Another good question from a reader (from my pool of 18 readers):

When should you stop helping your kids financially? or conversely, “At what age should an adult stop asking for financial help from their parents?”

That’s a tough one. On one hand, you love them and care for their well being, and on the other hand, your retirement funds are dwindling. In clearer cut situation such as their college funding versus your retirement funding, the obvious choice should be your retirement fund—since students can get student loans, and retirees don’t have that luxury.

My dad helped my sister with the down payment for her condominium, and I’m certain many others out there receive financial help from their parents for their mortgage. In my case, I’m planning to get the mortgage without the financial help. That’s one of my goals, and I believe it’s attainable.

By the time I’ll be contemplating a house, my parents will be past their retirement age. If I can’t afford the mortgage, I’ll continue to rent and save up. Yes, it won’t be easy, but I’m going to do it—regardless if I’ll have to rent for the rest of my life.

There are situations where the parents have enough set aside to help their kids, but at what point should you stop? You certainly wouldn’t want them to rely on you forever, but it’s understandable that people sometime face harsh circumstances.

For me, once I’ve moved out (within a year or two), I don’t plan to include financial help from my parents within my budget. I don’t care how bad it gets, I prefer getting into debt myself than getting them into debt. Of course, the whole point of this blog, all those planning and budgeting—is to avoid that situation all together.

There’s definitely a point where you should stop helping your kids, or you should stop asking your parents for help. But I honestly have no clue when that line should be drawn. Hmm.

Related Post

• How Do You Teach Kids About Money

I don’t mean to put them on the stage, but these are good stuff:

• Elena talks about how she can be aggressive on the phone.
• Shelley vents a bit about how being the family’s computer tech support sucks.

I can definitely relate to both situation. Like Elena’s husband, I have a tough time being more assertive on the phone with customer service rep, so I generally prefer email contacts, phoning only for emergency situations. I can also relate to Shelley’s frustration. I draw the line at extending computer help to my immediate extended family. If you’re my uncle’s cousin’s daughter, you’re out of luck.

No-no? Who cares? Have you ever been paid under the table before?

To be honest I don’t really have an opinion on it, nor any experiences, as I have never been paid under the table before. An acquaintances asked me yesterday if I know of anyone looking for a job.

“Maybe, whats the job?”

“Just some shipping and packing. 10 AM to 7 PM. Legit $10 an hour, or $8 an hour cash.”

“Alrighty, I’ll ask around. Someone’s bound to want some easy work.”

And then I realized that I don’t really have an opinion about being paid under the table, at least—not for a job like that. I understand not being able to report every single income source, but what about being paid under the table for a “real” job? Hmm.

Indiana residents bought flat panel TVs off the street, only to find out they were oven doors.

Investigators in South Bend, Ind., said there has been a rash of oven door thefts recently, and now they know why.

Oh man. When I first read the story, I thought people were crazy (aka stupid). Turns out, there were some level of sophistication involved in the scam. Check out the story over at Wesh.com, and take a look at the slideshow.

I hate doing repost, but yeah this one is too wacky to pass up. Story from the Consumerist.

I got a hit with a $39.00 late fee, for paying my Citi Dividend card late. In today’s multiple-payment option age, paying your bill late is really silly—especially when you have the money. Although it was my fault for paying late, I still don’t like fees. So… what’s the best way to get rid of them?

Just ask!

My prefer method of contacting banks for non-emergency needs is via the Internet. For me, I get better results when I write, since I’ll come off as less of an idiot, and my words can be more neutral.

Contacting Citi Bank’s “Online Customer Care Specialist” is easy enough. Login to your account, look for Help/Contact Us on the far right, select Contact Us, and then click on Send A New Message. Select the message topic and type away.

I typed up a short message, which basically told them the real reason why I paid late (I forgot), how it was my first time ever paying late, and I ended the message with a request for the fee to be waived. The result?

Kudos to Citi’s online customer service for their fast response:

The late fee refund was posted immediately. Woot!

Your results will of course vary. If you frequently pay your credit card late, you can only get these fees waive so many times. The best bet is to ask nicely, give them at least a good reason, and remind them that you’re a loyal customer (or will be one). If you get denied, don’t fret—just chill out and try again by phone. Remember that different customer service representative will yield different results, so you can always try calling a few more times.

Easiest way to avoid all the hassles? Don’t be like me, pay your bills on time!

Related Post:

• How to Get Rid of NSF Fees? Just Ask!

My brain must have been on vacation during March.

Spring break and all. Too much drinky-winky (just kidding I don’t drink).

I paid my Citi Dividend card late by two days (it was due 3/20), so it was hit with a late fee. See, I was fiddling around with my money by opening a new checking at my credit union, and they were ACHing around—blah blah—and in the mist of things I forgot to schedule payment to the new checking. Poor excuse, I know.

Man, $39.00 is a lot of money. That’ll buy 15 boxes of Cap N’ Crunch. Hmm…

I think I’ll ask them to remove the fee. Because if you want to get rid of fees, just ask!

Update: Citi refunded the late fee. Woot!

So you can finally have an excuse to have a real conversation with that hot number next door.

“Going to the postal office? No need, just come visit my den.”

“Hey wait, come back! I’m talking about PC Postage!”

If you handle a lot of mail through the postal office, you should definitely consider the convenience of PC postage, especially for certain businesses such as doctor and lawyer offices (your staff will thank you). Whether you’re an avid eBayer or you sell the occasional trinkets or two through online auction sites such as Craiglist, Amazon, or Half.com—being able to print out postage via the comforts of your home or office, is indeed sexy.

Of course, all good things in life comes with a fee, and PC postage services are no exception. Selecting the service to go with will depend on your shipping volume and needs. Here are some choices:

Click-N-Ship from USPS

The fairly straight forward click and ship from USPS. You may have seen their advertisement. Simply register and select the service you wish to use. You can pay for the postage directly online via your credit cards. You can also request for free shipping supplies for certain services from USPS.

Pros: No service charge. No software needed. Free shipping supply.

Cons: Limited to select services, such as Priority Mail and Express Mail, which are expensive.

Endicia from Envelope Manager Software

My service of choice for wannabe mass mailer. $9.95 or $15.95 per month. You can prepay a year to receive some discount, I pay an annual $99.95 fee for the standard service. The Premium service comes with a nifty “stealth” mode, where you can hide the actual postage amount on the mailing label. This way, you can rip people off on handling fee without worrying about repercussion. Just kidding! But seriously, mailing packages can add up in cost. The DAZzle software can be complicated to use at first, but it’s fairly flexible and allows for a good range of customization for your mailing labels.

Pros: Covers all USPS services. Fairly flexible software with good postage log. Good customer service. Stealth mode. Simple electronic refund.

Cons: Software can be difficult to use. Hassle conventional refund. Service fee can add up.

Stamps.com from uh, Stamps.com

I tried Stamps.com briefly before. One of its main draw is the ability to print out actual 39 cents stamps, very neat. Its PhotoStamp service has a certain novel attraction, great for special occasions. It’s software is straight forward to use, and its initial package comes with a free digital scale and free postage. The drawback would have to be it’s monthly fee of $15.99, which can definitely add up through time. They also offer a special service tailored especially for legal offices.

Pros: Covers all USPS services. Easy to use software, okay customer service. Initial Free Trial comes with many bonuses.

Cons: Monthly fee adds up, software isn’t as flexible to customization.

PayPal Shipping from eBay

Using this service will of course, require you to use eBay and/or PayPal for the transaction. There’s no monthly fee, as the cost of service is added to each label you print, with amounts varying depending on services (around $0.10 per label). PayPal shipping is handy to use for those that don’t ship enough volume to warrant dedicate service such as Endicia or Stamps.com. Although, if you’re shipping via a service such as Priority Mail, you should just use USPS’s Click-N-Ship to save on PayPal’s $0.10 surcharge.

Pros: No monthly fee. Fairly easy to use.

Cons: Requires eBay and/or PayPal. Surcharges can add-up. Limited service option and customization.

There is another service call Shipstream Manager from Pitney Bowes which I haven’t tried yet. Their service is heavily oriented towards small and medium business that handles large quantities of packages. The monthly fee is $18.99.

Besides all the stuff mentioned, PC postage have other benefits such as: reduced delivery confirmation fees, better package organizations, increase professionalism in packages, and reduction in address labeling errors.

The simple low down is, if you mail a lot of crap and you hate standing in line at the postal office, you should definitely services such as PC postage. Click, print, drop off and run away.

It’s been a year since I started this blog.

Wow.