*This post is brought to you by a compensated campaign in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Wells Fargo. All thoughts and content are my own.
When I was growing up, I was taught from an early age the importance of saving money and being financially independent. In my grandmother’s house, I was encouraged to put a portion of my allowance away in my savings account every week. As a matter of fact, I can still remember when we took the trip to the bank to open the account and my grandmother kept reminding me that this was going to be where my money would be held for safekeeping from then on.
After my parents sent for me to come to the United States from Spain once they got settled in, my father continued my financial education right where my grandmother had left off. He always had a glass jar on top of his dresser and he would empty all of the change in his pockets into that jar every morning when he got home from working nights. There were many times when putting together the change in that jar paid for us to eat that evening when there was no other money to be had.
Unfortunately, I briefly forgot the lessons that I learned about being financially responsible when I started college. As early as the first day of classes, I was bombarded with credit card offers that seemed extremely appealing to someone who was trying to juggle the expenses of buying textbooks, paying tuition,and paying for transportation to and from school. It was so easy to pull those cards out to pay for everything and ease some of my financial burden. What I didn’t anticipate was how I would pay all those cards back when interest rates added charges and inflated the payments that were due.
After struggling through defaulting on many of these credit cards and putting blemishes on my credit rating, I learned the hard lesson that one has to be very responsible when it comes to managing finances and guarding good credit. Now that I am a mother, I am very open with my own sons about my previous credit struggles so that they don’t make the same mistakes that I did when they are faced with the prospect of having credit cards. I’ve worked very hard to repair my credit over the years and now enjoy many benefits that are tied to having a solid credit rating.
Here are some credit tips for teaching your kids how to maintain good credit from Wells Fargo:
- Check your credit report annually-Make sure your credit report has current and accurate information.
- Pay your bills on time-Use online tools to create an automatic payment schedule.
- Set up alerts-Setting up alerts helps you to pay bills on time.
- Pay more than the minimum-Pay more than what’s due monthly on your credit card.
- Think before closing accounts-Closing credit card accounts may hurt your credit score in the short-term.
- Establish and maintain healthy credit!
Wells Fargo understands the importance of making financial education and in-language resources available to Latino consumers. They provide customers with bilingual online tools, Spanish Text Banking, Spanish account statements, Spanish-language call centers, Spanish-speaking bankers in stores across the nation, and more. It’s much easier to make responsible financial decisions when you are able to evaluate the information in your native language.
Wells Fargo recently collaborated with Telemundo for the “Conversemos de Tus Finanzas” campaign in order to demonstrate their commitment to arming the Hispanic community with the tools and resources to make sound financial choices. Wells Fargo supports Latinos in managing their money and their credit by empowering them to enhance their financial knowledge and helping them to reach their financial goals. For additional tools and resources, please visit the Wells Fargo Website.
Let’s Discuss: What are some of the ways that you are teaching your own children how to be financially independent?
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by a compensated campaign in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Wells Fargo. All thoughts and content are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
© 2014, Tough Cookie Mommy. All rights reserved.
We have these types of talks regularly with the girls. I was fortunate to have a great teacher in high school that drilled into our heads the importance of maintaining good credit.
These are some great points. It’s so important to speak to our children about financial accountability.
I teach my children about financial responsibility by having them make the decisions of where to use it or whether to save when they receive funds for birthday or holidays. We have accounts set up for them and for the most part they have been good about putting the gifts in their accounts.
We are finally above the poverty line in regards to income you know your making it when a family of 6 get’s only 7 dollars in food stamps our income get’s so close to the cut off and the back again that’s what happens when you work in retail it’s life and not everyone is able to have good credit to model. However it is important in finding a good place to live we got lucky and found a market value apartment in a price we could afford in a nice area however one of our major goals is being able to get back on good credit will take us a few years with medical bills and student loans. I’m sure by the time my 7 year old will need our credit for anything we would have cleaned up enough of our credit where it wouldn’t effect her. It takes one payment at a time but were starting.
Financial responsibility leads to a stress free life. Eventually financial freedom if cards are played right. So important to teach kids about saving and spending
These are all great tips. I too wasn’t as diligent with my own finances when I was younger. I have since worked very hard to improve my rating and would very much like to keep it that way. Thanks for the info.
Great tips. It is so much better if you can control your finances. Starting early is best.
I know all too well how easy it is to slip into bad credit! I am currently rebuilding my score after my college years.
We work really hard to keep a good credit rating and take control of our finances. It’s definitely a challenge.
What a great post with lots of tips.. We work hard for our god credit and I try to share as much as I can with my kids.. they are teenagers and so far Mom & Dad of course don’t know a thing I still hope that they will listen quietly at least how important credit will be. Thanks for sharing
I am very open with my son about money and finance. And aside from what we try to teach him they also had a financial literacy course that was mandatory in high school.
I agree that leading my example is the best way to teach kids. We try to be good role models for our little one.
This is so great. I have struggled a long time with credit issues. Teaching my kids better is important to me.
I so agree that you need to teach children while they are young so that they won’t fall into the credit trap. I wish someone had told me.
I am sorry you went through those struggles. It is important to teach our kids and be open about money. I opened a saving account for them at an early age and contribute to it each month. I make sure to bring them with me to the bank.
Credit issues are so horrible, it’s great to make sure at a young age that they don’t fall into problems themselves!
I also struggled with credit issues. I now save receipts and write down every single thing I spend everyday to keep track. It’s hard to always be on top of things and keep control over it but as parents we have an even bigger responsibility to keep good credit rating and not going overboard.
We have a Wall Street Journal newspaper subscription and we have the kids help us track stock. When they’re old enough we let them help choose a stock and watch it. It’s fun for everyone and teaches them how easily money can fluctuate.
Those are really all great tips. I did the same thing in college. There were people on the college lawn offering us credit cards and I signed up for all I could get and thus defaulted on almost every one of them. It took me a long time to get my credit back on track but I talk to my daughter who is now in college herself to be careful.
right now we are just trying to teach our daughter that things aren’t free and the value of a dollar.
My son is starting to understand the concept of money.. we have to pay for things at the store, some items are a lot of money, like a car or house and some items are not as much – shoes, DVD’s. And.. we cannot buy things we do not have enough money for even if we do not have to pay for it right away (credit card)..