Education & Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Education & Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Postby winston » Thu May 08, 2008 9:41 am

Credit Cards for Kids -- Can Yours Handle One?

It's a conversation every parent dreads. Your teen has come to you and asked ... for a credit card.

What now?

If you think getting your child a credit card in high school is a way to teach financial responsibility before the onslaught of college credit-card marketing inevitably overwhelms your kid, think again.

Getting a credit card while they're under your roof isn't necessarily going to teach teens how to use cards responsibly. High school seniors who had credit cards actually did worse on the Jump$tart Coalition's personal financial literacy survey than their counterparts without credit cards.

So if you want your teen to stay debt free, the best solution may be to simply discourage him from getting a credit card.

"If a student doesn't have a credit card by the end of their freshman year in college, they're probably not going to get one," says Eric Weil, managing partner at Student Monitor.

But keeping your kid away from debt doesn't necessarily mean keeping her away from plastic. Instead of using credit cards, many students are opting to use debit cards. Between 2001 and 2008, the number of four-year college students with a debit card jumped 16 percentage points to 59%. Virtually the same number of high school seniors surveyed by the non-profit DC-based Jump$tart -- 54% -- had ATM cards.

Prepaid credit cards are another option for parents of high school students. They offer the protections of a credit card and the opportunity to build credit without the risk of debt, and holders avoid debit card-related overdraft fees. In recent years a handful of companies, including PAYjr., Allowance Card and Upside Prepaid card, started marketing cards for high school students.

The companies say they're a great learning tool for teens, who will eventually largely use plastic, rather than cash, to make payments.

"You're not going to teach your kids how to use a computer by giving them a typewriter," says PAYjr's Jessica Stroud.

But prepaid cards don't come cheap.

"Fees on them can really eat you alive," says Curtis Arnold, founder of Cardratings.com and author of FT Press' upcoming book How You Can Profit from Credit Cards: Using Credit to Improve Your Financial Life and Bottom Line. Pre-paid card fees to watch for include load fees, monthly fees, start-up fees, ATM fees and customer service fees.

Instead, Arnold got his high school junior a checking account -- on the condition that he attend a day long financial literacy course -- and plans to get him a debit card during his senior year.

This way, he says, he'll have a year with plastic "when his mom and I can kind of guide him."

Parental guidance with a debit card helped Arkansas high-school student Jessie Burrows learn to manage her finances more responsibly. After she turned 16, her parents helped her set up a checking account with a debit card so she could manage her income from her job at fast-food chain Subway.

"I thought I was so cool, I just kind of went crazy with it," said Burrows. Seven months later she had her second overdraft fee, and her folks canceled her card.

Now 18 and about to graduate high school, Burrows keeps close tabs on her debit card purchases. She has also opened two credit cards -- with a combined credit limit of $800. Though she carries a balance of about $250, she makes payments every time she gets paid, even if it's in between billing cycles.

Making mistakes while she was younger, she says, taught her how to keep up with her accounts, now that her parents "aren't going to able to bail me out as much as they did."

But some contend that debit cards aren't credit cards with training wheels.

"Parents need to be careful about debit cards. They're a wonderful tool, but they're not training for a credit card," says Jump$tart Executive Director Laura Levine.

Debit and credit cards are very different, Levine notes: Debit cards don't require you to make payments and don't charge interest.

Getting your child any kind of plastic product -- debit, credit, or pre-paid -- should be done with caution, and only if you're going to supervise your child.

"If you're going to do this, you have to be willing to commit the time" to make sure they understand how the card works, says Levine.

"If you just hand it to your kid and see what happens, it's a very bad idea."
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Re: Education / Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Postby winston » Thu May 15, 2008 10:41 am

Beat Rising College Costs With Portfolio Choices: John F. Wasik

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Soaring college costs often force you to think like a portfolio manager.

Should you load up your higher-education kitty with more stocks than bonds? What about the risk it takes to achieve your goal when you do so?

Then there's the vexing fundamental question of keeping up with the rising cost of college, which is often three times the rate of consumer inflation. If you fall behind, you may not meet your goal. Fortunately, there are some benchmarks that will help you craft a strategy.

As an investor, you need your portfolio to ``provide a long- term return that is at least as much as the college inflation rate,'' says Burton Baker, president of 1693 Analytics LLC in Williamsburg, Virginia.

``This strategy makes the most sense for those looking to fund a college education through a lump-sum strategy and helps answer the questions, `How much do I need to invest now and how much risk do I need to take on?''' Baker says.

Based on past college-fee increases from 1990 through 2007, he has calculated ``bogeys,'' or return targets that investors should try to match or beat for 50 states. He's including tuition, room and board in total expenses in this average.

For state colleges across the nation, the national average annual rate of increase over the past 17 years is 6 percent. It's 5.21 percent for the largest private schools.

Variations Among States

How much you pay, of course, depends upon which school you choose. Although private colleges have had a lower rate of increase in tuition, they can cost more than $40,000 per year.

Public institutions have been hobbled by lower contributions from state legislatures, so they have been forced to pass along more costs to students and parents.

There are significant variations in fee increases. Virginia ranks in the lowest in Burton's average expenses at 4.6 percent. At the other end is Hawaii, boosting fees at a 7.3 percent rate. This means just to keep pace with college expenses in the island state, you would need to earn at least 7.3 percent. And keep something in mind: That return is after you subtract all commissions and management fees.

How do you keep up with climbing college costs? Unless you are running your own portfolio, the best way is through a low- cost, commission-free 529 savings plan.

Most programs provide an age-based feature that will automatically allocate money within the plan to mutual funds investing in stocks or bonds. The older the child, the more bonds the manager will add -- and the stock-market risk falls.

If you choose to invest in stock funds on your own within a 529, you need to be much more selective.

The Right Fund

How much stock-market risk you take is guided by how much a state has been raising its college fees. This assumes that you have targeted a specific state when selecting a school.

Let's say you have your eye on New Jersey state colleges, where Burton has found that fees have risen 6.4 percent. That's higher than the national average, but not as much as Alaska, Alabama and Hawaii, with rates of more than 7 percent.

Burton estimates that you will need at least 40 percent of your portfolio in stocks to keep pace with New Jersey's rate of increase. In Massachusetts, you can take less market risk, since it is slightly below average at 5.57 percent.

Boiled down, the more college fees have risen, the higher percentage of stocks you will need in your portfolio. This approach translates into higher risk that is unavoidable if your goal is to at least match college inflation.

The Right Plan

While it's a sensible way to look at college investing, Burton's system is far from foolproof. What if colleges start to ease off raising expenses as the number of students falls?

On the other hand, it's more likely that colleges will be forced to pass along even more costs to students and parents. Burton's figures track a time before $110-a-barrel oil and record gasoline costs.

Is all of this number-crunching worth it? It is if you are able to put away money in investment vehicles that will eventually provide tax-free funds for college.

By saving now, costly long-term debts are avoided later. Due to collateral damage from the recent credit crisis, banks are getting much more selective in screening borrowers. Some lenders have even dropped out of the federal loan program.

Higher education still seems to be worth it in terms of greater lifetime earnings and even life expectancy. Those with a college education tend to live seven years longer than those who don't have a degree, according to a Harvard University study.

Now if Congress could only make college financing less like stressful portfolio management, that might just increase the life expectancy of anguished parents
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Re: Education / Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Postby winston » Wed May 21, 2008 8:35 am

What Teens Are Spending Their Money On
By Laura Tara Lecapra

A new survey about teenagers' spending habits provided good news for Exxon Mobil(XOM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), but bad news for Abercrombie & Fitch(ANF - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr): Gasoline has surpassed clothing as teenagers' No. 1 credit-card expense.

A poll of 712 teenagers conducted by Junior Achievement and The Allstate Foundation(ALL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) also found that a larger portion of teens are using credit cards -- 10.4% vs. 8.5% a year ago.

The findings show that the double-barreled blast of high energy costs and credit-card debt has reached teens' piggy banks. But mostly, it has further drained parental pocketbooks, since the study also found that bills are being paid by parents more often than in years past.

"Rising gas prices are impacting teens as much as they are their parents," says Jack Kosakowski, president of Junior Achievement USA. "The question is, are the teens paying off these cards, or are they passing the debt on to their parents?"

In the most recent survey, about 69% of teens said they use credit cards for gas, up from 52% a year earlier and 46% in 2006. Gasoline now tops the list of things teens are charging, above "clothes," which had led the list in previous years.

Joleen Martis is one teen whose style has been crimped by surging fuel costs. She budgets $80 per week for gas to fill up her Honda(HMC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) Pilot SUV.

"It wasn't always that way -- I used to try to shop here and there but since gas prices are high, I don't really shop as much," she says. The 17-year-old Rahway, N.J., native has a part-time job at Best Buy and spends most of her cash on fuel and food, but keeps a side-stash in case of an emergency or necessary shopping spree.

Mario Posada, a 17-year-old from Alexandria, Va., says he used to be able to fill up the tank of his family's Toyota(TM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) Camry for about $20. Now, that barely covers half the tank with a national average price of $3.79 per gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

"Usually if I had money, I'd just buy clothes or shoes," says Posada. "Now I don't have any pocket money anymore." He estimates spending about 50% to 60% of his cash on such items, down from 90% a year ago.

Junior Achievement suggests that parents discuss proper use of credit cards with their children and outline a budget that factors in the higher cost of energy. If your kids are responsible for paying their own credit-card bills, discuss interest charges so that they don't get in over their heads. (Over 30% of teens admitted they were likely to charge something they "wanted very badly," even if it took a year or more to pay off, and cost "substantially more" due to interest charges.)

The younger you discuss debt with your kids the better, because teens are more likely to acquire credit cards the older they get: Only 5% of those who are 13 or 14 report using credit cards, compared with 22% of those who are 18 or 19. As teens leave home for college and face higher costs, they're more likely to get into credit-card trouble.

That's especially the case with the slew of student card offerings from major banks like Citigroup(C - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Bank of America(BAC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and JP Morgan Chase(JPM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), and credit-card companies like Visa(V - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), MasterCard(MC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), American Express(AXP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Discover(DFS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Madeline Wise, an 18-year-old high-school senior, shares a credit-card account with her two parents. She has cut back on driving and started carpooling with friends more frequently as gas prices have risen. ("I drive till I'm practically empty," she says. "I hate seeing that $50 every time I go and refill my car.")

BankingMyWay

Madeline's card is used mostly for food and to fuel up her Volvo S60, though her parents handle the bills.

"They don't give me an allowance, but it's sort of understood that I don't buy anything ... too expensive without checking in with them first," she says. "I don't like racking up a big bill because it comes in the mail and I have to explain everything."

Madeline says the concept of interest charges is still "over my head," though the family plans to have a discussion about budgeting and the cost of debt before she heads to college in the fall.
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Re: Education / Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Postby winston » Sat May 24, 2008 8:44 am

Teaching Kids Financial Responsibility
05/23/08 - 11:08 AM EDT by Suzanne Barlyn

It's hard for children to know the value of a dollar when we live in a world of plastic.

For many children and teens, spending is no longer a treat -- it's an expectation -- which makes credit cards seem irresistible, and teens are using more of them.

A recent poll conducted by Junior Achievement and The Allstate Foundation (ALL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) found that 10.4% of teens are using plastic, vs. 8.5% a year ago.

BankingMyWay

The increase is disturbing, I think, because teens can't afford to risk financial ruination by letting their debts mount. Yet at the same time, I'm sympathetic to their plight. Even the simple act of driving around town requires more cash now than most people carry. A movie, popcorn and a tank of gas can easily require a wad of $20 bills.

Gasoline, in fact, ranked as teenagers' top credit card expense -- supplanting clothing. But a 16 year old who watches the fuel pump at the gas station suck up money at a $4-per-gallon clip, may learn an invaluable lesson about the finite nature of cash -- one that's seemed absent in recent years.

The plethora of credit cards available to consumers, however, can make it easy for young people to comprehend that they owe real money over time.

Teaching my three children, ages six to 12, that our checking account isn't a bottomless pit is an ongoing challenge. I must be in good company. Recently, during a rare trip to Toys R Us, we noticed a few children crying because they wanted something that their parents weren't buying. "This seems like a terrible place. Children cry when they come here," remarked my 12-year-old son.

I wondered: when did a toy store outing become a source of agony? This must be what happens to all of us, I suppose, when we realize that we can't afford everything that's out there. Children are just more adept at wearing their emotions on their sleeves.

It seems there's so much more to buy than when I grew up as a child in the 1970s. Sure, children were still tempted by materialism, but I don't recall pining for video games at $50 a pop -- or the latest $300 electronic gadget weighing heavily into my youthful social life. Everyone in my children's circle, it seems, has either an Apple (AAPL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) iPod, an X-Box or a Wii.

Despite my efforts to shield my kids from commercialism when we're away from home, it's hard to avoid getting marketing messages at home when watching television or using the computer.

Online shopping is a huge convenience, but it also means my children's sneakers magically appear on my doorstep. It's not obvious to them that I've just plunked down $140 on three pairs. Yes, I used a credit card, but I still must pay the bill.

Spending Responsibly

But I won't stop my efforts to raise children who will hopefully spend responsibly -- and stay out of debt. Here's what I do:

Make them wait. I ask my children to wait 24 hours if they see an item they want online. The goal is to avoid impulse spending. They often don't want it by the next day.

Pay cash. When they do want an item from the Web, I require them to sit next to me as I process the transaction, and pay me immediately with cash they have saved from allowances. The strategy demonstrates that credit cards aren't a free ride.

Avoid recreational shopping. You won't find my family in a mall or discount store unless we absolutely need to buy something that's impractical to purchase online -- such as cleaning supplies at Target(TGT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

I always announce the purpose of the trip in advance and explain that I won't be purchasing goodies that day. We don't always leave the store with happy faces, but at least we establish that shopping sprees aren't an everyday occurrence.
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Re: Education / Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Postby winston » Sat May 24, 2008 8:56 am

Money Lessons for Kids: The U.S. Mint
05/23/08 - 12:34 PM EDT by Marek Fuchs

My plan was dastardly, in a parental way: I wanted to teach my three children all about personal finance and economics by trekking them through the Philadelphia Mint.

"We don't want to go," my three children said, in an odd state of agreement. "Can we just swim in the hotel?"

Nice try. But get in the car.

My aim was not to impart a dry lesson in economic history, nor to wow the tykes with the count per day of coins that roll off the Mint's assembly lines (32 million).

I wanted to teach a lesson in the naturally surreal nature of economics, one of the three lessons that will raise a child to like and possibly excel in finance.

By complete accident, I managed to teach all three.

First, the plan for a tour of the Mint. In Lesson Number One for Children on why to be interested in finance and eventually successful: Realize that economics is not dry but, in fact, almost always surreal, which makes it exciting, notably attractive to the young and curious.

It's not a Super Mario Card, but we're talking economics here. Everything is proportional. Best of all, once you realize how surreal it is, you can start anticipating some of the strangeness, some of the breaks from routine that can make you rich.

(The Mint, by the way, was also the nation's first bank -- but with all the write-offs and bailouts these days, I didn't want to commemorate that for the young and impressionable.)

Tapping into the surreal aspects of finance produces an interested child. No surrealism, no interest. Not that there are passbooks savings accounts anymore, but when parents introduced preteens to the wonderful world of finance a generation ago, they would do it by opening them a passbook savings account, which usually came complete with a tennis racket that would instantly break.

Perhaps the broken racket was a fitting metaphor for things to come, from the savings and loans crisis to today's subprime slime. But, for the kid of that day, it was quite a snooze. No twist, no turn.

Then, we ran smack into Lesson Number Two. We got a call from the boarder of our dog (my mom) that the furry contortionist had escaped.

Lesson Two, as anyone from a conservative financial planner to an aggressive derivative trader can tell you, is that you operate in a counterintuitive field. Anticipate the unexpected.

In finance as in life, circumstances never loiter. Be prepared for a lurch.

We had to adjust, returning home immediately with the intent of finding the dog in the woods before the dog found the highway.

Which brings us to the search, Lesson Number Three (always go against the grain).

There was a small crowd of neighbors and friends searching for the dog when we arrived. As with any crowd, it was misshapen. Most were in the south side of the woods, where the dog was seen last.

I told the kids that like any good contrarian, we had to go where others weren't. The dog, skittish by nature, had probably been scared by the band of searchers and retreated. In finance, as in life, those skeptical about where the crowd stands are those who come out on top.

Sure enough, within fifteen minutes we found the hungry, skittish, bramble-coated dog.

It was quite a day. Dog saved. The three important lessons of finance learned. Passbook rest in peace. These kids are poised for success.

"Can we still swim in the hotel?" they said.
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Re: Education / Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Postby millionairemind » Mon May 26, 2008 3:00 pm

Anybody keen to tell me how you have educated your kids regarding financial literacy?? I am keen to learn...

As for me, so far, I have started my son on his "coin box". He gets a small allowance from me.. around $1.. every couple of days. I told him he can save and use the money to buy toys he likes... once in a blue moon.. on a co-share basis with me.

He can use the money to buy powercard to play in Timezone... occasionally.

He can also use the money to donate to charity.. like last night's charity fund raising for the Chinese Earthquake victims.. he gave me money out of his coin box after he made the call.

We intend to stop his allowance gradually by the time he is 10yrs old and I will be teaching him how to trade for a living (or rather allowance) by starting him off with 10K...and no more pocket money.

The reason is because having lived in both India and China... I realized that young Singaporeans will find it ever increasing difficult to find a niche in the world... Can the young outwork the Chinese or outtalked the Indians??
:mrgreen:

Trading itself is a very difficult professon where 95% of the ppe. fail (statistics)... I hope I can train him enough so that he will not need a job when he grows up... of course, he can choose to work or start a business.. but it is more of option.. as I believe one is only as free as one's options.

Let me hear your tots and learn from them..

Thanks,
mm
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Re: Education / Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Postby pepper » Mon May 26, 2008 5:17 pm

i do not have any children so i can't give u any personal advice. But i have learnt from other "experts" in finance advising (in the american context) that u shd give according to the age of the child. Say, if the kid is 5 then give them $5 for each wk, if 10 yrs old then $10 per wk, so on and so forth. You must give them a budget and let them manage it themselves. Once they receive their weekly allowance, they shd first take out 10% of it for donation to charity/church, and another percentage say abt 10% (can't remember the exact recommended % for this) to save, then they can only spend the balance ie 80% on anything they like/wish. If they need more money to buy something they like, but they do not have enough money for it, then if the kid is fairly grown up, asked him/her to do/help out on some household chores and then give them some money for it -- personally i m not sure abt this cos if u have to "pay" a kid to help w. the household chores then r we giving them the wrong idea, that they don't have to help out on the household chores but get paid to do it. I think since they stay in the house they shd help without being paid. If u pay them for things like these, then in future they will ask for money from you everytime u requests them to do something.

I am curious what do u guys think about my above comment. I also have a question: Do u give money to yr kids to do well in their exams?? I was not aware of it when i was young but now i have learnt that a lot of people take education for granted. Many parents in some countries cant even afford to let their kids go to school cos they need them to help in the farm or land. Kids here shd be taught to be grateful that they get plenty of education here and understand that it is a priviledge. They shd also be aware that when they do well in school, they are doing it for themselves (not for the parents).

Pls be aware that i am not claiming to be an expert or a top notch parent here and go around giving parental advice (cos i don't have kids), the above view is strictly from the observation i have made from my siblings/nephews/nieces. It is strictly my personal opinion but i am interested to hear yr views too.
Last edited by pepper on Tue May 27, 2008 5:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Education / Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Postby Apong » Mon May 26, 2008 5:43 pm

...We intend to stop his allowance gradually by the time he is 10yrs old and I will be teaching him how to trade for a living (or rather allowance) by starting him off with 10K...and no more pocket money.


wow, MM, you are serious ?

For me, I ask my son to contribute his saving (he is in P3, sometimes saves some pocket money) to my "fund" which pays 10% p.a. risk-free. So I start him off with the concept of "power of compounding".

Yesterday, I also told him "I have Popular stocks, which pay dividends every year, and I am using the dividends to buy things I like from Popular Book Stores & others..." He seemed surprised by that idea. My 9 years old is learning about capital appreciation & dividend.

Yours is "trading for a living" :mrgreen:
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Re: Education / Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Postby helios » Mon May 26, 2008 6:07 pm

juz to extend out from MM's & Pepper's comments [they've good views & thinking]:

they've helped to shape my thoughts, i can't help to post here.

i think parents shld not be too anxious to teach kids on investings or tradings yet; though at some point of growing phases, some basic financial literacy knowledge can be crafted & built into e kid's lifestyle to entice their learnings to be ABC-fun and hands-on.

EG1: if e parents have a family business to mend, they can try to involve e kid into their accounting, or operation aspects; teach them to be business-men first so as to acquire other social skills of interacting w internal/ external customers & staffs. (also, impt for business successions as well).

EG2: in asia culture, we can foster bondings bet. e kid & parent by teaching e kids "management skills", for example, i rem when i was young i was helping w dad's backyard business, etc.

Kids can then work for their hard-earned dollar (during e holidays), let it be some simple ways of being a packer or pick up calls or whatsoever. slowly, your Kids will co-develop a "right sense" of working for daddies first to earn some pocket money for survival & a sense of "responsibility" for their actions.

then, kick start them on 2nd tier will be to beef up e people's skills & communications (or investment's skills) later in their working life or after legal age of 18?

e 3rd tier, will be e actual investments tools to tap on to further stimulate their minds lobes.

one thing, we need to "work" for someone else/ somewhere first to acquire these social skills. If u r rich & inherit big assets from parents (or $$$ cash-rich as e "rich" kid-on-the-block), however u lack social skills/ dimensions or have an arty-funky character, or autistic-nature, or perhaps most traders/ artists/ designers have this by nature coz of their talents, gifts ... i have seen good traders at young age of 20+, rich & "retired", but kinda extreme as they do not like to interact w people ... similarly, a sense of responsibility is needed so, they r responsible for their own trades, and not be asking parents' to pay for e principal sum, loses etc, etc.

=> first, teach them e financial consequences, implications of their actions, e winners & losers theory, what goes beyond e damage, so they know how to cope it shld any undesirables happen.

rdgs.
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Re: Education / Financial Planning for Kids & Teens

Postby millionairemind » Mon May 26, 2008 8:40 pm

Apong wrote:
...We intend to stop his allowance gradually by the time he is 10yrs old and I will be teaching him how to trade for a living (or rather allowance) by starting him off with 10K...and no more pocket money.


wow, MM, you are serious ?

For me, I ask my son to contribute his saving (he is in P3, sometimes saves some pocket money) to my "fund" which pays 10% p.a. risk-free. So I start him off with the concept of "power of compounding".

Yesterday, I also told him "I have Popular stocks, which pay dividends every year, and I am using the dividends to buy things I like from Popular Book Stores & others..." He seemed surprised by that idea. My 9 years old is learning about capital appreciation & dividend.

Yours is "trading for a living" :mrgreen:


Quite serious about it cos' he knows what I do for a living.. and he did say that when he grows up he wants to make money from the mkt... he shouts "Wah, Huat Huat 2008" every now and then... :mrgreen:

My wife is agreeable on this.

As for San's comments, agree with her... social skills are very important.. that is Y I bring my son to the playground every other day for him to interact with other kids... when I meet the teachers in K1 for review.. I am most anxious to find out from the teacher if he is able to interact well with the other kids and plays well with both sexes.. (so far, feedback is pretty OK, phew.. no autism.. :P). I am less concerned if he can color within the lines or if he can draw a straight line.. that I have my wife to worry about.. :D

Per Pepper's comments, my wife is a teacher by training and she did instil in my son the importance of a good education.. since he was 3, we have told him that "when you go to university.. yada yada yada..." not "If you go to university..." cos' we expect him to be at least a graduate.

Thanks for your comments...

Cheers,
mm
"If a speculator is correct half of the time, he is hitting a good average. Even being right 3 or 4 times out of 10 should yield a person a fortune if he has the sense to cut his losses quickly on the ventures where he has been wrong" - Bernard Baruch

Disclaimer - The author may at times own some of the stocks mentioned in this forum. All discussions are NOT to be construed as buy/sell recommendations. Readers are advised to do their own research and analysis.
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