Financing Your Child's Education
<p>Did you know that a four year degree at a public university may cost upwards of $100,000 in 18 years? That's bad news for new parents who expect their kids to go to school, but fortunately it isn't that hard to save up the money needed for college if you start early. Time is on your site if you start early, but it becomes your enemy if you wait too long. So, here's <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/savingforcollege/a/Financing-Your-Childs-Education.htm">how to finance your child's education</a>.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/30/financing-your-childs-education.htm">Financing Your Child's Education</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Monday, April 30th, 2012 at 14:51:31.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/30/financing-your-childs-education.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/30/financing-your-childs-education.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/30/financing-your-childs-education.htm&#038;zItl=Financing Your Child's Education">Email this</a></p>
Get Help Getting Out of Debt
<p>Credit card debt is one of the biggest problems most people face when trying to get a handle on their finances. Credit cards make it easy to spend more money than you have, and then the crippling interest rates and fees make it seem impossible to get out from under. While there isn't an instant cure for credit card debt, there are steps you can take to put yourself on a path to becoming debt free.</p> <p>It takes a little planning, a little budgeting, and some time, but if you keep at it you'll find that you're getting out of debt faster than you had imagined. <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/creditdebtmanagement/qt/how-to-get-out-of-debt.htm">Here's the process to help you eliminate your credit card debt</a>.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/22/get-help-getting-out-of-debt.htm">Get Help Getting Out of Debt</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 at 20:08:55.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/22/get-help-getting-out-of-debt.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/22/get-help-getting-out-of-debt.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/22/get-help-getting-out-of-debt.htm&#038;zItl=Get Help Getting Out of Debt">Email this</a></p>
Mortgages for Military Personnel and Veterans
<p>Mortgage rates continue to sit at historic lows, and it's a good time to buy a home if you're in the market for one. One of the most difficult aspects of buying a home is dealing with the mortgage process. There are countless loan options and lenders, and finding the best deal can ultimately save you tens of thousands of dollars.</p> <p>Thankfully, the government steps in to help make the process a little easier for military personnel and veterans by offering a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=https://www.vamortgage.com/va-mortgage-loans">VA home mortgage</a>. Those who qualify are: Veterans, active duty personnel, certain reservists and National Guard members, surviving spouses of persons who die on active duty or die as a result of service-connected disabilities, certain spouses of active duty personnel who are (a) missing in action, (b) captured in line of duty by a hostile force, or (c) forcibly detained by a foreign government or power.</p> <p>The VA loan program is relatively simple. You simply shop around through private lenders and once you provide eligibility, VA steps in to back the loan. What this means is if something happens and you find you are unable to make the payments, the lender can then turn to the VA for any losses that may occur. This type of insurance is what makes banks more willing to lend money since they know they are protected.</p> <p>There are also a number of other benefits of a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=https://www.vamortgage.com/">VA mortgage</a>. You can often buy a home without a down payment as long as the appraised value doesn't come in below the sales price. This can be quite a help to those who might be returning home from deployment but may not have set aside the funds for a down payment yet. In addition, because these loans are "insured" by the VA you won't need to pay <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/realestatemortgages/qt/Eliminate-PMI.htm">private mortgage insurance</a>, which can be a costly addition to any mortgage. Finally, there are also limits as to how much you can be charged for closing costs, and in some cases closing costs may be paid entirely by the seller.</p> <p>As you can see, there are a number of benefits available through a VA loan program. While the basics of buying a home still apply, there are certainly some added features and benefits that make buying a home with a VA mortgage a little more attractive.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/13/mortgages-for-military-personnel-and-veterans.htm">Mortgages for Military Personnel and Veterans</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Friday, April 13th, 2012 at 11:26:31.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/13/mortgages-for-military-personnel-and-veterans.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/13/mortgages-for-military-personnel-and-veterans.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/13/mortgages-for-military-personnel-and-veterans.htm&#038;zItl=Mortgages for Military Personnel and Veterans">Email this</a></p>
Where Do Your Social Security Taxes Go?
<p>If you work and earn income, you are probably aware of the Social Security taxes that come out of your paycheck. Social Security Taxes, otherwise known as FICA Tax (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) is paid by employees and employers to fund the Social Security and Medicare programs. Since a fairly large portion of your income goes towards this tax, it is important to understand where it actually goes, and what benefit it may provide to you.</p> <h3>Social Security</h3> <p>The bulk of your FICA Tax money goes into the Social Security program. To be exact, roughly 85 cents of each dollar goes toward Social Security. The money that current wage earners put into the program goes into various trust funds that pay the monthly benefits to current retirees, families, and surviving spouses and children of workers who have died. Costs associated with administering the plan come directly from the trusts.</p> <p>The administration claims that for each Social Security tax dollar you pay, less than one cent goes toward administration costs.</p> <h3>Medicare</h3> <p>The remainder of the FICA Tax money you pay, roughly 15 cents of each dollar, goes into the Medicare program. Like Social Security, the money paid by current wage earners goes into trust funds that pay for some hospital and medical care costs incurred by current Medicare beneficiaries.</p> <h3>Plan Ahead so You Don't Need to Rely Solely on Social Security</h3> <p>When you take a look at all of the money that you pay into Social Security to hopefully provide for old age retirement benefits and medical coverage, you better hope that you get every penny back and more. Well, if you still have some time yet until retirement, it is impossible to know what the future holds for these programs. The best thing you can do is to put some money aside for the future to supplement any benefits that you may receive. One way to do this is to open a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/retirementplanning/a/traditionalira.htm">Traditional IRA</a>. Not only will you save some money on taxes right now, but you'll have a nice stash of money to supplement your government benefits.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/08/where-do-your-social-security-taxes-go.htm">Where Do Your Social Security Taxes Go?</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Sunday, April 8th, 2012 at 20:13:11.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/08/where-do-your-social-security-taxes-go.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/08/where-do-your-social-security-taxes-go.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/04/08/where-do-your-social-security-taxes-go.htm&#038;zItl=Where Do Your Social Security Taxes Go?">Email this</a></p>
What to do With Your Tax Refund
<p>This is that time of year when you may be anticipating a beefy tax refund that could be anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars. The next question you may be asking is what to do with the money you get back from the IRS. You have a lot of options, and some are better than others. Here are a few ideas on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/taxplanning/a/Spending-Your-Tax-Refund.htm">how to spend your tax refund</a>.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/03/29/what-to-do-with-your-tax-refund.htm">What to do With Your Tax Refund</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Thursday, March 29th, 2012 at 21:41:59.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/03/29/what-to-do-with-your-tax-refund.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/03/29/what-to-do-with-your-tax-refund.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/03/29/what-to-do-with-your-tax-refund.htm&#038;zItl=What to do With Your Tax Refund">Email this</a></p>


for use of the policy. If you use the policy your premiums go up, if you never use it you don’t get any money back.

Whole life policies are also a good investment for a parent with kids. If you buy a new-born child a whole life policy it is extremely cheap for a lot of coverage. By the time they reach the age of 18 there is a decent amount of cash value in the policy, which allows you to use the policy to help pay for college. When they graduate the policy continues to grow and by the time they get married you can use the policy to help them finance the wedding or put a down payment on a home. Maybe they are 40 years old and decide they want to start a business, the insurance policy could help them finance that as well. Then they can also use the money to finance retirement. Clearly this example is getting ahead of itself but it just shows the versatility of a life insurance policy. In most cases a loan taken against a whole life policy is tax-free. Another advantage to buying a whole life policy for a young child is they are guaranteed to be insurable after they are 18 years old. We don’t like to think our kids will get sick but it does happen and it would be terrible if they got sick when they were young and this prevented them from being able to receive a life insurance policy in the future.

Another example of an insurance policy that works for you rather than against you is long-term care insurance. Just as the case with life insurance, the younger you buy this type of insurance the cheaper it is. The cost of caring for the elderly is rising quickly. If you have a parent and they need to go into an assisted living facility or a nursing home and they do not have the funds the government will pay. But, for this to happen all of their assets must first be exhausted, meaning their home is sold, bank accounts drained, retirement savings used, and anything else. Then the government kicks in. This can all be prevented with a long-term care policy.

It would be demoralizing for your parent to work all their life to save for retirement, in hopes of leaving something to the kids when they pass on. Then they find themselves in a nursing home, which is depressing enough, and in top of that they lose everything to pay for it. This can be prevented with the proper planning. While long-term care insurance can be seen as an expense it can save your estate when you are older and also give you more freedom to chose the facility you end up if you need that type of care. It certainly makes the remaining years of your life more comfortable if you have options.

It is important to contact a financial professional to help you begin the proper planning if you haven’t already done so.

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Scott Bianchi is an independent insurance agent. He focuses on protecting families present financial situation while focusing on long-term stability as well. He runs a web site about personal finance and can be reached at sbianchi@charter.net.

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