By Justin Lim
With women having children later in life, many parents are reaching retirement at the same time their children are starting university, making saving for both significantly more difficult than it was a generation ago, according to research by Putnam Investments.
The study, ‘College or retirement? How to balance two of life’s biggest savings goals’, found the difficulties of saving for retirement while at the same time contributing to education costs has been exacerbated by the rising cost of education.
Putnam Investments head of retail Peter Walsh said while the study originated in the US, there was clear evidence that Australians were having to deal with the same issue.
“It’s common for parents in the US to have a ‘college fund savings account’ to pay for their children’s college education, and Australian parents are increasingly offering the same secondary and tertiary education support for their children as the cost of education rises dramatically.”
According to Walsh, older parents may not be able to support their children’s education without having a detrimental effect on their own retirement lifestyle.
“More and more Australian parents plan to support their children through university, including paying for fees and covering living costs, and financial advisers are likely to get questions from their clients about putting funds aside to help with this,” he said.
The US study showed that while students are taking on more debt, parents were also doing their part, often by drawing down their home equity and retirement accounts.
“To ensure they don’t jeopardise their own future, parents must actively decide how to split their available resources and stick to a plan that meets both goals part way,” Walsh said.
Source: moneymanagement.com
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Saving for retirement or education?
Managing Your Debts for Better Living
Debts are a common thing. Many people acquire a loan for something important. Mortgage loans are also ordinary, as they enable people to be able to purchase their dream houses.
If you have debts and are looking for the best solution for it, here are good tips to follow so you can manage that debt and continue living life as you do.
1. Assess your debts.
Check all the billing statements sent to you and the amount your creditor is asking in payments. If you see any conflicts or wrong entries, dispute them accordingly. You then make a substantial computation, including interests and other charges.
2. Make a plan.
Decide as to how long you intend to pay your debts. If you can do it in a year or earlier than that, you can choose that scheme because the scheduled interest to pay is relatively lower. But you’ve got to consider your everyday living expenses as well. It wouldn’t be good to pay your debts alone and leave nothing for your personal needs.
3. Budget accordingly.
Now that you have arrived at your total debt amount, you now have to budget your expenditures. Determine the exact amount you have to pay monthly, in accordance to the span of time you are supposed to have paid the entire debt. Then make the loan repayment amount the first priority in your budget.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Earn extra money: Become a translator
If you have language skill, you can benefit from that and earn extra money. Usually there's a sworn translator, it's an official one and required for legal documents. Or you can be the "unofficial one", for example: translating handbook for college students or translating novels, etc. Even you can translate movies.
Here in my city, Jakarta, we can go to language course based on which language you want to study. If you want to study English, you can go to British Council. If you want to study Germany, you can go to Goethe Institute, or if you want to study Hindi or maybe to get Hindi translation, you can go to Mahatma Gandhi Center.
Maybe for English, Germany, or French, they are common language in the world. But what if the market needs language translation from the not common languages? Yes, you can consider that to brand your position as a translator. If you can speak Arabic, you can give Arabic translation for Islamic books. Or, as Hindi movies are played in some of Indonesian television channels, you can give Hindi translation as the service to TV stations.
And as translator, you can do the job from your home. The materials can be sent through fax or e-mail. A friend of mine can earn at least $500 for every movie she translates.
