Finances

When I was young, my mother would loan me a few dollars here and there to buy a toy. It was agreed that I would pay her back when I raided my piggy bank upon arriving home. I always thought she was simply being nice by loaning me the money; I never realized that she was also teaching me a valuable lesson about the world of finance.

Now, looking back, I know that the simple introduction to lending became invaluable as I entered the adult world of personal finance. I learned from my mother's teaching tactic that money loaned is always expected to be paid back.

Hey, MomVesting readers! Here's a step-by-step article about building credit, laid out in easy terms for all the young people we love. Feel free to share with the young adults in your lives!

When first starting out in building your financial path, you may be confused by the many details that go into personal finances. Checking accounts, credit cards, debits, loans, credit scores – eek! It may seem overwhelming. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be. Let's take a look at one of the major parts of your financial life: your credit score.

Explaining the Credit Score

We're all trying to pay off debt. It's often a part of life that we cannot avoid. But is it so terrible to have debt? Should we avoid all loans and credit cards? Should we pay cash for everything, even those huge purchases that could take ten or twenty years to save for? Not necessarily. Let's take a look at the positives and negatives behind our debts.

The Negatives of Debt

I grew up poor. No cable television. No home internet. No new (or even late model) cars. No dishwasher. No pets. My mom raised us simply, and quite honestly, we never wanted much.

Over the years, though, I have become accustomed to certain privileges. I now cannot live without my internet. I love my late model Ford. I like cable TV, and the dishwasher is a must in my home. My pets are now a huge joy in my life that I couldn't live without.

I am a victim of lifestyle creep.

How Lifestyle Creep Occurs

Continuing our series on single parenting, we come to the fact that finances can be rough. Really rough. Okay, they can be downright mean and dirty. Especially when you're getting back on your feet, caring for children on your own and unable to afford some of the basics in life, let alone the luxuries.

Sometimes cash flow can seem like an ugly, greedy little monster that sucks the very life out of you. I mean, you might feel like you never have enough to get by. You could live paycheck to paycheck, every month waiting for the new deposit simply so that you can feed your family. Or perhaps you live comfortably but feel there's never enough to enjoy life. Whatever your case, feeling like money is evil is actually quite common. But it doesn't have to be money versus life; there are ways to feel more at peace with the money that exists within your life. Let's look at some ways.

Last time we covered single parenting and finances, we took a look at how to get on stable ground, which included information about applying for government assistance. Now that we're on solid ground, it's time to work at getting ahead and breaking the poverty line. One of the very best ways to accomplish this is to become educated. Let's take a look at education as the springboard to your financial future.

Why Attend School?

When my mother was thrown into the single parent pool, she was grossly unprepared. Only 24-years old and presented with supporting three kids under five-years old, she was overwhelmed. Not only was her divorce situation heart-breaking, but the thought of taking care of three kids with a part-time minimum wage job was unimaginable. What could she possibly do?

Sure, I've done it. I think everyone has. It's a dirty little secret that we often don't discuss in polite company. Yes, I'm talking about rolling credit card balances. It's dirty. It's frowned upon. It's a financial no-no. But does it have to be so cut and dried? No. Not really. Let's look at when rolling credit cards can be positive...and when it can be negative.

Rolling Cards: The Positives

Here at MomVesting, we're beginning a new series that focuses on the struggles single parents face in the financial realm. We plan to tackle topics like how to get back on your feet, how to invest time into your kids when time is tight, and how to get ahead in life despite all odds, among many other topics.

These topics may seem like a leap coming from a married work-at-home-momma-to-be, so I wanted to introduce the series by sharing my own experiences as a part of the single mom phenomenon. So here it goes: the intro and my story!

Growing Up in a Single Mom Household