Fun with coaching...

[sabrinamari]

I had so much fun last night. Our friends T and D came over for fondue (of course), chilled shrimp and marinated grilled chicken breast.

Yum!

Then T and D started asking us about buying a house. They want to buy in the spring, but they don't know that much about it, or about finances in general. A little exploration revealed that T was interested in learning more about everything: what to do with money, how to manage it, how to learn about seemingly scary stuff like investments and retirement.

I asked if she wanted to work on it after dinner, and she said yes. So when the boys went downstairs to watch UTube videos and giggle, we stayed upstairs, learned to be financial geniuses and giggled.

We:

Found and opened a GREAT money market account for her (1$ to start, no fees, 4.90% interest, free check writing): 15 minutes

Learned about FICO scores, why they matter, and ordered 3 free credit reports and a credit score for her: 20 minutes, $5.95 for the score

Read through 1 report and disputed an old negative item online: 10 minutes

Walked through credit card companies: how to deal with them, what is Universal default, how to call and lower your interest rates and get late payment penalties waived: 10 minutes

Learned how to set up online automatic credit card payments that pay the minimum on your due date, so you are never late again: 5 minutes

Learned about weekly online micro-payments and how to use this strategy to get out of debt faster: 3 minutes

Set up a free Morningstar membership and learned about Morningstar's free classes: 10 minutes

Walked through 1 of Morningstar's free classes together: 8 minutes.

Results: 80 minutes = 400% gain in financial knowledge.

Plus lots of excited giggling!

Coaching rocks.

Comments

[glenmarshall.livejournal.com]

Great!

The key discipline with credit cards, in my opinion, is to pay them all off and keep them paid in full each month. They charge horrid interest rates. Treat them as a convenient way to avoid carrying cash, not to get credit. I only have two personal accounts: American Express and Capital One Visa. That covers everything. I always refuse special offers for new cards. When I need a loan, I get one from a bank and much better rates than credit cards. In fact, getting a debt consolidation loan from a bank to pay-off all credit cards -- and with an automatic payment schedule -- is a good idea since it can improve your credit score.

Another idea... discount brokers: I use E*Trade (www.etrade.com). It has inexpensive stock trades and access to all sorts of mutuals plus FDIC-insured checking & savings with good interest rates.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Excellent, excellent advice! I agree on all counts.

I use credit cards to accumulate travel reward points. Then I pay them off by doing weekly micro-payments online. That way I can pay them off within 20 days or less. Most credit cards these days have a 25-day cycle, not a 30-day one. So paying them off once a month means that you may well pay interest, depending on when you pay your bills.

But if you pay on them weekly, paying them off fully within the 25-day cycle, you can get away with paying no interest while you accumulate rewards.

I use Scottrade because I wanted a discount online broker with some brick-and-mortar offices in case I needed to talk to a human being. It has worked well for me: I've been able to drop off deposits fast and buy stocks during market plunges when my account's cash balance was low.

[evaelisabeth.livejournal.com]

You are amazing, when we get back to the State perhaps I can visit and you can push me kicking and screaming into fiscal responsibility ;-)

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

I would LOVE to do that.

A quickie lesson :)

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

I just posted a step-by-step set of instructions for finding and opening an online money market account. I don't know if it will help you, since you are overseas, but fell free to check it out. Sending hugs and good energy your way...

Re: A quickie lesson :)

[evaelisabeth.livejournal.com]

Will do, thank you, your website rocks by the way.

Re: A quickie lesson :)

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

[sidhne.livejournal.com]

Hi. Me, again. :o)

Will you tell me about weekly online micro-payments and share the location of the money market account?

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Yes! I am about to pack the computer to to Atlantic City for a few days, but as soon as we arrive I will pull it out and do another post that explains each one, with online links.

I love to do this stuff!

[sidhne.livejournal.com]

You are so generous with your time and efforts. I honor you!

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

I just posted a step-by-step set of instructions for finding and opening a good online money market account on my LJ. Hope this helps!

[sidhne.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I couldn't find a good MMA in my area so I opened an account at Flagstar.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! {Happy dance time}

[skyefyr.livejournal.com]

Any chance you could sit down with me and Billy and do this "course" again?

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Yes, my dear. I would love to do so. Let's figure out when we could schedule it over the next few days.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

In the meantime, I've posted a quick lesson on finding and opening a good money market account on my lj. You can start by checking it out and following the links. Sending a big hug your way...and yes, I too am now a fondue addict, and i am afraid of the consequences...

(laughing!)