This is a sponsored post on behalf of Scholarshare. All opinions are my own and based on the pain of not planning for my boys college tuition.
As you all know, I have one son in college and another son heading there this fall. I did not prepare financially for the first two and to say we are scrambling would be an understatement of extraordinary measure. For our third son we opened a Scholarshare account, before Scholarshare even contacted me to ask if I wanted to work with them. I cannot tell you the levels of calm I feel because of this account. With nine years separating my littlest from the older two we have had a lot of time to fix mistakes made the first time around. THIS was one of the biggest and I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to contribute to this account knowing the levels of stress it is going to remove from our lives in nine years. And I would know, because I am living through that stress now.
I would encourage all of you to open your own 529 account. No matter how old your child currently is. Every little bit will help to alleviate the stress college expenses bring. In addition to the stress being removed, below are additional reasons you should open a Scholarshare account:
Tax Breaks
Your 529 contributions are not deductible on your federal tax return. However, your investment will grow tax-deferred and all withdrawals to pay for college are not taxed federally.
Contributions Can Come From Anyone
Your family and friends can easily contribute to the account electronically.
You Don’t Need Thousands of Dollars to Start
In fact, you only need $25.00 to open an account. And you shouldn’t panic yourself by thinking you need to contribute more than you can afford. Money is tight. Just contribute what you can.
Automatic Withdrawal
You can set up the account to automatically withdraw from your paycheck every month. If you are like me, that is the way to go. If I never see it and it’s automatically done, it’s best for everyone. As mentioned above, just do what you can.
Your Child is More Likely to go to College
Kids who know they have a college savings account are SEVEN TIMES more likely to go to college.
College is EXPENSIVE
The annual cost of college between our two boys this year is nearly $90,000. Where is that money going to come from? Curious what colleges in your area will cost? You can check it out here >> College Costs.
Go today and open your account. You will never think to yourself, “Why did I do that?” On the contrary, if you don’t start an account, you most certainly will think to yourself, “Why didn’t I start an account years ago?” I promise you that.
This is a sponsored post on behalf of Scholarshare. All opinions are my own and based on the pain of not planning for my boys college tuition.