For years, your mission in life was to get into college. Now that you’ve cleared that hurdle, it’s time for some more grown-up goals, like how to manage money in college. It’s time to prove that when you graduated from high school, you also graduated from the Bank of Mom and Dad (BOMAD). Going to college and managing your own money is going to test the skills you learned by having an allowance when you were little.

Enable 2FA on your email, financial accounts, social media accounts, and anywhere else that offers this security feature. Two-factor authentication requires a second layer of authentication in addition to your password to complete your login, such as entering an SMS code sent to your phone or approving a push notification. This is the single most important step in protecting your accounts.

Have you seen the price for private and even public universities lately? If so, it’s likely you experienced a bit of sticker shock. The national average net price increase for the cost of attendance is bordering on 5% for both private and public universities in recent years, so this is a common challenge many families are facing.  Despite the temptation to bury your head in the sand it’s worth facing the fact that college is still very much worth the investment.

Every household has division of labor, and when it comes to money, oftentimes one person is handling the monthly bills and another person is managing the long-term investment portfolio. In essence, one person is looking through a microscope, the other through a telescope—you and your partner may be seeing a very different picture. Maybe you don’t think you have time to see the other view.

Independent advisors vs wirehouse advisors and bank advisors: How your wealth management experience will be different at Monument

If not, I can think of a few reasons why: Finances are private so it can be uncomfortable to talk about. Finances are complicated so it can be hard to explain details about what services you use even if you think they are valuable. It may feel pushy or “salesy” to directly connect people with your financial advisor. What if it doesn’t work out? No one wants to make a bad referral.   At Monument, we, too, make personal and professional introductions.

These are common questions that pop into our heads when we outsource parts of our precious lives to outsiders. However, it’s also why it’s imperative we find and hire professionals who are not only experts in their specialty, but also who we can TRUST. That said, even if you trust your car mechanic, you should still understand the fees they charge for their expertise and know they are reasonable compared to the rest of the marketplace.

Breaking up is never easy, even if the person you’re trying to “break up” with is your financial advisor (FA). Perhaps your current FA is an old college friend who means well but doesn’t specialize in the services you need.