.... Seeking Help.


Parent's Response: Here's how we handled it:


Our 15-year-old son knew that even if he wanted to drive, he was going to have to work to cover the increased cost of car insurance. If he wanted his own car, he would also have to pay for gas, maintenance and the additional insurance on that vehicle. Well, no big surprise - once 16 rolled along, he wanted a car.


We offered to cover half the cost. He saved his money and eventually had enough for basic transportation. Since we were concerned about safety, we contributed not only our half but also the difference between the cost of the car he had found and a vehicle we felt comfortable with.

We felt that if our son wanted a car, he was going to have to take on the financial responsibilities. You have the same opportunity with your daughters. If they're willing to work for free, that's their choice. On the other hand, if they want a car, they'll need to either get their father to pay them or find a job that pays. To me, it's all part of growing up and accepting responsibility.

Good luck. Let us know how it works out.

Liberty Financial: A college education is probably the single most important gift you can give a child. It not only can greatly contribute to a child's personal and social development but it can provide a solid foundation from which to build a successful career in the years that follow.

However, providing your child with such a gift is becoming increasingly expensive. For example, by the time your newborn son is ready for college in 17 years, the expected cost of four years of college at a public university will be approximately $73,100, compared to more than $186,300 at a four year private university. These costs assume a 6 percent college tuition inflation rate, as determined by The College Board.

But fear not, you have time on your side to accumulate the funds to help pay for that education. Here are a few tips:

Start saving early. The fuel that makes money grow is time. The sooner you start investing, the more money you can potentially accumulate. For example, if you invest $100 a month and get a 12 percent annual return, you will have $8,249 at the end of five years. But if you invest $100 a month at a 12 percent annual return for a total of 17 years, you will have $66,792.

Invest in stock mutual funds. Over the long term, stocks have proven to be among the best performing investments. Stock mutual funds also give investors additional benefits, including professional management, diversification and convenience.

Save often. Regular savings is an important discipline that should be part of your college savings strategy. Decide on an amount that you can afford each month (or quarter) that moves toward your goals, and invest the same amount each period.

Consider a custodial account. A Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) account may offer some tax advantages by allowing you to shift income to the child at a lower tax rate. Custodial accounts can be part of a gifting program used effectively in estate planning. Check with your tax advisor for details.

As far as balancing your son's college savings with you and your wife's retirement savings, you should first consider taking advantage of your employer's 401(k), 403(b) or if you're self employed a retirement account like a Keogh. Additionally, you may want to consider an individual retirement account (IRA). These retirement accounts offer two favorable advantages over taxable investment accounts: your contributions grow on a tax-deferred basis; and they may be able to reduce your current income tax bill.

While saving for both of your investment objectives may seem like a daunting task, it is possible. Your first step should be to analyze your current financial status along with your time horizon for each investment objective and tolerance for risk. By analyzing your current situation, you should be able to determine how much you can comfortably afford to put aside for college and retirement, whether it is on a monthly or quarterly basis. If all this seems too time consuming and confusing, you may want to consult with a financial adviser. Their expertise and guidance can be a tremendous help in designing and successfully implementing an investment plan that will help achieve your desired goals.

Parent's Response: One thing you could do is look into a Roth IRA. Though you pay the tax on your investments now, you can withdraw the money later for a number of things without penalty--including a college education, I believe. With other investments, you may have to pay taxes on those at the time you withdraw the.

Just my two cents!

Kids' Money: Here's how one parent approached it:


• Sit down with your child and the business section of the local paper.

• Go to the listings for the New York Stock Exchange.
• Find a stock your child is familiar with, such as Disney or McDonald's.
• Explain that stock represents a share of ownership in the company.
• Tell what each number for the stock you have selected means.
• Ask if your child has any questions.
• Suggest your child tracks the price of the stock over the next week.
• Have your child prepare a sheet of paper or poster for that purpose.
• Point out the stock tickers on CNN and CNBC.
• At the end of the week, review the price changes and see what other questions your child may have.

Kids' Money: Start by making a list of the types of things you'll need to pay for. Think about everything you want to do or will otherwise need money for. This list could include such items as:

• Gasoline
• Lodging
• Meals
• Snacks
• Souvenirs
• Gifts for friends
• Event admissions
• And so on

Once your list is complete, set a dollar amount needed for each item. Total the amounts and you have the money required. Compare this total against the money available and adjust the categories as necessary.

After you have struggled through that, managing your money can be fairly easy. Here's our suggestion:

• Get a small pocket notebook.
• Set up sections for each category of expense (one for gasoline, one for lodging and so on).
• Write the amount of money you can spend for each item.
• Each time you make a purchase, enter it in the notebook and deduct it from the amount available.

Don't forget to make sure everyone has a small amount of cash to spend on their own wants and needs. You may even want your kids to set up their own budget and notebooks to keep up with their money.


Managing your vacation money can make for a much more enjoyable time away from home and help you avoid money problems when you return.

Have a question? This is the place to ask it! Check back regularly for an answer.

Want to respond to someone else's question or problem? Write your response below! Include the question or problem title. Check back regularly for your response.

Kids' Money: Federal law allows you to work at a number of different types of jobs:


• Newspaper delivery.
• Acting.
• Non-hazardous farm work.
• Office/clerical.
• Sales.
• Retail.

• During school hours.
• Before 7 AM or after 7 PM (except for newspaper delivery).
• More than 3 hours a day.
• More than 18 hours a week.

• After 9 PM.
• More than 8 hours a day.
• More than 40 hours a week.

Before you start making plans, you need to:

• Talk this over with your parents.
• Check State laws (they vary from state to state and many times they are more restrictive than Federal laws).

Besides an outside job, you may want to consider other good steady money makers for kids:

• Baby-sitting.
• Yard work.
• Helping with parent's work

Kids' Money: Baby-sitting is probably the best money making opportunity you have. If you want to make more money, promote your service:


• Let the people you now baby-sit for know that you are looking for more baby-sitting jobs. Parents are always asking each other for the names of good baby-sitters.
• Let other parents you know or meet know that you're available to baby-sit.
• Volunteer to help at the church nursery. It's a great way to meet parents with kids and you'll feel good about your contribution.
• If your neighborhood has a directory, be sure your name is included in the list of baby-sitters.
• When you're giving people your name, it's always helpful to have a business card. Print one up on the PC. You can get blank cards at your local office supply store.

If you do well at school, you may want to do some private tutoring. Talk with the schools and teachers about opportunities that may be available. Once again, a business card may help.

If you are talented in sports, you may want to give one-on-one lessons to younger kids. Let the local recreation center or league directors of the sports you're interested in know you are available.

Kids' Money: There's lot of ways to get money. Here's a short list:


• Ask for cash gifts.
• Have a yard sale.
• Do jobs around the house for extra money.
• Do jobs for friends and neighbors.

Besides working, you may want to check with your parents and see if they will:


• Give you a clothing allowance (monthly or twice a year).
• Match the money you earn for clothes.

Kids' Money: Here's some ideas from our resident 11-year old:


• Mow lawns.
• Take care of pets when neighbors go on vacation.
• Do extra jobs around the house.
• Have a garage sale.
• Make something and sell it to your neighbors.
• Baby-sit.

Kids' Money Kid: I have the same problem, only I am 7.


Kids' Money Parent: So you're only 7 and you want to make some cash? I have some suggestions. A lot of mothers have their hands full with new babies in the summer because they have a lot to do. So I recommend asking an aunt or a neighbor you know if they need any help with chores or the baby while she does other things. Your too young to babysit, but if you feed the baby while she mends some socks or does the dishes or gets some time off, it would be a big help. Start by charging $1.00 or .50 cents an hour. You're really young so you have to prove you're reliable before you raise your rates.

Kids' Money: First of all, a rise or drop is typically indicated by the change in the total share prices of a select group of stocks (such as the Dow Jones Industrials or the Standard & Poor's 500). As such, a single stock may rise when the market drops or drop when the market rises.

Individual stocks rise or drop depending upon the number of sellers compared to the number of buyers - the old supply and demand theory. More buyers cause the price to rise. More sellers cause the price to drop. Generally, people decide to buy or sell based upon the past performance of the company or the anticipated future performance.

Looking at the overall stock market, a rise represents the cumulative optimism that results in more buyers than sellers, while a drop represents the cumulative pessimism that results in more sellers than buyers. Many people look at a rise or drop in the stock market as an indication of good or bad economic times ahead.

Liberty Financial: For long term investors, the daily fluctuations of the stock market should be no more than an interesting indication of how the market, in general, is doing.

There are various measures for how the market is doing that investors can follow. The oldest and most widely used measure of the stock market is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, also known as the Dow or DJIA. You may see this average on the news every night or in the newspapers that you read. The Dow shows the action of the 30 most actively traded blue-chip stocks on the stock market. Another indicator, and probably a better measure than the Dow, is the S&P 500. The reason this may be a better indicator for some investors is that it tracks 500 different stocks of different sizes, as opposed to the 30 blue chip stocks in the Dow.

The stock market is like a supermarket for buying and selling shares in different companies. If there are a lot of people who want to buy shares in a company, the price goes up. If there are a lot of people who want to sell shares in a company, the price of the shares will go down. So the stock market, as measured by the Dow or the S&P 500, represents the average price of that index's stocks. If the index was down, then there were probably more sellers than buyers. If the index was up there were probably more people buying stocks than were selling.

As a young investor, you should not worry about whether the stock market goes up or down. Because of your young age, you have a long time horizon for your investments - that is you don't need the money for a long period of time. As a result, your investment has more time to grow - more time than some older investors who may need their money in a year or two.

Kids' Money: There are really only two legitimate ways that come to mind...well, three if you count finding it on the ground. Besides that, your kids can suggest that cash would be appreciated from those asking about what kind of gifts to give. Some children have put together significant sums by saving cash gifts.