How to Fund College Education - Are There Options?

Our children are growing up. High School will soon be completed. What's next? College? Now for the hard questions. Where? How much will it cost? Where will we get the money?

Some families have set up a savings account when their children were born. Others have opened a 529 savings account. A few families have a participating permanent whole life insurance policy from which they may "borrow" funds for college expenses.

What is the best option you ask.

Before discussing your options. Let's talk about Investment vs savings.

An investment is always a risk, a gamble, an unknown. An investment may be money put into stocks or mutual funds or even a 529 College Savings plan. We invest with the HOPE for a financial gain. However, there are no guarantees!

Savings is when we have put money into a secure place and you know up front what the return or gain be. Your savings account at the bank states they will pay you a specific amount of interest.

College 529 Savings plans although the tax advantage is attractive. They do have some definite drawbacks. What if your child chooses not to go to college, wants to attend college in a different state, or is able to get scholarships to fund his or her education? Another point to be made is that the funds have to be used for education by the time the beneficiary (your child) turns thirty, to avoid the non-qualified use penalty. Also the government can change the rules of the 529 plan at any time.

The other viable option worth serious consideration is to purchase for your child a Participating Permanent Whole Life Policy. Why? There are several solid reasons which I will highlight here.

1. It is secure. It is not tied to the stock market.

2. This type of insurance is very low cost when purchased for children.

3. It has a guaranteed rate of return.

4. You may borrow from this policy cash to pay for college education without obligation to pay a set amount each month to replace that loan. The advantage of borrowing from "self".

5. Most important is that you have full control over these funds and their availability to you.

6. Additional benefit is that you will get additional money from the death benefit.

My advise is to consult with financial adviser and consider all your options.

It is my opinion that using your child's life insurance policy to fund College is a wise decision.

View the original article here

Read More..

Are There Government Programs For Credit Card Debt Relief?

This article is about credit card relief options that are real, while also warning consumers of misleading ads that could be scams. Thankfully for the FTC a lot of these websites that advertise government credit card programs are being cracked down on. These ads are scams by lead companies that are trying to capture consumer's information and then selling it.

Debt negotiation or debt settlement is a real debt relief option. Debt settlement is a process where experienced negotiators, negotiate with the credit card companies on a consumer's behalf. The debtor and creditor after negotiating back and forth will then agree on a reduced balance and the payment is considered to be a payment in full.
When choosing a debt settlement company it's always best to choose a company that has a long track record, 0 unresolved complaints, 8 or more years in business, and a BBB A Rating with lots of testimonials.
The goal with debt settlement is to settle a consumer's debt as fast as possible and saving the most amount of money as possible. There have been cases where $60,000.00 in credit card debt, has been settled at $15,000.00. Sometimes $60,000.00 in debt is settled at $40,000.00, which is still great, but results cannot be guaranteed and will vary.
Of course there are negative consequences that consumers will experience including creditor harassment in the beginning and a negative hit on a consumers credit score. However when you weigh the negatives against the positives, the positives will by far outweigh the negatives. If you need credit card relief, debt settlement is definitely the preferred option.
Reputable debt settlement companies provide you with lots of education, a state and federal attorney to help if a credit card lawsuit arises, asset preservation information and personalized attention for consumers from the beginning of the program and up until the end.
Before entering into a debt settlement program its best to see if you can continue to stay current and hopefully double up on your payments, helping you to save money on interest and get your balances low. Your balances should always stay below 50% of what the limit is and preferably below 30% of what your credit limit is in order to have a high credit score. If you have maxed out credit cards it's important to double up on your payments getting the balances down, so that you have credit and not high debt.
Sometimes consumers will have a 30% interest rate and they can afford the monthly payment on their credit cards, but the interest is killing them. With a non profit consumer credit counseling company their interest rate could be dropped to 8%. Results like this happen often.

Bankruptcy is an option that consumers should stay far away from because it's not worth it. Bankruptcy is leaving your financial well-being in the hands of someone else and that's a judge. Once you declare bankruptcy there is no erasing it off your credit for 7 years. What if you decide that you would like to be financially healthy again within a year after declaring bankruptcy, or if you need to lease a new car, rent a new apartment, buy a house, well it's likely not happening if you have bankruptcy on your credit report.
Unless you are on the urge of losing your home and are behind on the payment's, where the only way to save your home is to declare a chapter 13 bankruptcy, then it is worth considering.
At the website "No More Credit Cards" consumers can speak with an experienced debt counselor getting free information on all their options. If consumers qualify for a Credit Card Relief Program they can then be matched with a non profit consumer credit counseling company or one of the best debt settlement companies in America.

View the original article here

Read More..