College Parents of America

Gina sent me some information last week and asked that I pass it along. As the mom to an almost senior, I know just how easy it is to feel overwhelmed at the idea of sending our kids to college, especially now days. The costs are higher than ever, and no one knows when it’ll change, when -or if- it’ll get better.

Talking money with our kids is sometimes harder than talking sex, or drugs. We want so much to give them everything they need and want, we sometimes forget to explain to them why we can’t always do that. It’s easy enough to fight over money with our significant others, that we often neglect to even start those conversations with our kids until it’s too late.

To help, College Parents of America and Chase Card services have put together a guide to help ease into that conversation. The guide is free, and available online here, and has discussion aids and activities to help your student (and mine!) establish strong financial habits. If nothing else, it’ll certainly help us sleep better knowing they’ve learned the good habits – even if we haven’t always followed them ourselves.

The guide cover how to create and stick to a budget, as well as understanding credit ratings, credit cards, and loans. There are sections on banking services, contracts and even identity theft. Even if your child (like mine) is not interested in going directly to college, these subjects are things they’ll need to know as they enter the work force as well. Healthy spending habits now will only help our kids succeed in the future!

So take a look at the guide – maybe it’ll help you and yours continue in the right direction.