Marketplace Money Stories

I love to listen to your podcast while I work in the lab. I'm a doctoral student at MSU and my fiancée works as a technician in another lab. I have three years of school left, and I earn a meager stipend on an assistantship as I work towards my degree which includes health insurance coverage. My fiancée has a savings of about $20,000 that we have wondered what to do with. We will probably buy a house in the coming years, but we're not sure where we'll end up, depending on the position I'm able to get after my graduate work. What's the best thing to do with this money? He has no debt whatsoever, and I have about $37,000 in government student loans that I am making payments on while they are in in-school deferment right now. Is there a better investment to do with his savings than sitting in a low-interest savings account that we could still have access to somewhere in the next 5 years? Amber. East Lansing, MI

Economist Diane Lim offers callers advice about family loans, inheritance, and helping your parents deal with their finances.

One of the most difficult financial realities to face is the decision to delay having a family for people who want children. A pair of listeners share how they talk with their partners about the cost of children — and the choice to put off parenthood.

Sorting out your financial relationship with your parents can be more crucial than you think.

Listeners share their families' advice about money.

Here's a conversation that might prove tricky: a young adult who tells her parents that she plans on giving away her inheritance.

What can one of America's favorite sitcoms teach us about family and money?

What happens when multicultural families have to deal with different financial upbringings?

I hear all about the recent squabble regarding increasing interest rates on student loans, and then the decision to bring the rate back down. I hear NOTHING about the students who are stuck in high interest rates from recent years past. My son, age 27, graduated with a Master's degree in 2010. His interest rate is over 8 percent on a roughly 70k loan. This was a government loan, not through a bank. He now pays just under one thousand dollars each month. You can only imagine the strangle hold it has on him. Fortunately, he found a job almost immediately and has never missed a payment. On the other hand, his car has over 200,000 miles on it and he is sharing a house with two others to make it "work". At this time when mortgages are refinancing at under 4 percent, what is HIS option? I've tried researching this with local banks and they offer nothing. Please don't tell me that the only folks left paying this ridiculous rate are our ambitious recent students who tried to "do the right thing" by getting an education! Reducing his monthly payment, only to extend his term(!) is not a solution in our opinion.

So you're heading to a country that has a travel warning or alert. What should you do? Advice from the airfare watchdog.