Money Management Tips for Parents

From Mint.com

Here are six simple steps you can take to help your college-age child learn and maintain responsible money habits:

1. Figure out what spending you can control, and what you can’t. Before leaving for school, sit down with your student and add up the large, fixed expenses you’ll need to cover – like tuition and books – and then agree on a total budget to cover the rest. If your student is contributing to that total, be clear on where that money will come from: savings from a summer job, or from part-time work at school.

2. Agree on where you can save money on the largest, discretionary expenses. These typically include your choices for housing and food.

3. Set budgets and share what you’ve learned. Mint automatically calculates budgets, and can show you what others spend on gas, groceries, restaurants, movies and music. Use this information to quickly settle any arguments on what makes for a reasonable budget! Use this conversation to pass along your best money-stretching tips: where you find and use coupons, where you choose to shop, even favorite family recipes that make your grocery dollar go farther.

4. Share the savings. Once you’ve agreed on ways to tighten your belt, offer to share some of those savings with your now frugal student.

5. Choose the right credit card. It’s not inevitable that sending your child off to college with a credit card means trouble. On the contrary, they’ll be better able to handle any emergencies. Used wisely, credit cards can help build a credit history. When your child demonstrates that they can pay off their balance each month, rewards cards become a good option. The best card is one that gives them things you’d otherwise be paying for – like miles for flights home – or 1-3% cash back on everything they buy.

6. Stay on top of spending.

For more information, view this video from Mint.com.

Source: PR Newswire