Whether you are making a plan to travel or planning for retirement, determining an appropriate strategy ahead of time will provide guidance for a path to success and for actions to take when things might not go as smoothly as expected.
A 45-second read by Victor Cannillo: If you want to help a relative pay for college, you can pay the money to the college directly without incurring any gift taxes. However, you need to ask the school if this would affect the need-based aid eligibility of the student because each school handles this differently. For example, if the school views the money as a payment of the student’s account, then most likely it would not affect financial aid. But if the money is treated as a resource, then it will reduce the student’s aid “dollar-for dollar.”
A 90-second read by Anthony Benante: The first thing you need to do to see if you qualify for financial aid is fill out the FAFSA form: In order to apply for financial aid, you must complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form. There are certain criteria to first apply for financial aid – Go to the Federal Student Aid website – https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa to see that you meet all required criteria to apply.
You may have a stock in your brokerage account that has a very large gain since you originally purchased it. If you were to go and sell the stock, outside of a retirement account, you would pay taxes on the profit you made on the investment. This is called a “capital gain”.
This time of year it is not uncommon to find yourself burdened with an abundance of credit card debt. The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) provides this list of their top six tips to help you come out from under the weight of credit card debt.
Many young people face the dilemma of looking to purchase a home while still having student loan obligations. For example, you might question, is it better to pay off the student loan in its entirety and then work towards saving for a home purchase? Or continue paying off the student loan while saving for the home purchase?