If you were to stop someone on the street right now and ask him or her to describe parenting to you right now, and in one word, you would hear things like amazing, rewarding, happy, incredible, terrifying and responsible, and all of these would be right. Nevertheless, that last one hits the nail bang on its head because parenting is nothing if packed with responsibilities.
The bottom line is this, you are responsible for giving your kids the best chance at a great future, and that means setting them up financially and educationally as much as anything.
Well, to help you invest in your kid’s future better, we have come up a list of seriously smart ways you can save to ensure you can help them as much as you possibly can.
Prepaid Tuition Is a Thing
Nowadays, many states are offering people the chance to prepay their tuition needs with certain plans. What this essentially means for a parent is that you can buy tuition at today’s rates, locking yourself into today’s lower prices. It does not matter how much tuition fees rise over the years between now and your child’s education. What’s more, this state-provided service allows you to use your prepaid tuition at any school, or any college, in any state. That is what makes this one of the smarter options out there.
Paying Off Your Debt
No matter what savings advice article you read it will always mention paying off your debts and for good reason too. Paying off your debts is one of the best investments you can make, and it is one that can have a hugely positive influence on your children. After reading Back To Black: How To Stay Out Of The Red we realized that paying off your own debt not only works as an investment that is equivalent to your interest rates, it will also put you in a better position to help your children later on. You will have more money to spend on them, more money to tuck away for them, and more advantage to help them financially because you yourself will be debt free. Securing a loan when you are debt free is much easier.
Drive Up Their Chances
While walking through town the other day, we overheard a conversation about an investment a dad had made on their kid’s behalf. What had happened was this. Before the dad’s son had turned one, he bought a classic car for him, one that was affordable at the time, just over $3000. He then put this in storage for over 20 years, ensuring that it was looked after during that time. Then, on the boys 21st birthday he gave him the keys to it and said it was his to do with whatever. The boy spent a little of his money doing it up, nothing much, just touching up jobs. He then drove it for a year before selling it for over ten times the price his dad had paid for it all those years ago. Deposit on a house, education, you name it, the kid had options, and the money he had was not taxable. Clever, clever, clever.
