Note to my email newsletter subscribers: Did you not receive an email newsletter from me on Monday, December 28? On that date gmail started putting some of my email newsletters into my readers’ spam folders. Even my own copy of my newsletter went into my spam folder! My email newsletter comes every single Monday morning. If you didn’t receive yours on December 28th, you can read it now, below. Most important, though, here are gmail’s instructions for how to mark emails you value “not spam.”
Parents, you have just days or hours left to put extra money into retirement accounts so that it won’t be noticed as your family asset when your child applies for college aid in October of his or her senior year of high school.
If you wait even just four days on this, here’s what will happen.
If you put your extra money into retirement accounts on on January 1, 2016 or after, it will count as a family asset when your child applies for college aid. Yikes!
This is important for you, even if you think that your kid “won’t qualify for financial aid for college.”
Perhaps your family is so wealthy that you’re just sure you won’t qualify for federal college grants such as PELL grants. This step is still important for you. Why?
Because there’s far more college aid money at stake than just PELL grant money. When you eventually fill out the FAFSA form for your child on October 1st of his or her senior year of high school, you’ll be applying for nine separate federal student-aid programs, over 600 state aid programs, and most of the college-based (institutional) aid available in the United States.
When the system scrutinizes your family finances on that day, you’ll want to have as little cash sitting around as possible. Putting that cash into retirement accounts right now might be a very, very good idea.
Here’s what to do right now.
If you have questions about this, see if your Certified Financial Planner is in today. Call and ask to have an appointment with him or her on December 28, 29, 30, or 31. Even a telephone appointment might save you thousands on eventual college costs.
Will your child be attending college in 2016 or 2017? There are several additional things for you to know right now too.
Read this Money article by Mark Kantrowitz right now — it summarizes what you need to know very nicely.
Do you have friends who are parenting 10th, 11th, or 12th graders?
Please share this information on social media today and tag those friends in the comments. Because the rules on this changed so recently (with an announcement by President Obama on September 13, 2015) most families (and even some financial planners!) don’t grasp how important this is. This is critically important information for any family who wants to minimize student loan debt years down the line.
If you’re a financial planner or an accountant, please do this.
Please email your current clients about this. Provide a link to this post. The parents who depend on you will greatly appreciate that you’re focused on helping their kids get through college debt free — plus you’ll help families save thousands on future college costs.
Would you like free, clear, step-by-step help getting your kids through college debt free?
I can help. Subscribe to my free weekly email newsletter using the form on this site, and open it every single time it lands in your email inbox.
Be especially sure to read my email newsletters during January, 2016 — when I’ll be providing exciting early bird access to my upcoming book LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward. This book will provide clear, step-by-step instructions on how to get your kids through college debt free — starting in middle school
Have you taken steps to stash money away in retirement accounts before December 31 of your child’s 10th grade year? How did that go? What advice do you have for the rest of us? Comment below, or LIKE “Jeannie Burlowski, Author” on Facebook and comment on this post there.