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How the Grands Can Save the Holidays
You can help your children's families this season without hurting their feelings
The effects of the credit crisis seem to have reached as far as the North Pole. Recent surveys have found that many cash-strapped families are bracing for a blue holiday seaso ... read more
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5 Ways to Save on Your Family Vacation
Before you let the economy cancel your plans, explore these options
Does the current economic crisis have you rethinking your holiday plans? If so, you're not alone. In a recent poll of Travelocity.com users, 66 percent reported that concerns ... read more
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Are We Really Mortgaging Our Grandchildren's Future?
Will your grandchildren really have to pay the bills for the government's plans?
"I believe we have an obligation to future generations to start exercising fiscal restraint. While our national debt rapidly mounts, we continue to increase the financial burd ... read more
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Investment Advice for Uncertain Times
Will you be able to keep your financial commitments to your grandchildren?
The economy is stalling, the stock market is falling, and the price of everyday necessities is rising. Throw in the mortgage crisis, recent bank collapses, and election year u ... read more
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How to Turn Grandchildren into Philanthropists
When you get kids involved in charity, you give them a gift that lasts a lifetime
You don’t have to look far these days to find people in need of a helping hand. Earthquake survivors in China, flood-ravaged communities in Iowa, and other victims of na ... read more
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10 Things You Can Pay Grandchildren to Do
Instead of looking in the Yellow Pages, hire a grandchild
It’s no secret that grandparents like to give gifts. You regularly send your grandchildren birthday checks, slip cash into their eager hands as you hug them good-bye af ... read more
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How to Choose a 529 Plan
The plans are a great way to save for college. But which should you invest in?
If you read my recent article on 529 plans, then you already know I’m a big fan of them. You also know they’re a great way to save for those large tuition bills th ... read more
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5 Great Jobs for Grandparents
Not taken with retirement? Check out these creative ways to rejoin the workforce.
You can only attend so many lunches and play so many rounds of golf before retirement becomes tiresome. “People think retirement is the light at the end of the tunnel,&r ... read more
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Step-Family Finances
If you're remarrying, make sure your children know you're still looking out for them
Whether it’s due to divorce or death, remarrying and adding a “step” to your family is a challenge at any stage in life. The challenge isn't just emotional; ... read more
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The 411 on 529 Plans
What every grandparent needs to know about the best way to save for college
When my grandchildren, Madison and J.T., were born, my husband and I set up 529 savings plans to help fund their college educations. It's something that I recommend for all of ... read more
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The Truth About Disinheritance
When a grandchild becomes a black sheep, it may be time to tweak your will
Disinheritance. It’s a dirty word, but one that I hear on occasion from my clients. Fed up with the huge sense of financial entitlement their children and grandchildren ... read more
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Family Business II: Setting Ground Rules
Follow these three tips to prepare the next generation for the task at hand
It's inevitable. Handing down a family business involves making tough decisions — from selecting who will carry out daily operations or mediate, and how, to the way ... read more
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5 Things You Need to Know About Inheritance
One financial planner's advice on how to leave a financial gift to your grandchild
Inheriting money is a lot like winning the lottery — and not only because both involve free handouts. Nowadays, both scenarios may be just as unlikely to occur. A 2006 A ... read more
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5 Ways to Teach Kids the Value of Money
Plus: Field trips that boost their financial IQ
Some of my most enduring childhood memories involve my mother taking me to the Bank of Lincolnwood in Illinois. Even now, I can picture her giving the teller my father’s ... read more
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Managing the Bank of Grandma & Grandpa
This institution should not issue ATM cards or credit cards
One of the great joys of being a grandparent is spoiling your grandkids — with everything from an extra hour of TV, a cookie before dinner, or a trip to the toy store &l ... read more
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How to Help Your Grandchildren Start Saving
Want to involve your grandchildren in paying for college? Here's how!
Around age 5, children begin to understand how money works. It's right about then that you can start teaching them the value of saving for the future. They'll start to catch o ... read more
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What You Need to Know About Financial Aid
Financial aid is not just for less fortunate families anymore
The high cost of college has led to a revolution in financial aid. When I was a student at Northwestern University in the 1970s, I remember that the only people who applied fo ... read more
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How Grandparents Can Help Prepare Kids for College
A strong education is the key to your grandchildren's future success
Of all the things grandparents do for their grandchildren, preparing them for college is one of the most important. If you want to measure it in cold, hard cash, the U.S. Depa ... read more
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Are You in Touch With Today's College Costs?
Understanding what it costs to send your grandchild to college
When I attended Northwestern University in the 1970s, one year of tuition cost about $6,000. As a private university, Northwestern was on the expensive side, but the cost was ... read more
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Family Business I: Introducing The Grandchildren
When it's time to let go of a family venture, will the kids be ready to step in?
It's amazing what can strike up nostalgia. For Paul Karofsky, all it takes is one whiff of wallpaper paste and one scratch of sandpaper to take him back to his childhood. As a ... read more
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