Money And Investing Tips For Mom
May 10, 2009 by Tisa Silver
Filed under Finance
Happy Mother’s Day!
I grew up with The Golden Girls, so I was happy to find a photo of Estelle Getty for this post. She portrayed one of television’s funniest mothers: Sophia Petrillo. Anyway, this Mother’s Day I wanted to offer a few money tips for moms.
Photo by Roberto_Garcia, courtesy of flickr
Develop a plan – What are you investing for? Sending a child to college, retirement, buying a house, etc. If you want to develop the plan yourself, then you can save some money and buy a book or two. Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan and Women & Money provide some good, easy to read information.
If you need professional help, then you can contact a financial planner. Do your research first, because even if you use a planner it is your money.
Go for the discount - Instead of a full-service broker, take a look at discount brokers like Sharebuilder, TDAmeritrade, ETrade and Scottrade. Full-service brokers come with larger fees which will eat away at your returns and most money managers do not beat the market anyway.
Make it automatic – You can set up an investment plan to make routine withdrawals from your bank account. You decide how much and how often you wish to invest. This saves time and makes investing a habit.
Prepare for the worst - Investigate life insurance policies offered by your job and on your own. Life insurance can provide benefits for your survivors if something were to happen to you. There are pros and cons of both term life and whole life policies, here’s an article by Ginger Applegarth on MSN Money.
Save for a rainy day - As a mom, it is easy to get carried away with taking care of others. Whether it’s for a rainy day or a day at the spa, keep a little bit of money stashed away for yourself.
