Think Saving for College is Complicated? It Doesn’t Have to Be

By Michelle Brownstein

July 7, 2021

Photo: iStock

The shift in mindset for new parents is palpable at the beginning—planning for their future can often become your central focus. The sudden feeling of urgency to tackle financial planning to support your children amid sleepless nights can be overwhelming. Add it to the never-ending list of tasks that comes with kids! It can be paralyzing—especially after the year we had in 2020, which taught many of us that our financial futures can be uncertain. Life insurance, retirement, college savings, rainy day funds, emergency medical…the list of investments that seem immediate and necessary are dizzying.

It can be difficult to know how to prioritize all of these things, and I often get asked by new parents how to juggle all of the financial decisions facing their families. I’m asked all the time: “Is it possible to save for retirement and college for my kids?” With careful financial planning, it’s possible to achieve multiple goals, including retirement and funding college.

When it comes to prioritizing these goals, I tell parents that it’s important to put on your own oxygen mask first—in other words, make sure you’re maxing out your retirement accounts first before putting money aside for college education. Being financially independent and giving yourself the best chance for a secure future is one of the best gifts you can give your kids, and it models great money management. And remember, you can take out loans for college if you really need them, but you can’t take out a loan for your own retirement. When it comes to college planning, the interest rates for federal student loans—the types of loans your children might take out if they need to—are usually less than what you can make by putting your money in retirement investments.

Once you’ve maxed out your own retirement accounts, the next question is often: What’s the best way to start saving for my child’s college education expenses?

Here are 4 tips for saving for college while also keeping your other financial priorities, like retirement, on track:

1. Clearly Define Your Retirement & College Savings Goals
One of the first steps to coming up with a good plan to fund both your own future and your kid’s future is clearly defining your goals. After all, how do you know how much you can put toward your child’s future if you don’t know how much you need for your own? It’s important to understand what kind of retirement you want, and how much you’ll need to support the lifest‌yle you want. Pick a date, track your budget, know your cash flow, and remember to always look at your finances in a “big picture” way. Then you can back out into how much you’d like to contribute to future education expenses and establish some realistic savings goals.

2. The Early Bird Catches the Worm
If your own financial situation is on track (you’re maxing out your retirement accounts, you’ve eliminated any high-interest debt, and you have a healthy emergency fund), the earlier you can start socking away some funds for your child’s education, the better. Saving early will allow more time for potential growth on your investments. This can be as little or as much as you want—don’t let the amount hold you back. It might not be easy to start putting money away initially because you may be balancing higher up-front costs as new parents, such as new medical needs, financing a family-friendly vehicle, and paying for daycare costs. However, the earlier you start, the more time your savings will have to grow before paying that first tuition bill.

3. Know Your Options
While college savings plans abound, keeping savings and investment strategies simple with a low point of entry often works best as a place to start. This is why 529 plans are so popular — Most plans offer valuable tax benefits and can be an attractive option for more “hands-off” investors (assuming an aged-based option is available). But there are tradeoffs to be aware of—sometimes these plans can come with high fees and often you’ll have minimal control over the investment strategy. But they can be a great option for many families, especially since they can now be used to cover primary and secondary school expenses in many cases. Other options include custodial accounts such as UTMA/UGMA accounts, and IRAs (Roth and Traditional). What’s best for your family will depend on your personal situation and goals, so make sure you do your research before choosing.

4. Consider a Financial Advisor
There’s a lot to think about when it comes to saving for your family’s future. There’s also a lot of conflicting information out there on the internet and it can make taking on these complex financial planning decisions seem quite difficult. Many people choose to work with a financial advisor to help them navigate these decisions and reduce some of the stress involved in doing everything themselves. If this is a route you choose to go, look for an advisor who is a fiduciary—which means that they are legally bound to always act in your best interest. Also, try to avoid any advisor or firm operating on commission—you don’t want to be sold on investment products or plans that aren’t right for you.

In short, it’s definitely possible to save for your child’s future without sacrificing your own, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated. If you start early, prioritize your own financial security first, and choose the right method of saving for your situation, you’re well on your way to the future you envision.

Michelle Brownstein

Tinybeans Voices Contributor

Michelle is a Certified Financial Planner® with a range of Investment Management experience. She manages the Private Client Group at Personal Capital as the lead for high net worth investment clients. When she’s home, Michelle spends her time running- both for exercise and to chase after her very active toddler, Connor.

Celebrate World Ocean Day with Baby Shark’s New Playlist

by Karly WoodJune 8, 2021

Happy World Ocean Day! In honor of this special day, the creators behind Baby Shark have curated a new playlist for little listeners.

The 40 minute playlist has 27 songs that feature Baby Shark and other sea animals. Designed to education kids on the importance of reducing plastic waste and saving the ocean and sea animals, the fun lineup of songs is just as addicting as the OG ear worm that Baby Shark is known for.

photo: Courtesy of Pinkfong

If your kiddos are looking for more ways to positively impact that ocean, head over to YouTube to see Pinkfong’s World Environment Day Special, Baby Shark vs Waste Monster and ‘No More Single-Use Plastic!, a video that raises awareness about plastic pollution.

––Karly Wood

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5 Ways to Help Kids Understand Money

by Kaitlyn KirbyJune 2, 2021

If you’ve ever visited a store with your little ones in tow, it quickly becomes clear that they think money grows on trees. Or rather, it flows from that magical drive-thru cash dispenser at the bank. It can be a tricky subject to tackle with kids, but those trips to the toy aisle become a bit more meaningful when you try a hands-on approach to teaching finances—even at a young age. From starting a DIY business to chore charts, here are a few ways to master the money game with your kids.

Start teaching your child positive saving habits today with an OnPoint Savers Account from OnPoint Community Credit Union. When you open an account and deposit a minimum of $25, OnPoint will deposit an additional $55!*

1. Play cashier.
Use “money” to play cashier with your kids at home. Play money you’ve bought or created works well for this activity! Next, set prices for items around the house—food, clothing, you name it—and allow them to pay with the pretend money, showing them how much they need and how much change they should receive after paying. Pretend transactions at home will help build the foundation for spending money in the real world.

2. Set an achievable goal. First, choose an item with your kids that they’d like to purchase with their own money—something they could reasonably achieve within one to three months. Then, remind them to save up every time they receive money via allowance or gifts. Once your little ones have saved enough money toward their goal, take them to the store to make the purchase with their savings, or possibly continue saving and setting a new bigger goal.

3. Explain how banking works and open a savings account. Your kids may think the bank, credit union or ATM is a place you visit when you need more money or that your debit card just has money. Take them with you to your local branch, and explain that it is a place that keeps your money safe after you’ve earned it, not somewhere that gives it away. Depending on how old they are, this could be as simple as teaching them about money in and money out, or as complicated as explaining compound interest, and the basics of income and budgeting.

4. Grow savings. Show them how to keep track of the money they save by writing deposits and withdrawals in a register or at the top of a piece of paper. Then explain how they can earn more money from their savings by keeping their money in their account. For example, in addition to receiving $55 when opening an OnPoint Savers Account, the account balance will earn 5.00% APY up to $500—a higher interest rate than a traditional savings account! Along with the OnPoint Savers Account, the credit union also provides tips and tools to help savers of all ages learn positive money habits.

5. Help them start a shop. What better way to teach your kids about money than by running their own “business?” Work with your child to determine what they’ll create, where they’ll sell, what their costs will be and how much they’ll charge. Selling homemade dog biscuits near a local dog park or having a DIY plant business is an excellent opportunity for kids to have fun and learn the value of money!

—Kaitlyn Kirby

*OnPoint Savers Account rate of 5.00% APY is accurate as of December 1, 2020 and subject to change. Stated APY is for balances up to $500; balances of $500.01 and higher earn posted Regular Savings Account rate. Account must be established for members age 17 or younger by parent or guardian with a minimum $25 deposit. Parent or legal guardian must be on the membership and present to open the OnPoint Savers Account. When primary member attains the age of 18, accounts will be converted to Regular Savings Account, earning that account’s published rate at that time. Fiduciary memberships, including UTTMA and Minor Settlement Accounts are not eligible for OnPoint Savers. One OnPoint Savers Account per member/TIN. One $55 bonus per tax ID for new members only. Bonus will be included on a 1099-INT for tax purposes. Cannot be combined with other offers for opening a new membership, such as new branch promotions or Refer a Friend.

The full account balance APY is calculated by combining the 5.00% APY earnings on the first $500 with the standard APY on the remaining balance above $500.

**APY=Annual Percentage Yield.

Federally insured by NCUA.

Empty Fridge? Instacart’s New 30 Minute Delivery to the Rescue!

by Sarah ShebekMay 27, 2021

Groceries comin’ in hot! Instacart just announced 30 minute grocery “Priority Delivery” in 15 of the largest cities across the U.S., helping customers get what they need ASAP. It will be available across many popular retailers including Ralph’s, Sprouts and Safeway.

Perfect for those nights where you forgot that one key dinner ingredient or the milk runs out, the new feature will display as a lightning bolt icon in the Instacart app with “Delivery within 30 minutes.” Right now it’s set to debut in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle among others, with a larger rollout to more cities in the coming month.

“We know that no two grocery shops are created equal – whether it’s a bulk buy for the week ahead or just a few ingredients for tonight’s dinner – so we’re launching new features that support the many ways people shop for their groceries today,” said Daniel Danker, Vice President of Product at Instacart. “For many customers, every minute counts when they’re in a pinch and need something in a hurry. With today’s launch of Priority Delivery, we’re redefining the ‘quick run to the store’ and bringing the grocery express lane online for customers.”

If you have slightly more planning time, Instacart will also expand the 45 and 60 minute delivery for more customers nationwide. And if you’re new to the app, it’s the leading online grocery platform in the U.S. that strives to simplify your shopping trips. You can use it with more than 600 national, regional and local retailers and it’s available to 85% of U.S. households. Consider dinner saved!

—Sarah Shebek

Image courtesy of Instacart

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Are Parents Good at Teaching Their Kids Financial Literacy? New Survey Has Answers

by Karly WoodMay 7, 2021

Parents wear many hats and it can be difficult to make sure we’re raising our kids with all the necessary life skills. A new survey from the National Financial Educators Council (NFEC) is shedding light on a very specific life lesson that is key to raising independent adults: financial literacy.

Using over 1,000 respondents, the survey asked the question “Which parent taught you the most about money and personal finance?” The overwhelming answer? “Neither.”

photo: Pexels

While respondents did say that their mother was more likely to teach financial literacy than their father (23.7 percent over 22.6 percent), it’s clear that the majority has grown up with little to no instruction on finances.

The study grouped respondents into age groups that included 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, and 65+ years old. Interestingly, the two youngest groups, 18-24 and 25-34, reported “Neither” more than all other age groups making this issue a relevant topic for today’s parents.

“It’s essential for parents to make a conscious and consistent effort to discuss finances, model good financial decision-making, and provide opportunities for kids to practice earning, budgeting, saving, and spending, especially while they still have the safety net of living at home and receiving family support,” says Vince Shorb, NFEC CEO.

So how can you make sure your kiddos are prepared financially as they become adults? One of the main goals of the NFEC is to encourage and provide tools for parents to teach financial literacy skills to their children from an early age. You can head to their website for tons of info.

You can view the full survey results here.

––Karly Wood

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Realistic Ways to Teach Your Kids about Money

By Kara Reynolds

Tinybeans Voices Contributor

March 17, 2021

Photo: Annie Spratt via Unsplash

Money is part of everyone’s life. You need money to purchase necessary items like groceries and clothing, and you need it to pay bills to survive. Some people are great at finances—others, not so much. That’s why you must teach your kids valuable lessons about money from a young age so they can adequately manage their finances well into adulthood.

You don’t want to risk allowing your child to learn inadequate money management from someone else, so that’s why you need to teach your kids about money. Financial skills are essential to navigate life, so here are some realistic ways to teach your kids about money so they’re set for the future.

Teach Them the Value of Money
First of all, you should teach your kids about the value of money. If you hand a young child a penny, nickel and dime, they’ll likely choose the larger coin, which is the nickel. However, the nickel is not the most valuable.

You can teach your children the names of coins and how much they’re worth. They’ll be able to recognize coins after repetition of showing and teaching them their values.

Talk Openly about Family Monetary Decisions
You shouldn’t have to hide monetary decisions from your children. If you’re paying bills or have a significant expense coming up, explain to your children that you have to save money for it and might have to budget, which means no more unnecessary items for a short amount of time.

Let them understand that things cost money and that their food, clothes, and toys don’t magically show up at your house. Ever since they were born, you’ve had to carefully save money to support them. Explain how you pay for things so they know how much everything costs.

Use a Clear Jar for Their Savings
Piggy banks are great ways for children to save money they get for birthdays, holidays, or if they find a coin on the sidewalk. They love putting their earnings into a piggy bank, but unless you dump all of the money out, they can’t visually see how much they have saved.

When kids can visually see their monetary growth, they’ll learn and grasp the concept of money even better. Each time they add to the jar, they can see the growth and be excited that they’re saving money!

Play Board Games That Involve Money
What’s more fun than a family game night? Games like Monopoly and The Game of Life teach valuable money skills. Although the money is fake, your children can learn what it’s like to spend money, be in debt, and invest their money.

Your kids can get a sense of how the world of money works. They can decide what they really need in life, which leads to better spending habits in the future.

Talk about Spending, Saving and Giving
When your child earns money, create three different envelopes for them—one for spending, saving, and giving. Part of teaching them about money is teaching them how to organize their money.

Each time they receive money, have them split it into either equal parts or an agreed percentage for each category. Then, they can choose what to do with the funds in each category. For example, if they have a friend in need, they can use the “giving” money for their friend.

Let Them Pay for Something They Want
Kids always want things, whether it be a new video game or a dollhouse. These items aren’t something they need, so if they want it, allow them to save up and pay for it themselves. They’ll soon realize that it takes a lot of saving to pay for an item.

If they want the item badly enough, they will take the time to save their money, especially if you refuse to give in and purchase it for them.

Encourage Teens to Get a Job
There are plenty of opportunities for teenagers to get a job. As your children get to that age, they can begin doing more work. They will further understand that it takes hard work to earn a small amount of money and appreciate how much you work to make money for everyday expenses.

Start with a small job, like babysitting or mowing lawns. Ask around the neighborhood what kinds of work people have that they can regularly pay your teen money to do. If you have older teenagers, help them search for a part-time job.

Use Everyday Context to Teach
Money is involved in everyday life. You likely spend money every day, whether it’s for groceries, spending at a restaurant, paying bills, and even for taxes. Each time you pull out cash or your credit or debit card, it’s a prime opportunity to teach your kids about money.

Let them help you count out money for a purchase, or have them help you fill out a form online when you make an online purchase. Additionally, teach them about checks and how to write them. The more often they can participate in spending, the more skills you’ll instill into them.

It’s Never Too Early to Teach Kids about Money
You’re better off being realistic about money with your children from a young age than have them grow up and be misinformed about the world of money. Help them make wise financial decisions so you can be confident in their future money habits.

Kara Reynolds

Tinybeans Voices Contributor

Kara Reynolds is the Editor-in-Chief and founder of Momish Magazine. A mom of four and matriarch to her big blended family, Kara wants nothing more than to normalize differences in family structures. She enjoys peeing alone, pancakes, and pinot noir - but not at the same time.

Come Join the New Place for Parents at Tinybeans

by Tinybeans TeamMarch 9, 2021

Parenting, not to mention parenting in a pandemic, can be lonely. But what if there was a safe, parent-powered place to connect? And what if that place was also already loved by millions of parents as a trusted place to share and store your favorite family milestones? Well, we’ve got some great news for you!

Red Tricycle’s sister company, Tinybeans, is that place! Tinybeans hosts families from around the world with a space to upload, store and safely share memories and photos. And now, we’re about to debut a cool new feature in the Tinybeans app, and we want you to join us!

We’re launching a brand new feature called Community, within the app. It’s a Parent-Powered Place for cool products, activites, time-saving hacks, and more. And right now, Red Tricycle users can get priority access to the beta testing of this new feature. You can sign up now to join the waitlist and be among the first to get a look at what this community is all about.

Click here to join up and discover what the buzz is all about.

Join our waitlist today and be part of parents from around the globe working together to make life easier for each other.

Let’s Be Honest, Kids Take a Toll on Marriage

By Lisa Aihara

Tinybeans Voices Contributor

March 3, 2021

Photo: Toa Heftiba via Unsplash

When I was in my late 20s, the first batch of my friends started to have kids. I visited one of my college friends to meet their new baby—we chatted about our good ‘ole days, gave each other some status updates, and I just giddily flitted over baby even though I was scared to hold him. During this hangout, my friend said something that really stuck with me. While recounting to me the early days with baby and the challenges that ensued in a comical, light-hearted manner, she also mentioned that she and her husband started to fight more and that the baby, “Really took a toll on our marriage.”

I had been with my now-husband for nearly a decade at that point, and like many high school sweethearts, we had had our biggest fights during our hormone-raged youth and had settled into a routine by then. We knew each other well and had learned how to avoid a fight before it even started. So when I heard this from my friend, I remember thinking that it was such a sad thing to say and even vowed (as many dumb childless people do) that I wouldn’t let that happen to MY marriage when I had children.

What I didn’t realize then is that I would owe my friend an apology for having missed the point completely on this statement that is so honest and vulnerable and 1000% true. So if you’re reading this, I am so sorry for not understanding until now how freaking amazing you were to have shared this with me, and I want you to know that having heard this probably saved my marriage.

To the naive and idiotic mind of a know-it-all childless dump, the admission of their marital hardship sounded like a sad, deflated white flag to say that the relationship could not overcome this new chapter in their life. But the truth is, if you have children and it *doesn’t* take a toll on your marriage, you might be doing it wrong. Of course, there are those shiny rainbow couples who take every new stage with stride, love, patience, and sweet cuddles…and those guys can just leave this conversation. My husband and I, despite having been together for such a long time, were not and never will be that couple—and I imagine most of us fall out of that unicorn camp.

Having children changes you. Remember before we had kids and someone asked us if we wanted one, we would say something along the line of “Yeah one day, but for now, I enjoy ‘X’ too much,” filled in with things that we knew from all the clichés that babies take away: going out, spending an obscene amount of money on frivolous things, etc., things we felt we weren’t ready to give up. I always thought that I had to be ready to give these things up voluntarily to be “qualified” to have kids.

But that wasn’t it at all. When baby came I didn’t *want* to go out, sleep in, spend money, or eat fast food the way I used to, because the moment that the nurse plopped that cottage-cheese-covered red monkey of a baby on my chest was…to say it conservatively, a transformation. The person I used to be, the things I used to enjoy, even the things that I thought were hills I’d die on, all became insignificant and dull compared to this person I just made and have been endowed with. Call it hormones, even call it brainwashing. Whatever it was, it completely and permanently altered my very being. Sound frightening? It really really was.

So imagine, while this is happening to me as I pushed out a human that I baked from scratch—the same thing is happening to my husband, who I’ve known since I was 17. And I see him crying and laughing as this baby is peeing on him. And if you know my husband, you will say “He CRIED?” because it’s that surprising. And I didn’t know it then, but it was also a sign that some stuff was about to go down.

We fought so much those early days. My husband was lucky enough to have gotten a 6-week paternity leave, which was amazing because he got to bond with our son, but it probably also contributed to a lot of the fights because he was in the trenches with me. He knew about the bad latch, the sleeping and feeding schedules…and for the first time in our relationship, we both had something that we equally cared so deeply about that we were willing to put anything on the line for it—even our relationship. Up until that point, we were each other’s top priority. That shift was wild. And don’t forget, we’re not even the same people anymore, so the strategies and techniques that we had previously learned meant nothing. The baby was a wrecking ball, naked Miley Cyrus and all, who came in and totally demolished everything that we’ve built up as a couple. Now we had to try to rebuild it, while keeping a baby alive, which meant we had to do it with zero time and zero sleep. I wonder why we had so many problems? (ha!)

So yes, our kid took a toll on our marriage. But because of that, it forced us to build something in the aftermath that’s more resilient and deeply rooted in our being. We had to, or else we wouldn’t have survived. I now understand that having a kid to save a marriage would never work because it’s the absolute opposite—a kid is going to tear you up into shreds so small that you won’t want to pick those pieces back up to put it back together unless your marriage is worth saving. And you know what, I think that’s totally okay. The truth is, anything worth fighting for, there will be fighting for it. And I think we can all agree that our kids are worth the fight.

Lisa Aihara

Tinybeans Voices Contributor

Lisa Aihara is a writer and artist based in Los Angeles. When she's not busy keeping her toddler alive, she's growing another human and has no time for any BS. For an honest, practical take on motherhood, relationships, and just life's struggles through comics and stories, follow her on Instagram and her Blog.

You Won’t Believe How Much Kids Made in Allowance Last Year

by Karly WoodFebruary 3, 2021

A new study of 90,000 U.S. kids has revealed plenty of interesting info on the topic of allowance. RoosterMoney, an allowance and chore tracking app recently shared its Kids Allowance Report and its all about how much allowance kids ages four to 14 received in 2020, how they spent it during the pandemic and encouraging data on saving habits.

To start, the report showed that kids received a whopping $455 in allowance last year––that’s an average of $8.75 per week! Even better, data shows that they saved 45%, a trend that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

photo: Jordan Rowland via Unsplash

The Kids Allowance Report also showed that a strong allowance routine is key to establishing positive money habits early in life. Overall, 66 percent of parents stated they have a regular allowance in 2020 and embraced chore routines.

With that in mind, kids found themselves saving a ton, including an average of $72 in cash Christmas gifts and taking about 36 days to reach their savings goals. Fave items to save for included LEGO sets, phones, Roblox and Fortnite and a Nintendo Switch.

When it comes to spending money, the report found that dropping cash on Roblox, Fortnite, presents, candy and LEGO products topped the charts. Will Carmichael, RoosterMoney CEO, says “The pandemic has shifted most of our spending online and that’s seen clearly here with kids’ spending habits too. It’s also really encouraging to see the saving rates remain so high. Now more than ever, building financial capability into our kids is so incredibly important. Having confidence with money, building positive habits around saving and learning to make considered spending choices will be something that sticks with kids for life.”

––Karly Wood

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Kids Create Superheroes to Make the World a Better Place

by Jennifer SwartvagherJanuary 27, 2021

The world could do with more heroes now more than ever. Who better to imagine a new hero of tomorrow than the children of today? Best Kid Stuff asked 10 kids to draw and describe 10 new superheroes that could make the world a better place in 2021 and then tasked a designer to make all 10 of them comic-book worthy.

The kid comic book designers began drawing their original ideas and created their superhero personas. Then the designers at Best Kid Stuff worked their magic and created a league of superheroes.