Family money matters

When it comes to personal finance, the more personal the better as far as I’m concerned.

That’s why, from time to time, I like to share the experiences of parents and children who have dealt with financial issues, setbacks and successes. We can all learn from their stories.

My email has filled up again, so here are thoughts from readers who offered feedback and questions on some recent Kids & Money columns.

• On how school-sponsored debit cards could be a bad deal for students, I heard from Susa, who offered some advice.

When a student leaves school, she said, he or she needs to verify that the debit card and account have been canceled.

“When my son left one college,” she said, “he thought he had closed that account. Being a young credit card holder, he didn’t keep the paperwork verifying the account was closed. After he had left town, a new card was sent to the college address where he no longer lived.”

“Someone else used that card a couple of times in another state,” she said. “Three years later, a collections agency tracked him down at our home address and a $240 initial purchase had ballooned into about $1,200 in late payment and interest fees. Because the card company had accurate info about my son and he had no proof he had closed the account, he ended up having to pay those funds.”

Unfortunately, she added, not only did her son have to pay for something he didn’t buy, but his credit rating was downgraded — something that followed him for several years.

• On legal documents for college students, Arlene, a reader from the Chicago area, was disappointed in my recent column because it was “the same information that is posted on message boards and Facebook pages by parents that feel the need to over-manage their young adult students’ lives.

“I wish you would have let people know some of these things were available (such as HIPAA authorization and FERPA waivers) but not that they necessarily need to have them. Educating our teens so they’re prepared to manage their own lives should be the focus, not making sure that parents can continue to manage their students’ lives.”

• On the value of summer jobs, John, a reader from Pennsylvania, said his summer job at a printing company was the starting point of his 60-year career in the graphic-arts and paper industry.

“When I was a kid, my dad had two hand-operated printing presses, various ink and several cases of type in the basement. In high school I took print shop as a freshman. One spring a personnel man from a local folding carton company came by looking for some boys to do summer work. I applied, got a job and repeated the following summers.

“Sixty years-plus later I stopped working. You can never tell what a summer job will lead to,” he said.

• Then this question from a grandfather in Pennsylvania: “I have a 529 plan for my grandson, which is worth $100,000. Problem is that he is not at all interested in further education. Any suggestions?”

Don’t rush to cash in the account, which comes with tax penalties. After all, the child may change his mind as he gets older, said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher and vice president of research at SavingForCollege.com. About half of all college students are nontraditional.

Money in a 529 plan can be used for a trade school, vocational or technical school or a community college, not just a four-year degree.

Even if your grandson never attends college, you could keep the money in the account for his children as a way of leaving a legacy, said Kantrowitz. There are no time limits on using the money in a 529 plan.

A final option: Change the beneficiary to yourself and use the money to go to graduate school or for continuing education.

Keep the emails coming.

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Questions, comments, column ideas? Send an email to sbrosen1030@gmail.com.