If we
think of retirement as being financially independent via our own sources of income from our own assets, are
we doing today what we should be doing in order to be able to realize the security and lifestyle we want in our later
years?
With advances
in medical technology and many catastrophic illnesses now controllable, with our ever-increasing life expectancy, it
is critical that we do everything we can to avoid the danger of outliving our income. With longevity comes the
necessity and high cost of long-term care which could wreak financial havoc. So, we should work
aggressively at saving and creating assets which will provide security and allow us to realize our goals and dreams in
our later years.
You can see then how not having a solid funding plan in place to get our children
their education will effect our lifestyle, put us at financial risk & most likely compromise our retirement and financial
future. The question is simple, the anwer is obvious:
Given the high cost of a college education, at this point
in our lives will we be able to recover from $100,000+ in new debt???
The
fact is that we can all expect to have to pay something for our children's education regardless of our income and assets.
The fact is in order to be considered for any aid, we must properly navigate the system. Failure to do this can
result in thousands of dollars of lost money.
Always remember; it is not those with the most need who get the most money, it is those who know how the system
works!
In order to have a good college funding plan however, we must know as early
on as possible what our actual out of pocket costs will be at a given school don't we? We need to know
what kinds of aid we have access to & what percentage of your need a particular school will cover. We
need to know how to save & how to borrow money; there are good ways and bad ways. We need to know if and how we
can legally reduce the amount we are expected to contribute. We need to know how to manage our cash flow & debt.
We need to know how to apply all the resources available to our benefit. We need to know the effects the decisions
we make today will have on us in later years. Once we know all of this vital information, we then have the
basics needed to put together a strategy. We can PLAN to manage the problem in the most comfortable way possible
and avoid all of the consequences of leaving everything to chance.
