Outside scholarships can be a great way to stretch your college budget. They can also be an exercise in frustration with countless applications yielding small dollars. Knowing the 5Ws and H of outside scholarships can make your search more rewarding. Let’s start with What is an outside scholarship. An outside scholarship is a scholarship offered by anyone other than the…
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Saving & Paying
A client’s former advisor told her that she should save $800,000 per child for college. None of my initial reactions to that were appropriate for a client meeting, but how much should you save for college is an important question for a lot of families so let’s dig into that. First, why do advisors tell people that they need to…
If you’re a financial advisor, it’s hard to go an hour without talking about I Bonds right now. It seems the word is getting out to the general public now too. I Bonds are a form of Treasury bond that pay an interest rate that incorporates an inflation factor. Right now, due to high inflation, they are paying 7.12% interest….
A recent survey showed that while almost two-thirds of parents were saving for college, only about one-third are saving in a 529 plan. That’s unfortunate, since 529s are usually the best choice for savings, for a lot of reasons. On the other hand, it’s not unexpected, given that the vast array of often confusing choices can be a barrier to…
A contribution to your child’s 529 account is, according to the IRS, a gift to your child. This means that it’s subject to annual gift limits: any individual can gift another individual $15,000 in 2021 without reporting it anywhere or paying any taxes on it. In 2022, the limit– or exclusion amount– goes up to $16,000. Anyone who contributes more…