Economy Boost Attributed To Secret Weapon: Grandparents

Last year America's 70 million grandparents spent $52 billion dollars on their grand kids according to Grandparents.com . That's a lot of spending power in the middle of a recession. But for them birthdays and Christmas are not the only time of year they give to the little tykes. Grandparents also contribute $17 billion dollars to the grandchildren's education. This includes payments for private school tuition, after school programs, college savings plans, textbooks and supplies. They also spend $10 billion on clothing for the kiddies and $6 billion or more on toys.

Today's grandparents are avoiding the silly plastic trinkets and useless electronic gadgets for more long term meaningful things like education. Even though hit by a hard economy and ever rising prices it's a rare grandparent that doesn't sacrifice for their little ones. They are there to also help teach the little ones valuable life lessons as they grow. You will hear grandparents say the way to a happy life is not the latest toy, but education and a good job, it is necessary for a bright future.

The growing trend nowadays is that the grandparents are in better financial shape than their children. This allows them to pick up the slack when it comes to the needs of the grandchildren. Grandparents who are retired or near retiring are able with their extra time or financial resources to help more. The parents may have no money available or are suffering from a job loss and need the help. Thank goodness for the grandparents help.

It's a fact that the generation of the parents will not be as prosperous as the generation of the grandparents. The parents are being called the sandwich generation. They are in the middle of parents who are enjoying extended life spans and children growing up in an ever expensive lifestyle.

If you were able to have your grandparents in your life as you were growing up you were lucky. In my case, my 2 grandfathers were alive to see me marry. Except for my Father, they have been the most influential men in my life. They were frugal before frugal was something new. They taught me about life and family. The made my life richer. I hope I can be half as good as they were. Again, thank goodness for grandparents.


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• Best Investments for the Grandkids (brighthub.com)
• Cash-strapped parents saving £1,650 a year as grandparents help out with childcare (dailymail.co.uk)
• Cost of being a grandparent is £50,352 (telegraph.co.uk)
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How To Go To Medical School For Free

Many government agencies, universities and charities are putting up the money to give free or nearly free medical school educations.

What does it cost to go to medical school? At a home state's medical school your likely to pay as much as $150,000. At a private school the price is double. But when you graduate and finish your residency you will be enjoying a 6 figure salary or more.

Before applying for admission and college funding, check the fine print to see what the school requires as service for the free education. Military scholarships, for example, require students to put 2 years of service for every year of scholarship.

The University of Central Florida is offering completely free medical educations to all 40 members of the class of 2013.

Vanderbilt is giving a few complete scholarships for a few top-notch students here.

Washington University is giving complete scholarships for a few students here.

The military, if your officer material, will pay your tuition and living expenses through 4 years of medical school. No matter if your in the Army, Navy, or Air Force. You will have to serve one year for every year of school.

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The National Health Care Service will pay tuition and living expenses for those training to become primary-care physicians. Recipients will be assigned to needy areas and must work at least one year for every year of a scholarship. They'll also need to be good and lucky: The NHS gets seven times more applications than it has scholarships.

The National Institutes of Health will pay tuition and a living stipend for those interested in spending the eight years in school necessary to receive an M.D. and a research Ph.D. through programs like its Medical Scientist Training Program. These scholarships are designed to help those who want to become research scientists, not Beverly Hills plastic surgeons.

Some scholarships cover only tuition, leaving medical students to pay for their living expenses, which can easily run more than $2,000 a month. Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University will offer free tuition to all future medical students. The Cleveland Clinic focuses on training researchers and academics. You'll need to have good grades, scores, and luck. Last year, before the new scholarship program was announced, the Cleveland Clinic received 1,423 applications for its 32 slots. It'll probably be even more competitive this year.

The Mayo Clinic promises every admitted medical student a scholarship of at least $25,000. That means students in the fall of 2011 will be charged no more than $4,200. And many will get other scholarships to cover that.

The National Health Service Corps will repay $60,000 in education debt for two years of service in needy areas. It will repay up to $179,000 for 5 years of service.


Another great money saving tip is to look into courses online for a variety of fields.

Related articles

• Medical Grad School Grants? (ask.metafilter.com)
• Full Tuition Scholarships for International Students (brighthub.com)
• Making the decision to go to medical school (kevinmd.com)
• 3 Steps Adults Returning to College Must Take (usnews.com)
• Man. offers deal to medical students (cbc.ca)
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Merry Christmas

Image via WikipediaHaving a great day at home with the family.


Don't forget to get the free book "The Four-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferris. Tomorrow is the last day. Link.

My Christmas Eve Round-Up

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It's been almost 6 months since I started this blog In July 2010. I have learned a lot in that time. I have made some friends along the way. My fellow bloggers have been open and kind to me. I am grateful to all those that have stopped by and to those that have been coming back. The motivation that keeps me writing everyday is that I hope to make a difference. If I can educate and inform, I have succeeded.

The best part of personal finance is the personal part. The interaction between people and friendships formed. The rest is just a monopoly game that you are either ahead or behind in. I am looking forward to the new year and the many more posts I need to get out.

The following are a round-up of my favorite posts I have written. Merry Christmas to all.

There is still time to get the PDF book "The Four-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferriss.

Here is a post telling of the The Greatest Gift You Can Receive Is Friendship

A more personal family story of what Grandma Would teach me "Grandma's Lessons Are Still True".

On YouTube you can watch a lot of good financial information. I came up with a few channels to get you started. "7 YouTube Channels That Teach You How To Handle Money"

Our national debt is insanely high. I list who we owe the money to. "15 Top Owners Of Government Debt"

A personal favorite about a good habit to have. "Why Read Books"

Manners are great but "Do You Have Financial Etiquette?"

The lesson of big government. "A Horse Named Government"

 An old but true lesson. "Kids Need To Work".

There are still other post that may interest you so have a look around. To all a safe and Merry Christmas.

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The Book "The Four Hour Workweek" Free Copy

My Money Blog has a post on how you can get a Free PDF of The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. Go over to the site and you will see a download link. It looks like this is a promotion for his new book thats coming out soon.

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Divorced Families Cause Problems For College Students

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The costs of putting your children through college are on the rise. Finding the money and saving it is hard enough. But when divorce enters the equation, college money suffers.

According to researchers from Rice University and the University of Wisconsin divorced parents contribute about a third of what married parents contribute to their children's education. Remarried parents contribute about half of what married parents contributed, though their incomes are similar to those parents that have stayed married.  

This is a shift of the burden from parents to other sources of money. Namely the student will be responsible for the money through borrowing or working much more.

Normally, married parents of students on average have contributed 8 percent of their income and have met 77 percent of the financial burden. Divorced parents contribute 6 percent of their income and only can pay 42 percent of the total college bill. When divorced parents enter into another marriage, they only can contribute 5 percent of their income and manage only 53 percent of the funds needed to go to college.

This makes sense because much of the family assets are used up in the divorce proceedings through lawyers and necessary expenses. Loss of income and money channeled  to support two separated residences, instead of the original one before divorce, causes money to be wasted. 

Another problem arises in divorced households is the FASFA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) application that must filled out each year for financial assistance and grants. in a non-divorced home the FASFA is hard enough to deal with. In a divorced home the FASFA is much more complicated. Normally the household income is entered on the form, among other things, but the income of a spouse who remarried is supposed to be included. The step-father or step-mothers income must be included on the form. This may send the total household income through the roof resulting in no money for the student. Is it right to penalize the student because the parent has remarried. Isn't it right, that the students financial aid be arrived, at by just the biological parents. If a parent remarries why does the new step parents income have to be included. It should just be the biological parents income to determine financial assistance.

Even if one parent is dead, the FASFA does not take that into consideration. While the new step-parent may have children of their own, they to are penalized in this process because the new spouse's income must be included on the FASFA form. 

The results of divorced parents on their child are that the student has to pick up the slack of the lack of college money. They must work extra and save more. Applying for scholarships and grants are a way to help get the student through college and graduate. There are jobs that pay for college as you work. You need to get creative.

However you look at it, divorce takes it's toll on the children in ways we never have thought of.

Related articles

• Bucks: The Financial Impact of Divorce on College Students (bucks.blogs.nytimes.com)
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