DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: I love that my daughter is generous and caring. What has me a little worried is that since she started working at Burger King she decided to donate half her earnings to a different GoFundMe account every payday. Her father and I have spoken to her about putting that money aside for her own use instead, like for college, which is coming up in less than two years. She has told us both the same thing, that she believes in giving back and isn’t worried about affording college because she’ll figure that out, “When the time comes.”
Advertisement
My ex-husband and his wife and I have told my daughter we will help her some with college, but none of us can do all that much.
Even though what she makes at her after-school job isn’t much, it is something, and once she is in college she may find it a good thing to have something in her bank account to fall back on.
Can you think of any arguments to help persuade my perhaps too generous daughter to save some of her money for herself? --- CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME
DEAR CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME: You do indeed have a generous daughter, and that’s a good thing. She’s also young and not likely to have an idea of just how expensive higher education has become.
Sit down with her and take a look at what the schools she’s considering currently cost. If possible, provide her with a ballpark amount of what all her parents expect to be able to contribute toward those costs.
Having a more concrete picture of what her future education is likely to set everyone back will hopefully help her realize that it might be in her own family’s interest for her to reduce her level of charitable donations in order to have even a small nest egg by the start of her college career.