YOUNGSTOWN Women get financial advice at seminar at YSU

Advice for parents: Save for retirement, borrow for kids' education.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- More than 500 women spent Friday learning how to better manage their money, build wealth and teach their children to value a dollar.
The daylong event at Youngstown State University was one of nine throughout Ohio presented by state treasurer Joseph Deters to educate women about budgeting, credit and debt management, estate planning, homeownership, investing, insurance and retirement planning.
It was sponsored by The Vindicator and WFMJ-TV21.
Many of the women were there to earn continuing education credits; others turned out purely for personal enrichment.
The kids and money workshop, presented by Jill Gianola, owner of Gianola Financial Planning in Columbus, is new to the Women & amp; Money series.
June Zordich of Austintown was intrigued by the workshop on investment portfolios but found some information difficult to comprehend.
There was a workshop on the basics of investing, which might have served her better, Zordich said.
"With investments, if you're not really into it, it's hard to understand."
"It's a lot of information to take in all at once," her daughter agreed.
Business owner
Julie Rinko of Salem registered for Women & amp; Money after seeing a newspaper advertisement.
She operates a lawn-care service with her husband and wanted to learn how to make her money work for her.
She said she expected the workshop on credit and debt management to be most helpful, but was also encouraged by another workshop that showed her how saving just a few dollars regularly will grow into a substantial sum.
Sisters Melissa Warren of Ellsworth and Noelle Roth of Canfield, both social workers, were drawn to the series to earn free continuing education credits, but were very impressed by what they learned about how to pay for their children's college educations.
Advice on college funding
In addition to learning about the different plans and programs to help parents save for their children's educations, Gianola, named one of the 100 great financial planners by Mutual Funds magazine the past two years, told those in attendance they should make saving for retirement their top priority and saving for their children's college education second.
"You can borrow for college, but you can't borrow for retirement," she said.
Many parents, having put their children through school, often find themselves in dire financial situations when they should be able to retire.
That, she said, can be an even bigger burden to their children than the repayment of student loans.
Most of the women in attendance were between 40 and 50 and had at least some college education, said Tom Kelly, executive director of Women & amp; Money.
kubik@vindy.com