0 Explaining budgeting to kids - how to make sure your kids are wise about money

Even if you don’t want to admit it, money makes the world go round and learning about money from a young age can help to make you money-smart in the future. If you’ve got kids it will be worthwhile sitting them down to discuss the finer points of money to them, especially budgeting, as this is one thing that they’ll be able to use in later life to

ward off money troubles.

So, here are a few ways you can teach your kids all about budgeting:

1)      The pocket money method

If you give your kids pocket money you should ask them to pick out a toy or some other item that they’d like you to buy for them. Then, once they’ve made their decision, tell them that they’ll be buying the toy, but in a couple of weeks. Explain that, for the next few weeks, you’d like them to save up their pocket money so that they can buy the toy.

You can then design a colourful savings plan with your child – get some paper, crayons, pencils and felt tips and draw a calendar with your child that they can then write their savings dates in. They can draw pictures on it and anything else they’d like – the real message here is when they’ll be putting money in their piggy bank.

Give your child the choice of saving their pocket money when you give it to them – they need to learn that budgeting is something that needs to be done consciously. Every week you should take all of the money out of their piggy bank and count it with them, and then mark the amount on the calendar they’ve made. Eventually they’ll reach their goal and can be treated with the toy they’ve been after!

2)      The open and honest solution

Being completely open and honest with your kids is one of the best ways to teach them about budgeting. If you explain how your household budget works they’ll be able to get a much clearer picture of it, as they’ll be working from a real example. Break down all of the household expenses with them and show them how much everything costs – it’ll definitely be an eye opener for them and will show them just how much it costs to run a household!

3)      The work-money explanation

For your child to understand budgeting fully they’ll first need to get to grips with the idea of working to earn money in the first place. Budgeting is pretty much impossible without some form of income, so you should give them a chance to earn some money so that you can then go through budgeting with them.

Draw up a list of chores they can complete, along with the amount they can earn by doing them. They can then complete the tasks within a set timeframe to earn money. After this, sit them down and calculate how much they’ve earned and get them to write a list of what they’d like so spend their money on. Then, all you need to do is go through the calculations with them to help them to figure out how much of what they want can actually be bought and if they need to start saving any money to buy a more expensive item in the future.

How would you teach your kids about budgeting?

Janice Lincoln is a freelance writer who enjoys writing articles about financial advice for all of the family, covering topics from wageday cash loans, fiscal responsibility, all the way to organisational techniques such as spreadsheet budgeting and statistics analysing.

0 Tips on How to Get a Credit Card with Bad Credit

Bad credit means you can’t get any financial help from any financial institution like banks as almost each and every financial body considers your credit score to see if you are capable of repayment or not. A bad credit is a black mark on your credit report when you have bankruptcy, late payment, insolvency, missing payments and so on. To rebuild your credit score, credit cards can be a good way if you make monthly payments on time but if you, for whatever reason, lack the funds to make payments it will affect your credit score badly. So to make payments on time opt for short term loans known as a payday loans which don’t have any effect on your credit report.

Using credit cards for improving credit score is good option, here are some tips to get a credit card approval with bad credit and to use them effectively:

Approach your bank:

You have more of a chance to get a credit card from your bank as they know how much money goes in and out from your account every month. They may also consider you as a less risky borrower as you bank with them.

Explain your credit history:

Many credit card companies can consider your credit card request if you outline the valid reason for your bad credit; for example a medical emergency which prevented you from making payments.

Look out for credit cards that come in the mail:

That’s right that most mails that offer you credit cards provide your pre-approval but by getting pre-approval does not always mean that you will get approved but if the mail says that credit card is for bad credit or no credit you can get it.

Opt for a secured credit card:

Secured credit cards are those cards for which you have to provide some deposit as the security to the borrowed amount. You need to provide a deposit that ranges from a few hundred which is refundable at the time of closing the card. Keep a distance from the companies that ask for a deposit even before getting an approval and from those that don’t refund the deposit after sanctioning the card.

Apply for a subprime credit card:

These cards charge very high rate of interest and fees, so it will be better to pay them in full and on time every month. These cards can help you to improve your credit and you can easily get approval for them.

0 $363M for State Highway Projects

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced recently that the agency would transfer about $363 million worth of funds towards state highway projects. The funds would be used to support a wide array of highway improvements as it relates to interstate rehabilitation and reconstruction, as well as technologies. These new improvements and innovations are to elevate safety standards and reduce traffic congestion, which appears to be the biggest nuisance of roadway travel.

The Transportation agency believes this to be a worthwhile investment that will continue to make roadway travel advantageous for commuting and transporting. Beyond that, the federal agency believes this would be a great way to generate additional jobs for the public. Secretary LaHood states that “investments in transportation projects like these create jobs right away in communities across the country, and lay a foundation for future economic growth,” which is completely true. 

The unemployment rate has remained rather stagnant in recent months and the job market seems to need a bit of a jump start from the government. This announcement will better improve the transportation used by commuters and transporters, while at the same time create employment opportunities for those desperately in need.

The Federal Highway Administration has begun to invite states, cities, tribal governments and local planning committees to apply for federal funding from registered federal programs that focus on roadway projects. These programs include: Public Lands Highway, National Scenic Byways, Highways for LIFE, and many others. Here is an example of the type of projects these programs are looking to help fund: Louisiana received over $3 million to improve a major interstate, I-10, from one area to another area, as well as adding new pavement, upgrading guardrails and adding new roadway striping to the route. The funds have allowed this interstate to continue being a major truck corridor, as well as being a more efficient hurricane evacuation route.

The biggest thing that should be taken away from this article is the fact that the trucking community has directly allowed for this transfer of funds to occur. Because of the various truck taxes, which include the heavy vehicle use tax normally filed with tax form 2290, federal agencies, like the US Transportation, are able to generate enough money to finance a vast variety of programs that are to benefit roadways, improve safety conditions, and ease the stress of a cross country voyage for long haul truckers. Without heavy vehicle use tax payment compliance by heavy vehicle operators, federal agencies would simply not have the resources or funds to make such opportunities available. The heavy vehicle use tax is the primary financier of many major transportation programs.