Using  “Financial Aid” In Your Marketing Won’t Get You The Clients You Really Want

Using  “Financial Aid” In Your Marketing Won’t Get You The Clients You Really Want

Wasting marketing dollars on prospects that have no money. Have any of you ever spent untold amounts of money and time marketing to get potential clients to your office, only to find that they have no money to invest? It is easy to do that with college planning if you don’t do college the right way. Nowadays Facebook ads and marketing funnels have almost replaced seminar marketing. I know many of you do seminars and workshops. Seminar marketing still works. I'm not suggesting you stop, rathe....

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Gifting Appreciated Assets To Pay For College

Gifting Appreciated Assets To Pay For College

Gifting appreciated assets (and the income generated from those assets) from parents, or grandparents, to children can be effective means of paying for college and minimizing taxes at the same time. In most cases, this particular strategy is used to maximize the funds available for a child’s college tuition because the income tax due is typically less when the income generated by those appreciated assets are taxed to the child rather than the parents. However, when a child is under the age of....

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Research Confirms An Urgent Need To Improve How Students Are Supported When Choosing College Majors

Research Confirms An Urgent Need To Improve How Students Are Supported When Choosing College Majors

  Earlier this year, a first-generation college student told a disturbing story in The Hechinger Report. She was in her sixth year at a four-year college, having changed her major twice and taken time off because she lacked a clear roadmap of what she wanted and how to get there. This, sadly, is not an unfamiliar tale. Choosing a college major is one of the most important decisions students make. It influences everything from employment and earning potenti....

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Pros and Cons of Saving for College in 529 Plans

Pros and Cons of Saving for College in 529 Plans

When you've been in the college funding business over twenty-five years and trained over 5,000 advisors, you've heard every possible story, received every possible pitch, and seen every possible blunder. In the financial services industry, every advisor has their 'favorite' investment. You want to make money. I get that. But regardless of the money made, you really should have your client's best interest in mind when suggesting products and investments. So the other day I get into a discussion....

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