Learn College Planning the Easy Way
If your student is talking about college and you want to know what you are facing, you have come to the right place! A college education costs between $75,000 and $250,000 or more. A good part of this will come out of your pocket. Getting the best return for your education dollar requires a sophisticated campaign over multiple years. You will need to understand the financial aid and college admission processes, the tax implications, and the types and cost of student loans. That's a lot to ask of stressed-out parents in hard economic times!
College Planning is a Necessity, not a Luxury
*** JUST RELEASED! MODULE 4: FILING THE 2010-2011 FAFSA - click here***
Hello, My name is David Beck. I am a fee-only financial planner. My specialty is helping the parents of high school Juniors and Seniors successfully face the huge expense of paying for college.
There are many thousands of families facing this issue each year, but I only have time to help a small number in my private practice. Most families need a basic education on college planning issues before I can begin to work on their individual financial situation. Taking the time to provid this education reduces my availability to additional families, so I have developed a series of e-Learning Modules on College Planning. In these modules, I clearly explain each of the major issues you face in getting your child to college and paying for it without ruining your retirement.
All the key elements of college planning are covered. Elements such as setting your budget, getting more financial aid, selecting the right college for your financial situation, coming up with the money to pay your share, and an explanation of student loans. I also cover saving for college and how to fill out the FAFSA application for financial aid.
These presentations will guide you through the college financing maze, showing you money-saving tips and strategies to cut your out-of-pocket costs. Easy to view and understand, they provide up-to-date and accurate advice relevant to your current situation, saving you time, money and worry. You can be confident you have the basic knowledge to get your child the best quality education at a price you can afford.
Click Here to watch the introductory module for FREE!
- You select only the individual modules that apply to your current college planning needs. Watch other modules when you get to that stage later in the process.
- Each module lasts about an hour. You are both watching and listening to the presentation, and can replay information critical to your understanding at any time. It's an easy way to learn.
- Individual modules are inexpensive. There's no commitment to purchase the whole series.
- You will receive additional written materials expanding on the presentations, and other tools to use in your planning, such as spreadsheets for comparing aid awards, and calculating loan costs.
- The modules are always up-to-date, so you receive current information (unlike a book or most material on the Internet). For the remainder of the school year after purchase, you will be notified of any updates made due to changing rules and regulations.
Here's why these modules are the easy way to learn about College Planning
Here is what we cover in these modules:
Overview of College Planning
The Overview is a sampling from the detailed modules, but after watching it, you will understand the main tasks of college planning and their time line. Here's the good news! This introductory session is FREE. See if you like the material, and the way it is presented.
Click Here to watch the introductory module for FREE!
Although there is no charge for this presentation, I do ask you consider a donation to Scholarship America
When you're done watching, ask yourself "Was that painless? Was the material presented in a way that was easy to understand? Did I learn something new and valuable?" If you answer "Yes", take a look below at the topics covered in each of the detailed modules. This is what you need to know to get a better quality education for your child at less cost.
Module 1: Paying for College 101
- The college planning process and time lines
- Detailed examination of college costs
- Explanation of financial aid process.
- Types and amounts of financial aid
- Sources of 'Other People's Money'
- Develop your Preliminary Budget
- Assumptions f or your budget
- Importance of college selection
- Estimation of Tax benefits
Understand the costs you face and importance of college selection. Know the limitations of financial aid and the potential for tax relief. Learn how to prepare a preliminary budget. This is the foundation for all your planning.
What's next?
Module 2: Get More Financial Aid $$
- The formula used to calculate EFC
- Where to get an estimate of your EFC
- How to do 'what if' testing
- Strategies to reduce your EFC
- Warning on sale of financial products
- Special cases: multiple students, divorced parents, business owner
- Types of aid
- What you can expect to receive
- Overview of the FAFSA application process
- Alternatives to aid: reducing your tax bill
- Tax deductions and credits
- Tax saving strategies
- Avoiding the 'Kiddie Tax'
- Working with your CPA
Explanation of the need-based financial aid system and how to estimate what financial aid you will receive. Know what steps to take to either improve the financial aid you will receive, or reduce your tax bill instead. Either way, this module will put money in your pocket.
Module 3: Select a College You Can Afford
- Aptitude testing to identify career and major
- SAT preparation
- Using High School and Independent Guidance Counselors
- Preparing a College list
- Applying a 'Financial Filter'
- Financial analysis of colleges
- Graduation rate
- 'Gapping'
- Admissions Strategy
- Selling yourself to the list
College selection has the biggest single impact on your eventual out-of-pocket costs. Learn how to evaluate the financial strength of colleges. Use 'Admission Strategies' to unlock college money. Get a better quality education for the same or less money.
Module 4: Filing the 2011-12 FAFSA
- Understand the purpose and method of the FAFSA
- When to file
- Simple preparation
- Collect the financial data
- Question by question walk-through showing the online FAFSA screens
- Explanation of special cases - independent student, foreign-born student, divorced parents
- Guidance with asset valuation, what is assessable or not, last minute planning tips
- What happens after you file the application
Face the FAFSA form with confidence. See the FAFSA online screens you will be filling out and listen to guidance on how you should answer the questions. Simple preparation makes the process easy, painless, and eliminates mistakes. File ahead of the crowd and have access to the maximum amount of aid money.
Module 5: Paying for College 201 - How to Pay Your Share (and still retire)
(Available March 2011)
- Understanding the college award letter
- Appealing awards
- Comparing awards
- Identifying out-of-pocket costs
- Use of savings
- Use of income
- Use of loans
- Maintaining tax advantages
- College payment plans
- Strategy for last college year
- Long Term Planning
- Minimize effects on retirement
- Recovery phase
Know which aid award offers to appeal and how to obtain an improved offer. Have a system to compare the out-of-pocket cost to your family to help make the final selection of a college. Figure out how to pull all your financial resources together and develop the most efficient payment plan. Stay on track to retire.
Module 6: Best Student and Parent Loans (Available April 2011)
- Using loans
- Loan types
- How much should the student borrow
- When to borrow
- How to apply for loans
- When you will have to make payments
- Tax deductability
- Consolidation of loans and payback options
- Intra-family loans
- Gifting to pay off student loans
If you need them, loans are available to both student and parent. Understand the different loans and which ones are best for you. Be comfortable with how much the loans will cost and what the payments will be. Avoid getting in too deep. Make the best use of family resources.
Module 7: Best Ways to Save for College (Available May 2011)
- Benefits of saving versus not saving
- How to get into the saving mode
- How much to save
- Savings v. Investments
- Where to invest: college savings options
- Recommended savings vehicles
- When to spend your savings
- How to maintain their tax benefits
- Case Study
What are the best ways to save for college expenses? Get motivated to save for college by understanding the benefits. Select the right savings vehicle for your situation. Know how to spend your savings without losing tax benefits.
After watching these modules, you will understand what you need to be doing, and why. You will know how to do it, and be confident of success. You will know when to do it, and which other tasks can be put off until later without worrying about them now. You will not feel so overwhelmed. Plus you will save money through good planning. In short, you will have taken control of the college planning process.
Let me tell you a little about myself.
I am a Certified Financial Planner(TM). I am 'Fee-Only' - which means I am not selling anything - not 529 plans, insurance products, nor arranging new mortgages or home equity loans. The main point is that I don't have have a bias towards a particular product from which I receive a sales commission. I am paid for my advice only, working with families on the details of their unique situation.
My specialty is in college financial planning. It's a complex and under-served area. The number of families I can work with each year is very limited compared with the numbers of families needing advice. I created these eLearning Modules to share my expertise to a wider audience than I can meet with face to face.
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and are interested in personal advice geared to your own unique situation, contact me for a personal consultation. If you are outside of the Bay Area, I can arrange a telephone consultation. You do not have to do it all alone. I am here to help you. Email me
If you are still thinking of going to a professional, use these eLearning modules to prepare. After watching these modules, you will have a grounding that will save your professional advisor hours of explaining the basics to you. At $200 or more per hour, you don't want to be paying an advisor for explaining basic stuff. After watching my presentations, you will know which areas that you need help with, and the right questions to ask.
If you're the type to do it yourself, think of these modules as a short cut to identifying what you need to concentrate on. Time is money, and these content rich presentations will save you time.
This is a very exciting time for your family. Your child is about to take a major step into adulthood and towards a successful future. It will take four or more years, but you can support them in reaching this goal if you are willing to take the necessary actions. I hope you will take advantage of my research into college planning, and my presentation skills that explain it in a simple and practical way. Commit to yourself that you are going to take action to view the first module. You will then be better informed and more ready than ever to make it happen.
I wish you all the best in your college planning.
Regards,
David Beck
Click Here to watch the introductory module for FREE!
P.S. If you think Financial Aid will solve your payment problems and that you don't need to do anything, think again.
The biggest problem with 'financial aid' is that much of it consists of PLUS loans (loans taken out by the parents). As a society, we are coming off of the biggest debt binge in history. Families are repairing their balance sheets, seeking to pay down their debt. Now is not the time to tell concerned parents that the answer is more debt. You want a higher return on your education dollar than just another loan.
If you have college-bound children or grandchildren, you need the advice of a specialist in college funding. And if your student is a high school Junior or Senior, act immediately!
P.P.S. Do not let a lack of knowledge compound your retirement problem.
With the average cost of four years of college well over $100,000 for each child, you are probably very concerned about where the money is coming from, and resigned to receiving little or no help in paying for college. At the same time, you are even more concerned about saving for your retirement. You ask Is there nothing I can do about the high cost of college?
College financial planning is NOT just saving for college. It is implementing a variety of efficient and effective strategies that will lower your out-of-pocket cost, leaving more money for your retirement.
Avoid untold hours of research trying to become an expert in college funding
Here's why these e-Learning modules are the best way of learning what to do:
Better than a book
If you read a book, there's not only the cost of its purchase to consider, but also the time you will have to spend reading it. Let's face it, most people don't actually read the books they buy on college planning because they are not much fun to read! Also, the material in the book may be outdated - our federal government has made a lot of changes to the rules recently, and the economic situation has affected student lending, college costs and their ability to offer financial aid. The fact is, most books are out of date and expose you to making expensive mistakes. Not so with these modules. The format is easy for me to update. You can be sure the material is current when you watch it, and if it changes later, you will receive an email update detailing the changes. Show me a book that does that.
Better than multiple books
I don't know of any one book that contains all the information in this e-Learning Series. You would need to buy multiple books to find the missing pieces of the college planning puzzle. Probably 60% or more of the content will be redundant material that will be in all of them - like explanations of what 'EFC' means, how 529 Plans work, and many other topics that the authors feel need to be in a book on college planning.
Better than surfing the Internet
At least with a book, you have a first page and a last page. The Internet goes on forever! How much time will you waste following links from one page to another, until you end up with information overload and no way to sort out what is important. Oh, and watch for dated material. If your search skills are limited to googling a few key words, you will also have to sort out what is still accurate and current.
A final note on scams relating to college planning. Please read this!
I received a phone call recently from a gentleman asking if I could help his clients buy life insurance. Since life insurance pays a considerable commission, this is guaranteed to raise the interest of most financial professionals. Turns out he was recruiting 'advisors' for a company that prepares college financial plans - the same business that I am in.
As part of the effort to persuade me to join his company's organization, he sent me a sample plan, and a brochure describing the program they offer. I though you might find these paragraphs interesting (they are lifted verbatim from the brochure):
TAP INTO A NEW NICHE MARKET ! You will be hard pressed to find a better prospecting tool to sell more products. Put 30 to 50 prospective clients in front of you each month without changing your business.
and,
Q: Will I be required to learn a great deal of information?
A: No. We have developed training techniques to help you. Give us one hour of your time and you will be ready to meet your first client. Our customer support staff is available to handle special questions.
You get the drift. They are telling financial sales people that they don't need to know anything about college planning, but to use it as a marketing tool to sell their products to worried parents facing the huge expense of college.
A similar company advertises in a financial planning trade magazine each month. Their pitch to financial advisors includes the following claim:
"I have clients actually ASKING ME to move their savings and investments into high commission products."
These are sad examples of how the financial services industry can fail to properly serve the consumer. In my experience, there is usually no easy answer to planning for college. It requires a broad knowledge of the issues involved and the possible financial strategies. Yet, many advisors will be looking at you as a customer for their company's financial products. Make sure you work with a fee-only adviser whose only interest is to develop a great plan for you, not to earn a commission at your expense.
The module 'Paying for College 201' addresses the rare cases when insurance products might be a benefit. As a Fee-Only Financial Planner, I have a fiduciary duty to put your interests ahead of my own. Get the details from an unbiased source, not a salesperson! Avoid being taken advantage of as you face this huge financial challenge of getting your child through college.
This series of eLearning Modules may turn out to be your very best investment yet!
If you're still not convinced these modules are worth the money, consider this: If you purchased the whole series and saved just $1,000 over four or five years of college (a trivial amount), the return on your investment is over 500% That beats putting the money in a 529 Plan! And if you think $1,000 is all you would save from following my advice, email me for your money back!