your Relationship in 2022
Wednesday, 29 December 2021
Some of the most common New Year’s resolutions focus on the topics of love and money. Why not combine the two this year and resolve to have important financial conversations with your spouse or partner in order to strengthen both your relationship and your finances?
These discussions aren’t always easy, but they’re always worthwhile. Commit to making this important financial resolution and check out the three conversation starters for you and your significant other listed below.
Nine Topics that Can Provide You and Your Parents Peace of Mind
Wednesday, 15 December 2021
As your parents age, you may find yourself tackling new roles and responsibilities in your relationship with them. Perhaps you are helping them around the house, attending appointments with them, distributing their medication, or even managing their finances. In many ways, it may feel as if the parent-child role has inverted itself with you now in the position of caretaker.
Even if you are not yet in this position, you may be in the future as your parents grow older. Having a solid understanding of your parent's financial situation is critical if you are to ensure that they are going to be able to pay for their expenses and receive proper care in their later years.
Of course, this is no easy topic. Discussing finances can be tricky in any relationship – and it can be even more complicated as an adult child trying to broach the subject with your parents. Try using the nine questions below to cover the most critical aspects of your parent's finances, and you’ll be in a better position to provide care for them in the future, should you need to.
