Life Money Money Confidential How Do I Balance Supporting My Children With Saving for My Future? On this episode of the Money Confidential podcast, host Stefanie O’Connell Rodriguez turns to three past expert guests for advice on balancing financial responsibilities for yourself and your kids. By Morgan Noll Morgan Noll Instagram Morgan Noll is a digital associate editor for Real Simple covering home, finance, career, and travel. Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Published on May 30, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email In This Article View All In This Article On This Episode Meet Host Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez Meet Our Expert, Alyssa Davies Meet Our Expert, Bridget Casey Meet Our Expert, Ron Lieber Advice From the Episode Links and Resources Photo: Olivia Barr Every Monday on the Money Confidential podcast, host Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez, a nationally recognized money expert, delves into your (confidential) money problems and delivers smart, practical, and completely doable solutions that will help you work toward your ultimate financial goals. This is the place to come for real talk about money—and real solutions that actually work. Follow now: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Amazon / Player.FM / Stitcher On This Episode Raising kids can bring a lot of joy and love into your life—and cost you quite a bit of money, too. So how do you balance out your financial responsibilities to yourself, with those to your kids? In this episode, host Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez brings together the best advice from three past expert guests to help you sort it out. Meet Host Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez Caroline White Photography Stefanie is a nationally recognized personal finance expert ready to talk work, worth, and money with unapologetically ambitious women. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Oprah Magazine, and Stefanie has appeared on ABC World News, CBSN, Fox & Friends, Fox Business, Bloomberg, The Dr. Oz Show, The Doctors, and more to share her smart, practical solutions to any money problem. Meet Our Expert, Alyssa Davies Courtesy of Alyssa Davies Alyssa is the founder of mixedupmoney.com, two-time award-winning Canadian Personal Finance Blog of the Year. She has been featured in many notable publications, including The Globe and Mail, FLARE, Global News, and more. She is also the author of The 100 Day Financial Goal Journal. Meet Our Expert, Bridget Casey Courtesy of Bridget Casey Bridget Casey is the founder and content creator of Money After Graduation. From paying off debt to investing in the stock market, Bridget provides clear, actionable advice to transform your finances. Bridget holds a Bachelor of Sciences from the University of Alberta, and an MBA in Finance from the University of Calgary. She is regularly featured as a millennial finance expert as a guest on BNN and CBC, and was recognized as one of Alberta's Top Young Innovators in 2016. Meet Our Expert, Ron Lieber Courtesy of Ron Lieber Ron Lieber is the author of The Price You Pay for College, and The Opposite of Spoiled. He is the "Your Money" columnist for The New York Times. Two of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, and he is a three-time winner of the Gerald Loeb award, business journalism's highest honor. Advice From the Episode Alyssa Davies "[There's that] feeling of like, 'I should be doing everything all at once,' but if you can't do it all at once, you're not the only one. I don't think anyone's doing it all at once. So don't feel like you're alone in that world." —Alyssa Davies Save for goals before they've happened. "Maybe one day, 10 years from now, you decide you want to actually have a kid. At least you have the choice because you have some financial means already put aside for that." — Alyssa Bridget Casey "You have to take care of yourself and your long-term financial security first before your child's—and this is very hard for parents when you tell them to save in their own accounts before their kid's college fund. But your long-term financial security is the financial security of the family." —Bridget Casey If you can afford to do so, it's worth it to pay for childcare so that you can go to work, therapy, or even just award yourself some down time. "Childcare is an investment in your career, even if it looks like an expense on your budget right now." — Bridget Ron Lieber "We are in the adult-making business as parents. We are not in the business of manufacturing college students, where success is only measured by whether your kid gets to go to a place that only accepts a single digit percentage of students. That's not what this is about." —Ron Lieber Start talking to your kids about finances and college early on. "Kids should be ready to go into high school with a head of steam, if they're going to need to, in effect, earn their way into the schools they want to go to through academic scholarships. Don't just spring this on them junior year." — Lieber Links and Resources Download the transcript for this episode. Visit Alyssa's website: mixedupmoney.com Buy Alyssa's book: The 100-Day Financial Goal Journal Visit Bridget's website: moneyaftergraduation.com Visit Ron's website: ronlieber.com Buy Ron's books: The Price You Pay for College and The Opposite of Spoiled Have a money issue you'd like to share on a future episode? Fill out our intake form. Recent Podcast Episodes You May Like: How do I save for a wedding, a house and a family—all at the same time? I'm a first time parent—how should I change the way I manage my money? What's the best way to build generational wealth for my family? Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit