The Financial Advice Your Parents Gave You is… Outdated.
The Financial Advice Your Parents Gave You is… Outdated. Here’s What to Do Instead
by Mike Brassfield Senior Writer
Pound the pavement. Just go and deliver your resume in person. Get out there and shake some hands, why don’t ya! We’ve all heard these financial pearls of wisdom from our parents (and not always because we asked). Despite their best intentions, a lot of these tips from our elders are, well… outdated. To say the least.
Here are six pieces of advice from our parents that simply don’t apply to us anymore — and some smarter options.
1. Work Your Way Through College
Working your way through college used to be an option — back when tuition cost a reasonable amount. That was a long time ago, though. Most colleges’ tuitions have easily doubled or tripled since the 1980s and ’90s. Working a job while you attend college can help pay the bills, but it won’t pay for college. That’s why so many of us are saddled with student loans.
Once you graduate, refinancing could help you pay off your loans faster and save money in the long run. By combining multiple loans into one, you’ll replace your federal and private loans with a single private loan. In addition to simplifying the repayment process, refinancing can reduce your interest rate and lower your monthly payments.
2. Keep Your Money in a Savings Account
This is standard parental advice: Open a savings account. That’s the best way to save money. Yeah, OK, fine. The problem is, with interest rates so low, a savings account these days will pay you pretty much zero interest. You may as well stick some cash under your mattress. However, a debit card and digital account called Aspiration lets you earn up to 5% cash back and up to 16 times the average interest on the money in your account.
Not too shabby! You just have to get with the times and move beyond using a brick-and-mortar bank.
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