How to Save Money from Your Personal Finances
June 27, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
It’s getting harder and harder to find ways to save money when prices continue going up. Here are some tips to help you save money from your personal finances. Read more
529 College Savings Plans Explained - College Financial Aid Advice
June 20, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
One great way to prepare your children or grandchildren for college financially is to buy into a 529 college savings plan. There are 2 basic kinds and each one has its advantages - depending on your needs - and theirs. Here are some details about the 529 college savings plan that will show you why it may be the option you want to consider for your future college student.
Two Types of 529 Plans Available
529 college savings plans, which are simply managed mutual funds, are available in two different forms in most states. All colleges may not have their own plan but many of them do. Each 529 plan, however, will be either a prepaid college plan or a college savings plan.
A prepaid college plan gives you the advantage of locking in the price of tuition for the year of purchase. It does this by allowing you to buy segments of tuition at the current rate. These plans only cover tuition and other fees, but you often can buy room and board separately. The amount that can be contributed may be limited according to the age of the beneficiary, and state residency is usually required. Prepaid savings plans have an advantage because they are guaranteed by the state. There is usually a limited time during the year when you can enroll in the plan.
The other form of 529 plan is the college savings plan. These do not lock in the price of tuition, and may not be guaranteed by the state. The funds in a 529 college savings plan are available for all college expenses, and you do not need to be a resident in that state to be eligible. More than $200,000 can be put into this plan, and enrollment is open to any time of year.
Excellent Tax Benefits
There are very good tax benefits for those who contribute to a 529 college savings plan. This makes it an ideal way to direct some of your assets into a tax shelter and still be able to make the money available to loved ones who will need it later. Here are some of the benefits:
-Interest is tax free until withdrawn
-Withdrawals made for educational purposes are tax free
-Account holder controls assets
-Beneficiary can be changed at any time
-Amounts of $60,000 per person can be contributed without gift penalty once for a 5-year period
-Money can be used at all accredited colleges in the US (even some overseas)
-Assets are protected from bankruptcy
-Most 529 plans have very low minimum deposits, which make them affordable to most people.
Although the money in a 529 plan remains yours, it cannot be withdrawn and used for
purposes other than education without a penalty. It becomes taxable and a 10% penalty is applied to any earnings.
529 Plans Are Available in All States
All states have some form of 529 plans, and so does Washington, DC. This makes it very convenient to get one when you are ready. It is to your advantage to look at purchasing one in the state where the young person is most likely to go to school.
Each state can make some aspects of the plan peculiar to that state. This means you will need to find out what the differences are before you buy into a 529 plan. Most states do not have an age limit before which the money must be used.
Advantages of 529 Savings Plans
Other college savings plans may only permit annual deposits of up to $2,000 per year. The larger amount permitted by a 529 allows you better tax reductions and estate planning.
Some pre-paid plans may have a few benefits that the more general state college savings plan offers does not include. This would be the fact that some colleges may offer matching dollars if you take their prepaid 529 plan and if the student actually does attend college there.
Things To Watch for In A 529 Plan
When you look at the various 529 college savings plans available, it is important that you compare the fees. Some plans have fees (brokerage and maintenance) that may actually leave you with less at the end of the year than when the year started - because of higher interest rates. Plans that are offered by brokers are usually a little higher than state offered plans.
Finally, it is a better idea to keep the 529 college savings plan in the name of the plan creator rather than the student. This way, the money in the plan will not prevent the student from getting other financial aid for which he or she may be eligible.
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Paying for four-years of college is no easy task. College costs have escalated in leaps and bounds from year to year! Taking advantage of 529 college savings plans is a good idea for a number of reasons — including tax benefits. The less money one needs to take out in student loans the better, because loans need to be repaid. Learn about college student loans and all types of financial aid from Mark Allen, who writes for the free website: FinancialAidFinder — a one stop resource for parents and students. |
Insomnia - How to Help Your Child Fall Asleep
June 20, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
One in four children experiences sleep problems of one type or another during the course of childhood. Helping your child to fall asleep — to conquer her insomnia — is important to both of you. Neither of you needs the stress and frustration associated with childhood insomnia. In truth, you typically aren’t dealing with a classic sleep disorder in getting your child to sleep. Instead, you’re dealing with the problem of teaching her how to fall asleep on her own and at the appropriate time. One of more of the following techniques may be just what you need to enable both of you (or all of your family, for that matter) to have a calm, restful night.
Calm Is The Word to Remember
Part of the process of transitioning from fully awake to fully asleep is the deliberate (on your part) calming and quieting that must proceed sleep. Before bedtime, you should intentionally slow her down from the fast pace of the day. It will help if you can bring the entire household to a slower, more relaxed pace. Calming music, the TV turned off, and a generally slower pace will help her relax so that her body is preparing itself for sleep. You will also benefit if you can establish and consistently follow a routine that invariably ends in bedtime. That routine might be 15 minutes of reading to her from a favorite (not a new) book; or sitting with her and talking about the successes of the day, reinforcing the good things she’s done and how quickly she’s learning to accomplish new tasks; or a session of light massage to help her relax. The key thought here is to strive for consistency — this activity should take place every evening, always at the same time, always for about the same amount of time, and always ending in bedtime with no delays and no excuses.
Speaking of Consistency . . .
If you want your child to fall asleep on time and stay asleep all night, they you must be consistent in how you close out the day and in how you deal with any inconsistencies she tries to introduce. To some extent it almost doesn’t matter what the pattern is that leads to bedtime, so long as it is consistent. If you remind her “Bedtime is in 10 minutes,” be sure that bedtime follows in 10 minutes. And continue this routine every night so that it’s both expected and understood. Here are some routine bedtime difficulties and some possible responses you can use to overcome them:
Your child doesn’t want to fall asleep alone — she wants you to stay in the room or stay in bed with her until she falls asleep. This might be the result of insecurity, which may be overcome by ensuring that she has a favorite blanket or toy with her. If she’s afraid of the dark, a night light can provide her with some assurance. Leaving the door open a little bit may reassure her that she is not alone in the house, abandoned to all the monsters and fears of childhood. And you can reassure her that you’ll be looking in on her to make sure she’s OK and sound asleep. If she’s awake when you check, encourage her by praising her for staying in bed and relaxing, waiting for sleep to overtake her. Consistency being the keyword here, you must insist that she remain in bed, not get up and wander around, go to the bathroom, interrupt you for a drink of water or other services, etc.
Alternatively, if your child doesn’t want to sleep alone, it may be because she got accustomed to falling asleep in your arms while being nursed — you need to transition her to going to sleep alone. This may be accomplished more quickly if you begin doing it during the day. Wait until you notice she’s drowsy and close to nap time. Then put her into her bed alone, reassure her that you’ll be in the next room, and let her fall asleep alone. Let her mind associate bed with sleep, even when she’s in bed alone — and even if she’s in bed alone because she’s woken in the middle of the night.
Your child wants to stay awake longer, so she doesn’t miss any of the activity going on in the home. See the earlier note about calming the entire house down prior to bedtime. If there’s “nothing happening,” then there isn’t much temptation to stay up and watch it not happen.
Your child wakes up in the night and calls for attention. First, delay your response for a minute or two — and for increasingly longer periods if the problem persists. The idea is to create a deliberate delay so that she won’t expect immediate response; and to increase that delay so that she will learn that if she wakes at night the only thing to do is to lay back down and go back to sleep. If she is consistently waking during the night, she may be taking too many naps during the day; or she may be sleeping too late in the morning, so that she isn’t sufficiently tired at night. When you go to her after she wakes up, give her loving attention, but not too much of it. Tuck her back into her covers, remind her that it’s well past bedtime and that she needs to be asleep, give her a kiss on the forehead, and leave the room. Waking in the night should not become an excuse to stay awake. Rather, it should be an occasion for brief reassurances and then a swift return to sleep.
Not all children need the same amount of sleep. If you’re putting her to bed at 7:30 and she consistently falls asleep at 8:30, this might be because you’re trying to give her more hours of sleep than her body actually needs. Maybe she only needs nine hours of sleep instead of the ten hours you’ve been told is “correct for a child her age.” Rather than associating bedtime with frustration and sleeplessness, try putting her to bed at the time her body is ready for sleep. She’ll get just as much sleep, but won’t be frustrated and fussy at bedtime. If this proves to be an insufficient amount of sleep, you can work at returning to the previous bedtime in small increments. That is, if putting her to bed at 8:30 leaves her groggy in the morning, begin putting her to bed at 8:25 for several days, then at 8:20 for several days, then slowly move her to a bedtime that will allow her sufficient sleep while preventing the situation where she lies awake too long once she’s gone to bed.
