A 529 College Savings Plan is a plan operated by a state or educational institution, with tax advantages and potentially other incentives to make it easier to save for college and other post-secondary training for a designated beneficiary, such as a child or grandchild.
Owning a business is a dream shared by many. The dream of an independent professional lifestyle, self-made financial success, and “being the boss” is not uncommon. Unfortunately, the proportion of those entrepreneurs who have invested valuable time, money, and heart-felt emotions in search of the independent “being the boss” lifestyle have fallen short of the mark. Also unfortunate is how the pain and suffering endured throughout the effort of trying to start one’s own business is not confined to just the individual investor but also to the rest of the family. The impact of the effort is not just financial, but it is also translated into late nights, foregone vacations, missed graduations, etc.
Many of us will eventually face what it’s like to engage a professional caregiver to help care for the needs of someone we love. It’s not an easy task, and sometimes it can be frightening as we entrust the life of a loved one to someone outside of the family. The process of finding the right person to help our loved one securely stay in their home can seem like a daunting undertaking. Even though the benefits of having help are obvious, the idea of inviting a stranger to live in your home and take care of a loved one makes many people feel uncomfortable. On top of all these considerations, there is also the added stress of understanding the various financial and insurance arrangements of a caregiver scenario. Before you dive into that process, it’s helpful to have a firm grasp of what options are available to you and to know exactly how the system works. (And walking into it armed with knowledge can help reduce the stress of the process.)
In recent history there has been a growing amount of concern over the financial illiteracy of our nation’s high school students. One aspect of the problem is that parents and students both assume they know what financial literacy entails, when in truth they only have part of the picture. College Parent Central makes this pertinent observation about what financial literacy actually means: “Financial literacy involves the ability to read, manage, and communicate about personal finances and to have the skills and knowledge to make competent financial choices about banking, credit, insurance, taxes and investments.”