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The Building Blocks of Financial Success: Teaching your Kids How to Handle Credit

April 25, 2017 by admin

Choosing the right ways to prepare your teen for the financial responsibilities of adulthood can be daunting. Yet studies show that children who are taught strong financial habits while they’re still young are more likely to grow up to be savvy with their money.

A crucial part of learning financial independence is building good credit. Your teen’s credit score could be what helps them qualify for loans, better interest rates, auto insurance, rental applications, and even some types of employment.

There are plenty of tricks and tactics you can try, but in reality building up your teen’s credit is all about teaching them to be responsible with their money. When they learn financial responsibility, the result is that they’ll start building good credit.

Here are some tips for teaching your kids to handle credit wisely.

Add Your Teen as an Authorized User

Add your young adult as an authorized user on your credit card. Teach them about spending and payment responsibilities. Explain the charges on your credit card statement and add up the amounts they’ve accrued on your credit card account.

It’s normal for some teens to go crazy with spending the first time they get a credit card, but they need to understand the importance of repaying what they spend. Help them find positive ways to pay off the amounts they spend.

Choose the Right Card

If your teen has been responsible with spending and repaying the debts incurred as an authorized user on your credit card, encourage them to apply for a card of their own. Compare the different types of credit cards available and choose the right one to suit your young adult’s needs.

Check things like fees, interest charges, rewards programs, and other options. In some cases, a student credit card can be ideal. In other cases, it may be wise to choose a credit card with a low annual fee that offers interest-free days on purchases.

Avoid Temptation

Even teens can be inundated with credit card offers from banks, so it’s important to explain the importance of choosing the right card. Your teen also needs to realize that it’s not wise to accept all of those offers that come in from the banks.

Too many inquiries showing on a credit report can cause your teen’s credit score to suffer. No matter how many offers arrive from the bank, encourage your teen to avoid the temptation to sign up for all of them.

If your young adult has already succumbed to the bank’s offers and accumulated some debts, you could check here for ways to help them get their finances back under control.

Teach Responsible Card Management

Let your teen know it’s okay to use the credit card for small purchases, as this can help build up their credit. Small recurring expenses are also okay to put onto the credit card, such as Netflix subscriptions or groceries. However, you also need to explain the importance of repaying the amounts spent in full each month.

When it’s time for your teen to apply for student loans or other forms of credit, having a credit card statement showing no late payments goes a long way to establishing their level of financial responsibility.

Cool Innovations in Gaming Industry of 2017

April 21, 2017 by admin

The gaming industry has been moving gradually in different directions this year while there are some aspects that remain in the same position. Some of the impressive innovations include fresh approaches, latest hardware, and innovative directions.

All the innovations that are yet to occur and those that we are experiencing at the moment form the shape of the gaming industry, which is why most of us find them interesting to keep up to date with. A lot of them can be seen as the reason why casino game players find murka scatter slots irresistible. For this reason, we will take a brief look at how these three sectors affect the gaming industry and what changes they might bring along.

Changes to look out for in the gaming industry of 2017

– Virtual Reality (VR): The year of 2016 is kind of synonymous to VR because we experienced a lot of innovative changes in this technology. These changes include multiple headsets, computer models, smartphones, and the likes of Sony PlayStation VR. Even if VR presently does not meet the hopes of many, what do we have to say about the launch of Resident Evil 7? Well, as the game industry seems to be turning away its focus from the consumer VR, there is some disappointment occurring among developers here and there. However, the experience and skills of the developers and studios working with VR seem not to be wasted as we see a lot of platforms where their skills can be applied commercially outside of video games. Look out for simulations used in different fields like medicine, training, engineering, real estate, and lots more.

– Mobile Gaming: The steady increase in the popularity of mobile gaming could be associated with the constant spreading of the Internet among consumers. However, the development of mobile gaming has reached a particular point and now it is obviously slow. Look at the games topping the charts in 2016 – they are the same games that topped the charts during two previous years, 2015 and 2014. We can easily say that this field is experiencing a consumer burnout due to the lack of new high profile titles. This, in order words, is leading this sector to its first decline.

– New Consoles: All of the previously made predictions about the hardware consoles did not come true. The consoles that seemed to be the hot cakes of the sector are being made irrelevant by smart devices. Examples are the Xbox One and PS4. As if it isn’t enough that consoles are no longer being paid attention to, we are now excited for the news about two major hardware – Microsoft Scorpio and Nintendo Switch.

The Switch is presumed to take the place of floundering Wii U in addition to its ability to merge the capabilities of Nintendo’s handheld console with its line of home consoles. The Scorpio is expected to present a new hardware that will continue the line of Xbox One. Let’s wait and see how these new launches will try to impress us.

These cool innovations in the gaming industry are making some interesting positive changes. Let’s just stay tuned and enjoy all that we can with the improvements and changes occurring in the gaming industry.

One Step At a Time:Taking Your Kids On a Financial Learning Journey

April 19, 2017 by admin

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One of the most valuable lessons you can teach your kids is about the importance of money. However, long, laborious lectures aren’t going to work. Instead, you need to turn day-to-day things, like going to the bank or the ATM machine, into lessons about money.

When your children are young, you can turn imaginary games into real-life money concepts that they can learn from. So, here are some lessons you can incorporate into your child’s day that will provide them with savvy financial advice for the future:

Where Does Money Come from?

It’s easy to understand why kids think money grows on trees, especially in a day where reams of cash come straight out of a hole in the wall. That’s why it’s important to teach them where the money comes from, and that it isn’t an endless resource. Explain that, in order to get money from the bank, you need to work hard first, and that the bank is just a safe place to store it (understandably, after the recent economic crash, you will have to remove some of your cynicism from this remark)!

How Can I Budget for Things I Want?

One of the easiest ways to teach your kids how to manage money is to give them an allowance. Therefore, if they spend all of this on the latest video game, they’ll learn they won’t have enough left over for the new pair of shoes they’ve been looking for. This allows them to gain first-hand experiences of what happens if they overspend and don’t budget properly.

Why Should I Save?

Impulse buying is easy when you’ve been given some money, but your child needs to learn that you shouldn’t spend all your money as soon as you get it. So, when you go shopping, create a list and allocate a budget to each item. Then, look at prices online and for any offers, comparing these to make sure you’re getting the most for your money. This routine planning will help them to make good financial purchases in the future.

Why Should I Be a Bit Skeptical?

Even though you don’t want to make your child feel as though every company is corrupt and out to get them, it’s important they understand the need to look into every deal or contract in detail. For example, if there’s an offer on the TV, it’s key they understand the company is trying to sell them something by making them feel a certain way. I.e. if you have these clothes, you’ll be the most popular kid in school.

This will provide them with important skills they can use when taking out loans or credit cards in the future, teaching them to learn more about the application before proceeding.

Why Should I Keep Track of My Spending?

You child’s money management skills will be enhanced just by knowing exactly where their money is going. To keep track of their spending, encourage them to set up a spreadsheet on their computer or in a notebook, making a file for all their statements and receipts.

With these simple tricks, you can start to teach your child important life lessons that will help them significantly in the future.

Going on a family holiday? Here are a few saving tips before leaving

April 17, 2017 by admin

Having a family – even a big one shouldn’t stop you from going on a grand holiday vacation abroad. It may need by one of your household’s biggest expense, but odds are it’s the expense you’re willing to make.

Family vacations are an investment to emotion as much as money, and they should be since us parents only have a short time to create meaningful vacation memories for our kids.

If you’re looking for the best destination or the perfect travel money card to use for your spending abroad, it’s important to do a lot of research. There’s a plethora of information online for your disposal, in fact, a single hour of research on a good resource can prepare you for almost any mishap you might encounter when travelling with your entire family abroad.

With that in mind, here are a couple of tips to help you maximise your spending dollar.

Plan your trip’s timing. Timing plays a huge role in travel. Try to fly during less desirable season or times, such as midweek or late at night for instance. Take advantage of flexible-travel-date search option when booking online. This lets you compare fares for dates a few days on either side of your chosen date.

Take advantage of shoulder season. This is the time between peak and off-peak. This differs depending on your chosen travel location For Walt Disney World, for instance, the shoulders are May and September where crowds are thinner.

Rent a house instead of a hotel. Consider vacationing with friends or relatives for even bigger bang for your house-rental buck. The per-family cost of allotting a larger rental house is normally lower and you often get more house for your money. You can save even more by sharing the cost of groceries, and had a lot of fun making meals together.

Find deals. Use group-buying websites like Living Social or Groupon to located discounts and deals for the city you want to visit. Likewise, check out the website of your destination’s local magazine/newspaper and look for deals and discounts, often grouped in a special area of the site. Local maps and fliers also often have discount coupons for famous tourist activities and attractions.

Utilise technology. Before travelling, download apps such as GasBuddy to locate nearby gas, Roadtrippers to see sites along a route, Yelp for local restaurants, and hotels.com to get last minute rooms. Also, using Facebook, you can swiftly gather suggestions from friends or other people about favourite/famous hotels, restaurants, or attractions in the area you want to visit, thus growing your odds that what you decide to spend money on will be worth it.

Make use of travel money card. If you want to secure your spending, then a travel money card is your perfect companion. It allows you to lock in exchange rates, save on fees and charges, plus it can be used in over 36 million locations worldwide. You can also withdraw cash at an ATM, use in-store, online or over the phone. You can use

End Note

It’s amazing how much you can save just by applying a couple of tips without sacrificing fun. Keep searching online or try your destination’s local website to find cool activities and even deals. Have fun travelling with the family in tow!

Stop Learning Loss: Keeping Your Child’s Mind Sharp Over the Summer Break

April 15, 2017 by admin

Kids love the months of summer vacation, but sadly, these weeks out of school can be a detriment to their education. Many children suffer from learning loss during the summer; that means they can lose up to two months of academic learning depending on their grade level and the subject. Math learning loss is the most common. So how can you make sure your kids don’t experience learning loss this summer? One solution is summer school. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of summer schooling.

What the Advocates Say

Structured learning: Kids need a plan of structured learningso that they retain their growing foundation of knowledge. Many parents would prefer to have year-round school so summer school is a good substitute to help kids stay on track.

Extra-curricularlearning: Some kids may be reluctant to take summer school classes. One way you can get round this is to put them into a class that you think they really need and let them pick another one for fun.

Start early: It’s best to weave summer school classes into your kid’s lives from the beginning of their schooling. That way it’s a normal part of their routine. If you want to find out more about different types of available summer school programs, check out Cambridge summer school.

What the Opposition Says

Summer is for fun: Kids need time to relax and recharge and this is what the summer vacation is for. They need this time for unstructured play, which is just as important as their education.

Learning on vacation: Learning isn’t confined to the classroom. Children need different life experiencesto grow into well-rounded adults. Summer vacation is a good time for the family to do things together and some of these things can be educational, like visiting a museum or a day trip to a nature preserve.

Letting off the pressure: Kids need a break from school so they have time to be kids. Time at school can be stressful with all the testing and pressure to perform. Why shorten their childhood even more with summer school?

How to Pick a Summer School

If you do decide on a summer school program, you’ll want to pick the right one for your child’s age and ability. Most summer programs are less formal than the regular classroom and kids are taught in smaller groups. The best programs include hands-on learning, sports, field trips and reading and math skills. To make sure your children get the most out of their summer program, enroll them in something they enjoy. For example, if your son is crazy about science but not really sporty, baseball camp will not interest him but science camp will. If your daughter has a talent for learning languages, immersive Spanish classes may be just the thing.

You don’t have to put your kids in classes all through the summer vacation. You could set up a mixture if classes here and there so they get to spend time at home with the family as well as learning.