Giving your teenager a credit card may seem like a scary proposition, but it could be the safest way to teach them about credit. Credit expert John Ulzheimer says it's just like teaching your teenager how to operate a car, but in a controlled environment. “Nobody would just let a teen hop in a car and drive,” says Ulzheimer, who formerly worked with Equifax and FICO. “And nobody should just let their kid get a card on their own someday without some teaching by the parents.”
Written by: Matthew Phillips | The last words of the email stood out the most. “… the thing is … we are deaf.” This is how the prospective client closed her message to me in 2017.
When I agreed to meet with the woman and her husband, I was feeling uncertain about how to best communicate with them. To prepare, I added captions to my usual video presentation. But halfway through, I realized the couple was completely overwhelmed with the financial vocabulary I was using, which was entirely new to them. Improvising, I pulled up a blank Word document and started typing which allowed us to converse back and forth. I felt completely inadequate and regretted not preparing more, but did my best to connect with the couple.
To my surprise, the meeting concluded with the wife rejecting my handshake and instead grabbing onto me tightly as she began to cry. “Matthew, thank you for what you have done,” she said. “We have sat with five advisors, and none have come close to helping us like you have. I know we have missed out on financial opportunities because we are deaf.”
...
Thanksgiving – with its juicy turkey, rich side dishes (scalloped potatoes, anyone?), and an array of desserts—isn’t the most health-conscious holiday. But neither is the day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday is one of the biggest consumer holidays of the year, with hoards of people lining up in the middle of the night to score deals on everything from clothes to cell phones to TVs. A spending frenzy won’t have the same immediate impact on your body as multiple slices of pumpkin pie. But, there’s no denying the strong link between financial and physical health. Here, we explore how your finances affect your health and how you can get a better handle on your money—and health—in the process.
...
