ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s graduation season, so the gifts for grads can really add up between family and friends. Bridgett talked to local financial professional Eric Hutter, of Osprey Retirement Solutions, about budgeting the monetary gifts you plan to give out to grads.
“There’s a lot of families that are retired, pretty much on a fixed income, stick much closer to a budget than someone who has much more disposable income. I think the general rule if it’s a high school graduate, and it’s an acquaintance, not a family member, $35-$50 is a comfortable amount. If it’s somebody that’s a family member, niece or nephew, I find that traditionally people want to give somewhere between $75-$100. It’s the thought and the love behind the gift that’s important,” Hutter said.
While Hutter says an ideal gift range of $35 to $100 all depends on your budget and closeness to the graduate, there are many other mindful ways to invest in and honor those student milestones.
“A lot of family members and friends of the family pool their money together to maybe give an iPad or a laptop. If it’s a high school graduate going on to college, that’s going to be very important to them,” he said.
Hutter also notes that arming students with foundational financial lessons early is important.
“There’s a lot that can be done around, we talk around budgeting, but we also teach our younger children, what is a budget, what does that look like? You know money they receive, it’s nice if you can maybe walk them into a bank and open their first bank account and then they understand how to run a checkbook, how to run a ledger right? Go to the grocery story, take your child, take your grandchild, have them go shopping with you. And point out things so they understand more. Kids, if they’re not exposed to this, they’re going to come out of college or high school naive,” he said.
You can hear more advice from Hutter on educating your students about money, banking and credit by watching the full interview at the top of this story.
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