Tag: Planning
How to minimize your grad school debt
This article is by staff writer Honey Smith. If you or a loved one will be headed to graduate school this fall, chances are you are worried about more than dorm survival. Instead, you may be wondering how to avoid six-digit student loan debt. It’s a valid fear — no one wants to end up where I started. Fortunately, there are ways to earn a graduate degree while avoiding financial catastrophe. Using myself as an object lesson, here are some strategies I would recommend: Reverse-engineer the problem Consider the degree you are interested in and ask yourself some tough questions: How easy will it be to find a job with that degree? Will you have to make other types of sacrifices to get a
How to budget for summer camp
This article is by staff writer Lisa Aberle. Summer break is quickly approaching. Last year, I was worried about how I would keep the kids entertained; this year, I vacillate between two ends of the emotional spectrum — being excited and feeling a little overwhelmed. Excited, because I say “adios” to the early morning bus routine and the backpack-and-lunchbox ritual for a few glorious weeks. And socks. They quit wearing socks in the summer. (Can I get a “hallelujah”?) But I am feeling a little overwhelmed too. The sock shenanigans at my house get replaced with drinking glasses and copious Go-Gurt wrappers all over the kitchen counters sticky with spilled lemonade. Yep, there’s nothing like a few weeks of summer
Financial stress: Strategies for the sandwich generation
This article is by staff writer Suba Iyer. My husband and I are millennials who expect to be part of the sandwich generation soon. The term “sandwich generation” refers to those who support both an aging parent and a child. As I read the responses to the Ask the Readers article, Are you planning to care for an aging parent, it looks like we have plenty of company, and statistics from the Pew Research Center seem to substantiate that. (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/01/30/the-sandwich-generation/): “Nearly half (47{7dabfd103aa443fce219eea47f0f346a11a54ce587a1a0cbb74f06b9f7a304ca}) of adults in their 40s and 50s have a parent age 65 or older and are either raising a young child or financially supporting a grown child (age 18 or older). And about one-in-seven
Replacing our HVAC, Part II: Installation, rebates, and timing
(This is Part II in a two-part series about replacing an air conditioning unit. Part I is Honey Progress Report: Replacing our HVAC, Part I. Honey Smith’s experience investigating solar panels is chronicled in Financial benefits of solar panels? Not so fast.) This article is by staff writer Honey Smith. It’s been over a year since we bought our house and, while homeownership has been a fulfilling experience thus far, it hasn’t been cheap. Our air conditioner broke last year — on a 108-degree day in August, no less — resulting in a hefty thousand-dollar repair bill. We immediately added a replacement unit to our list of priorities as the existing unit was more than 20 years old. The bigger picture Our
Ask the Readers: Are you planning to care for an aging parent?
This article is by editor Linda Vergon. A few weeks ago, I got an unexpected invitation to lunch from my husband. His afternoon meetings had been rescheduled and he was coming home early. We went to a little Subway store in a shopping center near my office. The patio area in back has a beautiful view of the picturesque homes on the large canal by the bay, and it’s perfect to just talk and enjoy your meal while you soak up some sun. Not long after we sat down, I noticed three little sailboats making their way up the channel. Now, this interests me because I spent much of my childhood and teen years sailing with my family. I watched them progress, tacking back and forth, and
