Guest Post from Mighty Moms

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having an amazing Thursday.  Emily from Mighty Moms reached out to me to do a guest blog post on finances for teens and young adults.  I read the article and she offers some great advice.  Be sure and check out her website, too. 

A Head Start – Financial Tips for Teens and Young Adults

From first part-time jobs to college graduations, your teens and twenties offer plenty of moments of financial transition. These milestones aren’t just a sign you’re growing into an adult; they’re also a great opportunity to begin learning how to manage your money like one. Here are a few tips for the young or soon-to-be adult looking to give themselves a financial head start.

Track Your Spending and Start a Budget

It’s enormously difficult to make changes before you know what, exactly, you’re changing. For a few weeks, just keep track of where and how you spend your money. You can do this in a budget app, spreadsheet, or even just an old-school notebook.

Whichever method you use, make sure to note the date, total, and location of everything you spend. You can also make a few notes to give yourself an idea of how you might categorize that spending once you’ve reached that point. For example, next to the line tracking filling up your gas tank, you might note, “Car,” and next to a ticket to a movie, you might note, “Entertainment.”

Once you have a sense of how you spend your money, you can start trying to build a budget. Set aside a specific amount each month into your spending categories, and commit to keeping your spending within those limits. Track every purchase, and check in throughout the month to see how you’re doing. It will take practice, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t nail it right away.

Consider Future Expenses

Generally speaking, the younger you are, the fewer expenses you have. If you still live with your parents, your room and board are likely covered, leaving you with plenty of income. Even if you’re out of the house, you may still be years away from childcare costs, medical expenses, mortgage payments, and other future expenses.

Here are a few down-the-road items it’s wise to start saving for early:

• Retirement – The sooner you start saving for retirement, the better a position you’ll be in once that stage rolls around. Putting 5 percent of each paycheck into an IRA or company retirement fund will set you up for financial stability in your golden years.

• House Payments – If you think you may want to own property, start saving for a down payment earlier, rather than later. When it comes time to buy, you’ll want to have enough saved up for a 20 percent down payment. Less than that, and you’ll see costly mortgage insurance added onto your regular mortgage payment.

• Car Costs – Just like with a house, the more money you set aside for car costs, the more power you’ll have when it comes to purchasing a car. However, keep in mind that car payments aren’t the only cost associated with driving. You’ll also need to save for repairs, gas, and insurance. Auto insurance can be one of your higher expenses, particularly depending on your age and gender. Where you live and the type of car you drive can also impact how much your insurance costs, so it's best to maintain a good driving record and to even take defensive driving courses if you want to work toward lower payments.

Make Useful Goals

Once you have a sense of your budget and what kind of expenses you can expect in the future, you can start making goals. However, it’s important to make goals that are clear and detailed. A goal like “I want to save for a house” is fine, but “I want to put away at least $200 a month so that in 10 years, I’ll have at least $24,000 to go toward my down payment” is better.

Whatever goals you decide to focus on, create a clear plan for how to achieve them and stick to it. Do this, and you’ll be ready to take on the future.

Photo Credit: Pexels

Guest Post: Teaching At An Online College vs A Traditional College

Pros and Cons of Teaching at an Online College
It’s a form of education that is gaining in leaps and bounds, not just in terms of popularity, but also in terms of acceptability and respectability. No longer are online colleges the domain of people who cannot get into regular schools or who’re not qualified enough to secure admission to traditional colleges. Today, online degrees are sought after by most professionals and high school graduates as the best way to earn and learn simultaneously; and with even traditional and hallowed institutions like MIT offering online offerings, it’s only natural that this field is perceived as one that offers a host of opportunities.
So if you’re a professor, it’s not surprising if you’re considering venturing into the online world of education either full or part time. However, before you take such a step, it’s best to be aware of the pros and cons of this decision.
Among the advantages you stand to gain when teaching online are:
You learn more about the use of technology – with classes being taught entirely online, you must be tech savvy if you want to make it as an online professor.
You’re usually allowed to design your own lessons and modules because they need to include more than just text and be suited for the technology that delivers it. This helps you gain a better perspective of the subject and also broadens your experience.
You don’t have to worry about bad behavior, disrespect and unruliness from students because you’re insulated from them by technology. This makes online teaching an apt job for professors who know their stuff but are not authoritative enough to command respect in a traditional classroom.
But, on the downside:
Online classes are much more difficult to handle than regular ones – you have to do extensive research and be prepared to handle long discussions and deal with various questions from students who you interact with only through technology. This takes more time and effort, so if you’re not used to this kind of environment, you could find the going tough.
You will have to spend most of your time answering questions from students and helping them with any difficulties they may have – online learning is more of a student-centered activity than a teacher-centered one.
The remuneration you receive may not be as much as you would get at a regular institution.
Also, when you teach at a traditional college, you’re in line for tenure and your respectability gets a boost, something that is very unlikely to happen when you work at an online equivalent.
Some professors choose to do both – hold positions at regular colleges even as they take on part-time jobs at online schools. However, this works out well only if they’re adequately compensated and if they’re able to balance their time effectively.
By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Carrie Oakley, who writes on the topic of online colleges . Carrie welcomes your comments at her email id: carrie.oakley1983(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

The Pros and Cons of Getting Your Degree Online

This is a guest post, so please show Anna some love.

The Pros and Cons of Earning Your Degree Online

Technology has made a huge difference in the way we learn today, and you can’t argue the fact that online education has revamped the education system as we knew it. It’s a classic case of the mountain going to Mohammed because Mohammed is limited by various constraints and cannot go to the mountain; thanks to the Internet and other related technology, you’re able to earn a degree from the comfort of your home and also balance it with your work and other commitments. There’s no doubting that online education is here to stay and grow, but before you go down this road, you need to be aware of both the pros and cons of earning your degree online.

On the plus side:

· You don’t have to take time off from your work or your life in general to enroll in a degree and complete it. This allows you to balance both work and study if you’re a professional or family and study if you have kids at home, without neglecting or putting one on hold in order to pursue the other.

· You don’t have to relocate to another place or even attend classes on a daily basis as you would when earning a traditional degree. This not only saves you time, but also money.

· You have a limited amount of flexibility of setting your own schedule because it is not as rigid as those that traditional students have to follow.

· Most online degrees are much cheaper than similar offerings by traditional colleges. Also, since your course material is sent over the Internet, you may not have to shell out money to buy expensive text books.

· If you put your mind to it and are willing to take extra classes and work harder, you can complete your degree in less than four years.

On the down side:

· Perhaps the biggest drawback of online education is that it is not valued on par with the degrees offered by traditional institutions. Employers may not consider you seriously when they know you’ve graduated from an online school.

· You must be very careful to ensure that your degree and school are accredited by the right agencies. If not, your degree is not worth the paper it is printed on.

· If you want to make the most of your online education and achieve success, you must be willing to work hard and set aside time in your busy schedule for your coursework and exams.

· You may not find it easy to cope with the lack of social and personal interaction with other students and your professors.

· Also, you will have to do most of the studying through your own efforts because your teachers and professors will be available for online discussions only at certain scheduled times.

· Balancing your education and work or a family could become stressful and drain your energy; so unless you’re organized, dedicated, and determined, you could end up failing or making mistakes in one or more of the many activities on your plate.

In spite of all its drawbacks, online education is still a good option for those who wish to continue working even as they earn a degree for professional or personal reasons.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Anna Miller, who writes on the topic of online degree . She welcomes your comments at her email id: anna.miller009@gmail.com