What I Recommend

Here are some of my favorite posts, tools and books out there to help save your kid from financial disaster. Got a financial resource that you’d love to share with the world? Send me a message and I might just add it to the list!

General Money Management

Mint

I’m obsessed with Mint.com. While there are other competing companies out there, Mint was the first of it’s kind will always have a special place in my financial heart. My Mint alerts have alerted me to some crazy overdraft charges (which I disputed and won) and helped me build a plan to tackle my student loans.

It’s also the easiest way to keep a budget without lifting a finger. If you squirm thinking about managing your own budget, that’s what Mint is for – like a team of personal financial robots reminding you that you’ve already gone over your Starbucks budget for the month. And who doesn’t love robots?

Oh, and did I mention it’s free?

Tuition.io

Tuition.io is like the Mint.com just for student loans – it’s a website dedicated to helping you manage your student debt by tracking your debt in real-time and providing you with repayment analysis and plans to fit your situation. You can load all of your student loans into one dashboard and get instant feedback on the repayment options you may qualify for. I also highly recommend the Tuition.io blog, chocked full of useful information and detailed posts about repayment options.

PlanWise

As you can tell, I love Mint.com for budgeting. But if you’re weirded out about syncing up your bank accounts to a third-party website, I highly recommend you try PlanWise. It’s simple, it’s easy to use, and unlike Mint, it does a great job of helping you understand how future spending will impact your financial goals. And yup, it’s free Check out the Empowered Dollar PlanWise tool.

Get the free report: Recession Proof Your Kid

Times are changing. So how do you prepare your kid for anything? I’ve put together this guide: Recession Proof Your Kid: How to Prepare Your Kid for the New Economy (and Why a College Degree Isn’t Enough). In this free eBook, you’ll learn about the myth of a college degree and the 4 essential skills of a recession-proof college grad. You’ll also get access to the Empowered Dollar newsletter. No spam, ever, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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Books on Paying for College

Debt Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents Bold statement, but not impossible. The author is Zac Bissonette, a 22-years-old (at the time of writing this book) with the insight of a wizened CPA. A must-read for the pre-college crowd.

Books for Twenty-somethings and Young Adults

Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want – I wish I had this book when I graduated… This is the perfect gift for your recent-grad that 1) hasn’t landed the job of her dreams, 2) doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, or 3) all of the above.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich – If I could point to one book that has changed my life (financially and otherwise), it would be Ramit Sethi’s hard-hitting, super strategic guide to finances and getting the most out of your money. This is a $14 book that has paid for itself a thousand times over and helped me stop worrying about money.