Anybody out here in Subie Land have experience with sending their teenager on a school tour? My teenage daughter is leaving this Friday for San Francisco with her orchestra class, and I'm wondering what the best way is to send her off with spending $? Would you suggest I just send her with cash? Is there really any other way? Sure, she's a responsible teenager, (LOL), but losing all of her cash in SF would suck. I thought about doing like some cash, and maybe a prepaid Visa card, but at the same time, if she loses the card, or gets it stolen, she's SOL. Just looking for input/feedback/experience/etc. Thanks!
Well I have not sent a child off to this being I have none. However in the cases of traveling in general I like to take around $100 in cash with me (maybe more if I know most places don't take a card). Then I used my debit card for what ever else is left. That said if she does not have a debit card I would do prepaid visa card for the remainder of what ever money you want to send with her. I believe that they have insurance options for the cards if they are stolen/lost. Another thing you could consider (not sure of any kind of age stipulations or anything) is one of the prepaid credit cards. Helps build credit early for her. Sooner you can get her started on being financially responsible and building credit the better off she will be. Credit is becoming so huge in today's world its hard to get anywhere without it. My wife for example her parents ran everything through their names exclusively (ie her car she was paying all the payments on and so forth) so she got really screwed on the credit end so when it came time to doing anything jointly we struggled for a few years running anything through her because she had no credit history and that ended up with most things being in my name or at best case jointly and that loaded up my credit and took some financing wizardry when it came time to get qualified to buy our house together (my 2nd house) Sorry this got kinda long hope you find something that works out for her and you!
I like the cash and prepaid card idea. Send her with a couple of prepaid cards (split the amount up), lose one, still has one or more and to keep them separate. apple pay?
Nope, not long at all. I appreciate the feedback. Once she gets a job, which is hopefully this summer, I'm getting her a credit card, and together, we'll be making small purchases, and paying it off every month. My parents never did that for me, and taught me zero financial responsibility. I had to find out on my own that just because there's checks in the checkbook, doesn't always mean there's $ to back up said check. I dug a hole at a young age, struggled with horrible credit for years, and had to dig myself out of it. Even though the entire credit/collection system is rigged against you, you need to have some sort of credit. Don't even get me started on "credit repair" companies or the Suze Ormans/Dave Ramseys of the world.
Dave Ramseys course got me out of debt and i ended up paying cash for the BRZ. Extremely useful course for someone like me who was never taught about budgets or credit. Also agree with the cash and prepaid card!
Ramsey's course (debt snowball, etc) is a good course, but is really only geared toward a very small percentage of people. I always love the "we paid off $85K worth of debt in 12 months!" testimonials.....then they reveal that they don't have kids. His course can be good, but life happens fast. Suze Orman on the other hand: I've literally watched her tell people to stop making their credit card payments. Plus she partnered with FICO to sell some scam of a monthly "credit repair" subscription. Dave Ramsey is also a believer, and has some good biblical financial teachings, so I can't be too hard on him. "Live like nobody else today, so you can live like nobody else tomorrow".
Same here. Wife got us on the plan about 3 years ago now. One more student loan payment and we're debt free minus the house. I totally agree that his plan might not work for everybody, but it's also some basic principles that just help you be smarter with money (in my opinion). I can tell you we're way better off now than we were even a few years ago because of some simple discipline.
This would be a good time to get her a credit card, stating it's for FOOD ONLY while on orchestra tour. It can be a good test for her. Then suspend the use of it until she gets a job this summer. Or just do a prepaid credit card. Also some cash and a tuckable money belt thingy. Teach her to only put a little of her cash in her purse (or whatever she carries) at a time, keeping most of it hidden in the belt. I went on numerous choir tours in high school and college. I used cash and a money belt if I was somewhere less safe than a rural town in MN. When I went to Europe, I used the belt and also brought a debit/ATM card as you get the best exchange rates through an ATM. (this was before the Euro).
I like the idea of some cash, and a prepaid card. Wells Fargo does have a nice feature where you can get $ from the ATM without a card. You have to do a 2 or 3 step verification process, and then you punch in an access code at the ATM. Worst case scenario, she could always call me, and I could get her cash that way. Also, since kids these days are never without their phones, stashing some emergency cash in their cell phone case (between the phone & case), might not be a bad idea either.
Well, she will be in San Francisco, so she may need to take drastic measures. Although I don't think the Bay Area vegans would put up much of a fight.
Just as an FYI (you may already know this), adding a child as an authorized user of one of your credit cards no longer counts towards the child's FICO credit score (changed sometime around 2010). Many of those free credit score reporting places show them and use cards that they are an authorized use on to factor in giving them their FAKO score (an estimate of the FICO score), which results in an inflated score compared to their actual score. This isn't a bad thing, as long as you are aware that those free places tend to give you an inflated score from what it actually is. So basically, being added as an authorized user doesn't help build a child's actual FICO credit score though (which will be used for future credit cards, loans, etc). Many banks offer student credit cards with no yearly fees and super high interest rates (since young students are often high risk), which isn't an issue if you pay off the balance every month. Generally also no rewards for the card either. Works to get them established and a few years in their history, and another year or two of positive history can be useful when they have to start apply for loans or mortgages. As another side note, Discover actually gives you your true FICO score free, but it's only once a month as opposed to once a week like most other free (FAKO) places. You don't even need to have a discover credit card to take advantage of this offer.
Yes, adding an authorized user to your credit card hasn't been beneficial for a few years. Some places will tell you that it is, but it really isn't. Most lenders use your median score, or beacon score. Which is primarily the middle of your 3 scores. Most mortgage lenders use a company called Credit Plus, and their process is a little more in depth, but pretty much the same. The 3 credit bureaus have their own scores, but they're usually off from your FICO by an average of 50-75 points. I get free scores monthly from Cap One, Wells Fargo, Citi, Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, GE Money Bank, and Credit.com. About a year ago I created a spreadsheet, and started documenting my monthly scores. The discrepancies between the 7 companies is pretty amazing. For a young student, a secured credit card is typically the best way to go. After a year of making your monthly payments on time, the "secured" label drops off, and it becomes an unsecured card. Also, after 6 months of paying more than the minimum on a Cap One card, you will get an automatic credit line increase. And, one of the easiest ways to raise your scores, is to contact your credit card company, and request a credit increase. Since a good portion of your score is made up of overall credit usage, and they recommend keeping your usage at or below 30%, getting a credit line increase can lower your overall usage, and give a boost. Very helpful if trying to qualify for a mortgage. Getting your true FICO score directly from FICO is a joke...something like $20.00/month. I'm gonna check out the Discover thing, and see if its relatively close to the other 7 free scores I get monthly.
Fwiw, I didn’t fully listen to Dave Ramsey. I am snowballing debt for sure and spending from a bi-weekly cash budget. But i have very good credit and was able to buy two houses in 3 years(owned them both for a while) and have kept one credit card that i pay off monthly. Use it for fuel only. Keeping my score and some credit available seems wise to me despite what Dave says. But I don’t run up unneeded debt at all anymore. Like i said, paid cash for the BRZ.
Fortunately, I grew up with a CPA father. I have a visceral reaction to spending even small amounts of money much less doing anything that could be construed as financially unwise. As such, my credit score is superb and I carry no interest-bearing debt except my house. And that's being paid down at an accelerated rate. Financial responsibility is a hard lesson for some to learn. Good for you for teaching your daughter.
I have a great credit score and only debt I have is my house and my FXT... but I spend money like a drunken sailor on food, alcohol and firearms. I think that's probably a coping mechanism as I hate my job... so there's that.
