Nathan was ordering something on Amazon not long ago and, in order to receive free shipping, he had the “opportunity” to sign up for a membership. I don’t remember what the membership was for but it, too, was free…for a month. He asked me if he could sign up for it because he wanted to save on shipping. Sure, I told him. But it would be his responsibility to make sure that he canceled the membership before the month was up….
Has your brain ever been so saturated with thoughts that you render it useless? That’s what happened to me when I saw a bumper sticker on a car that read, “She who dies with the most jewels wins.” It evoked so many emotions all I could clearly think was, Ahhhh. When that went away, my next thought was That is precisely the kind of attitude that contributed to all the dark stuff of 2009. If my kids had been with me,…
Okay, so I got this great idea. One of the hardest parts parents have in getting their kids ready for their financial futures is knowing where or when to start. So I’m going to jump-start them. Give them the tools and the guidance they need to begin teaching the life skills of effectively managing money. For 15 days I plan on offering an activity that they will do with their kids. By the end of the challenge doing money will…
I was having coffee with some friends last week when we started talking about why having a job as a teenager may be a really good thing. Of course, from a teens perspective, the extra cash is always nice. But as a parent, there’s nothing like a “real” job to teach kids a few life lessons. A week earlier, I had a phone interview with a freelance writer about teens and working. She asked if I thought having teens work was a…
Nathan and Ryan received their second, and final, soccer reffing checks in the mail yesterday. “How much are you expecting?” I asked. “A lot,” was the answer I received from both. And a lot it was! Nathan’s check came to $210 and Ryan’s came in at $164. But as nice as those numbers are, if you are not keeping track of what it is you are owed, you run the risk of not getting paid for the time you worked. The only way the…