Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Melissa

Not Every Baby Is Born Into Royalty But Yours Can Still Prosper

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Prince George, or Georgie, as he will be called, was born in July to much fanfare and anticipation. 

What does it mean to be born into the House of Windsor?   Even though he likely won’t exert his political power when he becomes king, he will still be influential.

And he will be worth a pretty penny. 

According to International Business Times, he will inherit 700 million pounds.  There’s no doubt little Prince George is already one of the wealthiest babies in the world.

Of course, not every baby is born into royalty, with the proverbial silver spoon.  Chances are, you probably wouldn’t want that life for your child anyway.

While you may be from modest means, you CAN help your child get a financial advantage over many of his peers by taking important steps when he or she is young.

7 Ways to Set Your Child Up Like Royalty

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Would You Continue to See Your Doctor If He Stopped Taking Insurance?

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After I graduated from grad school, I paid my teaching dues by working as an adjunct instructor at three different community colleges and working part-time at a social services office. 

The pay for all of the jobs was lousy, and I had no health insurance.

I wasn’t brave enough (or stupid enough, depending on your view), to go without health insurance completely.  I paid for a catastrophic insurance policy that was fairly low cost, but would only pay for incidents over $5,000.  I was sick a few times that year, and though I would have liked to have gone to see the doctor, I simply didn’t have the money to pay for the entire doctor’s visit myself.

Unfortunately, many others are in this same position.

The Health Insurance Crisis

When we think about the health insurance crisis, we often think about those without insurance or those who go bankrupt thanks to outrageous medical bills.

As consumers, what we often fail to see is the flip side can be just as frustrating for doctors.
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7 Ways Your Large Family Can Keep Frugal and Not Go Broke

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The average American family has 2.1 children (Hoover Institution). 

However, there are many families that exceed that number.

If you look at celebrities, there are families like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who have 6 kids, and you can’t forget the Duggars, who make headlines with their 19 children.

Of course, plenty of non-celebrity families have large families.

My son is only in 4th grade, but one of his classmates, who is the oldest in the family, already has 6 younger siblings.  Though large families aren’t as common as they were 60 years ago, they still exist.

While all of us need to stretch a buck to some extent, for those with large families, the need is even more important because there are so many mouths to feed and people to clothe and house.

However, there are plenty of ways that large families can save money.

Here Are 7 Ways A Large Family Can Be Frugal

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If Your Teen Has a Job, It’s Not Too Early to Think About Retirement

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Generally, retirement is something that middle aged individuals are concerned with, not teens.  

Teens may feel like they have all the time in the world, while their parents hear the ticking countdown to retirement.

Parents can no longer change the fact that they probably didn’t contribute to their retirement at a young age, but they can help their children learn about retirement planning and contributing earlier rather than later.

This discussion can start with the teen’s first job.

There are Two Primary Ways Teens May Be Able to Start a Retirement Account:

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Do You Really Need the Best of the Best for Your Home?

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Channels like HGTV have spawned our interest in housing and all things interior and exterior design. 

A house isn’t nice enough if it doesn’t have granite countertops and a gourmet kitchen.  No longer is the master bedroom simply bigger than the other bedrooms in the home.  Instead, we want an en suite complete with a large bathroom (his and her sinks are a must), walk in closets with built in shelves and a sitting area.  The bathroom must have a Jacuzzi hot tub.

Really?

When did this become the norm?

Of course it’s nice to live in lavish surroundings, but if you have trouble making ends meet or have debt to pay off, do you really need all of this?

Houses 60 Years Ago Were Very Different

The simple truth is that 50 or 60 years ago, houses were much simpler.
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