College financial aid offers- Be careful when comparing The cost of college is not the number you see on the financial aid award. Many people just look at the bottom line when they see a financial aid award, but this is not accurate because it typically includes several different loans as well as scholarships Our book Financially Independent Teens goes into more detail on how to do a college cost comparison and the importance of learning the average number of semesters it takes to graduate from each college you are comparing The book Financially Independent Teens, available on Amazon, goes into many more topics than just financing college. It covers the basics of what every young person should learn about money, budgeting, credit, investing, your first job, entrepreneurship and how to plan for a successful life after college. For more information check out our website https://parentsfin.wixsite.com/website/books or our books Raising Financially independent Children, Financially Independent Teens and Financial Essentials on Amazon

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that you can’t count on things going as planned and it’s smart to be prepared. Even if you don’t plan to borrow a dime, a good credit record is valuable. Think of it like a household fire extinguisher: It’s smart to have a good one even though you have no plans to use it. And your credit can influence your life in ways beyond borrowing. Here’s why good credit is so valuable: · A good credit score can help you borrow at a reasonable cost.. · Good credit can also be useful in leasing a place to live, because landlords often check credit to evaluate tenant applications. Similarly, some employers check credit reports during the hiring process. (although some jurisdictions restrict using credit reports in this way). · Savings you can put (or keep) in the bank: Good credit also can lower some bills .

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) The very first stock market purchases that you make will likely be in Exchange Traded Funds as these provide diversification. The entire reason for investing in the stock market is that the average value creation of companies is quite positive over time. To help address the issue of risk, investment firms have created baskets of stocks called Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Because these ETFs are made up of many stocks bundled together, the impact of poor performance of one or even several of the firms, is reduced. This then allows you to get the “average” value creation of the companies that make up the ETF. We include an example later in this chapter that illustrates this in detail. It is also possible to buy fractional shares of an ETF. (Reference the list of firms that allow fractional share trading in the “Resources” section.) Fractional shares can be purchased for as little as $5. The