8.1.19 How to buy a home; Do you need cell phone insurance?; Working while in college

8.1.19 How to buy a home; Do you need cell phone insurance?; Working while in college

Clark's 13-year-old son was all over getting a cell phone protection plan. We're so connected to our devices that when in a cell phone store, we're susceptible to the pitch to buy their junk insurance product. Don't do it. Cell phone insurance is horrible, trashy junk. Don't do it. It's overpriced, and you have a big deductible for what's usually a refurbished replacement phone. Have wide insurance in your life disability. Use a credit card hat provides free cell phone insurance when you use it to pay your monthly cell bill. 

There's one thing higher and trade education students can do to boost their chances of good-paying jobs after school - work while in school. ?Working in college makes for higher paid grads. Northeastern University grads tend to easily get good jobs after school because working is built into the curriculum. Students alternate semesters with working full-time. The degree takes an extra year, going year-round. New grads have years of experience in their field of study. Having work experience provides maturity so valuable to employers. Clark was a full-time working night student in college and grad school. That work experience served him well, allowing him to retire (the 1st time) at age 31.

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People have issues with financing, builders, selling, and buying used homes. There are many confusing moving parts. Clark discusses 9 steps to buying a home involving credit, qualifying and shopping for loans, shopping homes, negotiating etc. Local communities have design rules that have crushed affordability for first time home buyers. In dense urban areas, the value of land drives the cost of homes. So out-of-date rules on land use create many inefficiencies, including affordability. The next wave of urban planning should take into account creating efficiencies that will allow more affordable, smaller single-family housing in metro corridors.Clark's 13-year-old son was all over getting a cell phone protection plan. We're so connected to our devices that when in a cell phone store, we're susceptible to the pitch to buy their junk insurance product. Don't do it. Cell phone insurance is horrible, trashy junk. Don't do it. It's overpriced, and you have a big deductible for what's usually a refurbished replacement phone. Have wide insurance in your life disability. Use a credit card hat provides free cell phone insurance when you use it to pay your monthly cell bill.There's one thing higher and trade education students can do to boost their chances of good-paying jobs after school - work while in school. ?Working in college makes for higher paid grads. Northeastern University grads tend to easily get good jobs after school because working is built into the curriculum. Students alternate semesters with working full-time. The degree takes an extra year, going year-round. New grads have years of experience in their field of study. Having work experience provides maturity so valuable to employers. Clark was a full-time working night student in college and grad school. That work experience served him well, allowing him to retire (the 1st time) at age 31.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Read more

7.15.19 Smart speakers spying; Watch out for this new credit card scam; Texas makes college free for some

7.15.19 Smart speakers spying; Watch out for this new credit card scam; Texas makes college free for some

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Google smart speakers are ALSO spying on you. Know what you are getting into before you buy; Clark tells you what to watch out for with this new credit card scam phone call; Texas makes a college education at UT free for some low income families.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Read more

How to get college textbooks for free (or nearly free)

Higher education is getting more and more expensive, and the cost of college textbooks is no small part of that equation.

The average price of college textbooks for a full year of school now exceeds $1,200, according to the latest figures. A recent survey indicates that because of the steep prices, as many as 65% of college students are choosing not to pay for course books, potentially hindering their grades. Thankfully, there are ways to get college course books for free or very close to it.

A recent discussion on Reddit.com about how to get cheap college textbooks yielded some very good tips. Here are some of those suggestions, along with others.

Here are some ways to get college textbooks for free (or nearly free)

Ask for alternatives to buying the books

Many college teachers remember when they, too, were cash-strapped college kids. Ask if there is a free hard copy or online version of the textbook that you can use for the semester.

Buy them used

Project Gutenberg

The Project Gutenberg initiative has nearly 50,000 electronic books available online. The textbook you need just might be there.

Textbook Nova

This website finds college and high school textbooks for sale on Amazon for you. All you have to do is enter the title, keyword, author or ISBN.

Rent them

There are also sites that let you rent your college textbooks at a discount and return them when you’re done. In addition to some of the sites listed already, check out Valorebooks.com and Slugbooks.com.

Try the city library

Take a look inside your city library. If they don’t have the book you need, ask the librarian if they can find it among their network of library branches. There’s a good chance they can get it through the inter-library loan program. The beautiful part about this is that it will cost you absolutely nothing!

Have a kid in college? You need these legal documents in place

Do you have a student going off to college for the first time or already living away at school?

They’re going to need certain important documents — like a medical power of attorney and a HIPAA release for college students, among others — in place.

These key documents will let you as the parent get info about them in the event of a medical emergency.

Make sure you and your college student fill out these forms

An article in the National Law Review explained there are three forms that parents and college students need to fill out.

Keep in mind that all of these forms should be updated each year, and that you’ll need one form in your state of residence and a separate one in your child’s state of residence if they’re attending an out-of-state school.

Table of contents

1. HIPAA form 

Ever tried to get an update about a loved one in the hospital over the phone when there’s been a sudden onset of a medical issue?

If so, you know it can be difficult, if not impossible, to get the info you need if you’re not authorized. That’s because of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

What you need to cut through the red tape is a HIPAA form. This document lets a patient (your college student) designate certain family members, friends and others who can be updated about their medical info during treatment.

Obviously, your student should fill this out before they need it during a medical emergency.

The HIPAA form becomes extremely important if your child is living away at school and gets involved in an accident. That’s because you’re not getting any info over the phone even though you’re their parent — unless you fill out this form.

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The HIPAA release form for college students is the same as the form for everyone else. For a list of HIPAA forms by state, click here.

2. Medical power of attorney

A healthcare power of attorney is a legal document naming you the parent a “medical agent” for your college student. If your child becomes medically incapacitated, you can make informed medical decisions on their behalf.

This document can name you as the sole point of contact and decision-maker. That will allow you to decide the best course of action with the doctors.

What happens if you don’t have a healthcare power of attorney in place? The doctors will be the ones who make the decisions about care.

“While this is not always a bad thing, a physician’s primary duty is to keep the patient alive,” the National Law Review notes. “So, a healthcare provider might not pursue a risky or experimental course of treatment at the risk of exposure to liability.”

For a list of medical power of attorney forms by state, click here.

3. General durable power of attorney

A medical power of attorney form is strictly for health care choices should your son or daughter become incapacitated. A general durable power of attorney, however, covers financial decisions.

This document allows a college student to give authority to another person (the parents) to make financial/legal decisions. It also allows the parents to make the following financial transactions on the student’s behalf:

• Managing bank accounts
• Paying bills
• Filing taxes
• Applying for government benefits
• Breaking a lease

You can read more about the durable power of attorney document here on Clark.com. For a list of durable power of attorney forms by state, click here.

Final thought

College is a time of great change for both parents and their kids. Young adults are dealing with being on their own for the first time. And parents may be dealing with empty nest syndrome.

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Because we’re so intimately involved with raising our children, it’s tempting to see them as just that — children. But in the eyes of the law, the apron strings get cut the minute they turn 18.

Once they cross that threshold into adulthood, they are no longer under your agency. That applies to matters both big and small, particularly issues related to emergency health care.

So that’s why an open understanding with your child is key. You’ve got to communicate to them why you and they need to sign a health care proxy for college students, a HIPAA release for college students and more.