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Please no.

Wayne is asking whether he and his wife should put their 7-year old son on their credit card account as an authorized user…

No…

Dr. Don (who has a slew of letters after his name) does get to the right answer, but does it in a very roundabout way.

The take-away from the answer is here:

The pervasive use of personal credit histories to make inferences on employment, renting and insurance decisions makes managing your credit score an important aspect of financial management, but it’s easy to get too wrapped up in managing your credit score

It’s tough that it can now determine so many things – so you want to make sure it’s solid – but what else could you maybe focus on? Are there things that just might pay higher dividends in the future (and are knowns verses the unknown aspect of ‘managing’ the answer to some equation to which you don’t have access)? These are in no particular order.

1. Budgeting (you had to expect that one, right?)
2. Furthering your education
3. Setting yourself apart at work as a hard-working, honest employee, business owner, etc.
4. Investing (your portfolio is properly allocated along the efficient frontier).
5. Paying off debt.
6. Funding “Junior’s” college.
7. Developing multiple streams of other income.
8. Finding places in the household finances to save money effortlessly.

That’s just a list off the top of my head. But let’s all admit it that it just doesn’t make sense to obsess over your credit score. Sure, get a free credit report every year to make sure everything’s okay, but don’t get too stressed about it. And certainly don’t worry about 7-year old Junior’s credit score.

Sheesh. How’s his t-ball team doing?

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