Saving for college question

[jamesglewisf]

What’s the best investment for saving for your kid’s college? My daughter is not even three years old yet, but we’re saving. We just about have enough money saved up to put it in a mutual fund or something. What are your recommendations?

[jamesglewisf]

If you know anybody who is really good with financial planning, maybe even certifiable (LOL certified), please ask them to sign up and try to be our resident expert. I don't have a clue about investing.

[Swimmers]

Well I think that saving is a VERY good idea. AS you know, things are getting very competitive out there. To go to college costs an arm and a leg. I am personally relying on a scholarship or grant money. My parents didn't know about the pre-paid plan, and my grandparents decided that it would be a worthless investment. (I disagree). I would do that if I were you. Just to ensure my kid's future! Especially since now-a-days you need at least a masters to make lucrative money!

[theyeti]

I like the new California law that ensures a free ride to college if your GPA is above 3.5 or something like that... kinda makes me want to move to california (as scary as that sounds....)

[Swimmers]

Hey!! that's cool...I didn't know that! Here in Florida we have a bright future scholars award program. You get money to go to any Florida school. I think that It's sponsored by the Lottery. You have to have a good GPA of course!

[PsalmReader's Mom]

I think the mutual fund sounds like a really good idea. Our kids managed to get their education pretty much on their own with just crisis/emergency help, but if I had known then what I know now, they could have had a much easier time of it.

Okay, I've learned a little about Simple Ira's recently. They are tax sheltered, about as safe as any uninsured investment, and pretty easy to administrate. It is a retirement account, of course, but if I understand correctly there may be no penalty for early withdrawal for qualified higher education expenses, major medical expenses, first-time home purchase, etc. Then if your child works hard and is fortunate enough to get a scholarship or something, your savings will still be working hard for you. The only drawback is that I'm pretty sure you would have to pay federal withholding on the money when it is withdrawn. It's something you would want to study up on.

Fidelity Investments is a very good firm. My husband's retirement account (which we started much too late in life) is with Vanguard. They're good too. It is done through his employer.

[jamesglewisf]

Thanks, Mom. I appreciate the input. I'll check in to both of those companies' mutual funds. I'll look into the IRA also, but I thought there was a limit to how much you could contribute each year to an IRA. I'm probably confused.

I'm still hoping that someday an investment advisor or broker or money manager will join FrappyDoo, and that we'll have a professional to answer some questions.

[PsalmReader's Mom]

No, Jim, I think you're right . . . didn't take that into consideration. I wish we had a good advisor also. {pinky}
I tellya though, any savings is better than none, and now is the best time to start. Your foresight is admirable.

[TTP]

Hmmm, I'll look into this for you guys.
I have a friend whoes father is certified and works for a company...he says to come and talk to him when we start making the big money. {toothy}
I also have another friend that spits out numbers like no tomorrow...I just agree with him and say, "Sure why not."
I'm not sure either of them have time for us though *sniff*
We'll see.

[kezzer]

I signed up for Upromise, it's not much, but for purchases you make you can get up to so much for your children to put into a college fund. You can use it fro purchases on credit cards and such. I have mine linked to my grocery store card.

[kattriez]

Coach her to win scholarships? Turn that TV over to PBS...

[jamesglewisf]

I just found a pretty good site that was mentioned in the WSJ:

www.wiredscholar.com - it lists thousands of scholarships and tells you which ones you qualify for.

[Stormwind]

Another scholarship search and match profile site is
FastWeb Free Scholarship and College Searches Plus Financial Aid Tools (http://www.fastweb.com)
They also offer interesting tidbits on internships available, will send out reminders for scholarship application deadlines, and helpful information about applying for jobs, different fields that are hot and other helpful information. It is best for the actual college age crowd, but it has helpful information and scholarship matches even for a leading edge baby boomer who has returned to college -like me. :)

[theyeti]

I am very lazy when it comes to these things... we have some money saved up but frankly not that much. It's not like we've wasted it though... we just don't have that much to save.
I registered at that Fastweb place a year or so ago, but now it's very annoying due to the continuous advertisements you have to endure just to get to the information you want. And if you're not careful where you click who knows how many newsletters and advertisements will end up in the inbox! Other than that, the site is pretty good.