Great Tips to Save For College

With college tuition and related costs one of the fastest rising expenses, it's more important than ever to have a sound plan for your child's college fund. The basics of a college fund are simple; you start early and you contribute regularly. Unfortunately it's a little more complicated than that if you want to ensure you can meet the costs of college 18 years from now. The fund should start the day the child is born and should be added to every day thereafter.

• Open a separate account and designate it as the college fund. This account should be off limits in all but the most dire emergencies. Never borrow from this account for anything that isn't absolutely necessary, lest it become a habit.

• Instead of a regular savings account, look into money market accounts and certificates of deposit, which offer higher interest rates and are less accessible to you for casual borrowing.

• Setting up automatic payments is a good way to ensure you make regular contributions. After a while, you won't even miss these monthly allotments. If if the monthly payments are minimal, the fund will slowly increase and interest will acrue.

• When a parent tries to estimate the amount of money that will be necessary to pay for their child's college, they often panic when they come up with the number. The entire cost of the education will not come from the fund. Loans, grants, income and scholarships will all help pay the bill.

• Regardless of how much you are able to save, save something. Even if you only contribute $10 a month at the beginning, the fund will grow and you can always increase the savings rate later. Make it a habit.

• Any money that comes your way that you weren't expecting is a perfect contribution to the fund. Many parents add tax refund checks to the account. Over the years these contributions can accrue to a large amount.

• As one expense goes away, such as a car payment, braces, etc., redirect the money into the college fund. You won't miss it since you didn't have it before.

• The government offers what is called a 529 college Saving Plan to help parents save for their kid's college. Any interest earned on the account is tax deferred and withdrawals from the account are tax free if they are used for a qualified education expense.

• Many companies offer rebate programs designed to save for college. Many credit cards offer these programs as a type of cash back program.

• Eighteen years is a long time so use it to your advantage. Be consistent is contributing to the fund and don't slack off. Stay dedicated to the goal and when the time comes, the money will be there waiting.
College is expensive and will continue to get more expensive as the years go by. Do for your child what he or she cannot do for themselves and begin to save. Some day they will thank you for it.

Resume Writing Advice For Your Future

When you are writing a resume, you need to understand that it's not always as easy as it sounds. There are quite a few things that you will need to do, one of which is figuring out how to format your resume properly. In all honestly it's actually not that hard, so we'll start at the top and work our way down.

First of all you have your address. This is the most important piece of resume writing advice because your potential employer probably won't even read your resume if you fail to put your address at the top. When you do this you will need to make sure that your address is slightly larger than the rest of the text. This doesn't meant that it should be huge, but it should be at least large enough for the employer to see and contact you if they are interested.

Remember that you need to choose the fort very carefully as well. You want something that is easily readable but professional at the same time. This is extremely important, and if you want, you can add borders to your resume. Just remember not to do anything too extravagant or you will end up with your resume in the trash can as soon as the employer sees it.

In addition to proper formatting, you will need to make sure that you fill out the information completely and accurately. This means that you will need to list your experience, and of course be honest about it. As long as you are honest, you shouldn't have any problems, and you will probably need to list your education.

There are some people that can get into a job with experience alone, but if you are new to the field then you will need to list all of your education, and if for some reason you don't seem to have any, then it would be a good idea to get some as soon as humanly possible. If you are in school, then you might trying to land an apprenticeship. These are easier to get than real jobs, but you will still need a bit of experience when you consider that you will be working in a real company, and in some cases you will be having a real impact on their sales or services.

So with that in mind, it would be a good idea to make sure you list your experience, and of course make sure that the experience is relevant to the job you are applying for. If you have any professional references you should list them at the bottom of the page along with their phone numbers. Do make sure you ask them before you use them as a reference. The last thing you want is for them to receive a phone call and draw a complete blank when asked about you. So with that in mind, it's time to get to work on your resume using this resume writing advice.

Effective Resume Writing Facts

When it's time to write your resume, you not only need to include detailed information, you need to present it in a way that will make the employer consider you. Believe it or not you can't simply list off a few things and hope to get by. If you really want to land that dream job, it's time to take measures into your own hands and tell a good story about yourself.

This means that you will need to start with your experience. Where have you worked? What did you do there? Did you leave on good terms or bad? These are definitely things that you will need to ask when you start to do your writing. So think about the places you have worked, and start listing them off. Another question that you must ask is how long you have actually been in the work force. If you have been in for some time, then a piece of advice for effective resume writing would be to make sure that you only list off the last five to ten years.

Chances are that some of the work experience you have is outdated unless by chance you worked as a physicist for NASA. With that in mind, try to list some of the more modern establishments you have worked in unless you spent five to ten years in a place that is still around.

Something that you really want to watch out for is the dreaded resume gap. When your potential employer takes a look at your resume, the last thing he or she wants to see is that you've been without steady employment for a number of years. If you find that you cannot create a pretty picture with your work experience then it would be best to seek the help of a resume writing expert. This could cost you quite a bit of money, but in the end it will be quite worth it. This is one of the most effective resume writing tips you will receive in this case.

If you find that you do not want to seek help, you could try out some volunteer work. There is always a task that your city will need you to perform, or you could work for a non-profit organization for a bit. These will look good on your resume and they will do a great job of filling in the gaps.

Once you get done with this, you should of course start to list your education. List the places you have gone to school and the certifications that you have earned. If you want to list the absolute minimum, then at least list your high school education because many establishments will not hire you if you do not at least have this. So with that in mind, start making a list, and when you have everything ready, it's time to start the hard part: writing the resume.