Tips for Parents Dropping Their Kids Off at College
It’s that time of the year again. Millions of families are getting ready to send their child off to or back to college. As stressful and emotionally overwhelming as this can be for you, the parents, you might want to take a step back and think about how you can better prepare for the years ahead. Your family’s finances are bound to change as you adjust to this new reality. Use these tips when preparing to send your child to college.
Lead by Example
After years of growing up in the comfort of their parent’s home, your child is about to enter a whole new world where they’ll meet all kinds of new people, encounter new challenges, and learn about themselves. Before you say your goodbyes to your child, sit down and have a conversation with them about the future. Remind them that college is about learning and building experience, not partying like a wild animal or disrespecting those that are different.
Check Your Family’s Car Insurance
Preparing to send your child to college is about more than tuition payments, textbooks and class schedules. You also have to think about how these changes will affect your month-to-month expenses such as your family’s car insurance. Remember to update your car insurance so that your insurance provider knows that your child will be living and driving in a new state, city or town. This might raise or lower your monthly premiums depending on where your child is headed. If your child is driving around a major urban area like New Jersey, New York, Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles or Atlanta, your monthly premiums could increase substantially.
If your child is leaving their car at home, you might want to take your child off your car insurance all together to save money. Make sure that you are up-to-date on these changes and budget your finances accordingly.
Adjust Your Life Insurance Policy
When you were a parent with a young child, you might have padded your life insurance policy to leave enough behind to help support your children until they come of age. But now that your kid is heading off to college, you might want to lower the death benefit on your policy to save on premiums. On the other hand, if your family or your child is forced to take on a great deal of debt by going to college, you might want to raise your death benefit to help cover these new expenses. If you were to die unexpectedly in the next few years, your child will have enough money to complete their education.
You can also use this as an opportunity to talk to your kid about topics like insurance, financial planning, and budgeting. Now is the perfect time to help your kids purchase a life insurance policy. The earlier they buy a policy, the lower the premiums.
You can always compare life insurance quotes at InstantQuoteLifeInsurance.com. Contact us today!