Divorce is stressful on everyone involved, and the financial downside is usually anticipated by both parties. If you’re planning to divorce, you’ve probably budgeted for less income, sole responsibility for some larger expenses like a car payment, and legal fees. But, in our experience, divorcing couples are sometimes caught off-guard by some important misunderstandings or […]
Is it Time to Bail on the Oregon 529 Plan?
In a recent blog post, we outlined how 529 education savings plans work, and why they can be such an attractive tool for saving for education expenses. If you own or contribute to an account with the Oregon College Savings Plan, you probably realize that the administration of the plan changed (again) last year from […]
Understanding 529 College Savings Plans
If there are children in your life you plan to help pay for college, you have probably heard about 529 college savings plans. While there are other ways to save for the payment of education costs, the 529 plan is the most attractive. Let’s review why. The 529 plan originates from a section of the […]
Supporting Divorce Obligations with Life Insurance
Divorce often leaves families broken. Parents go in different directions. Asset are divided. Kids end up caught in the middle. It is a trying time in the best of circumstances. But what happens when the primary income-earner dies prematurely after the divorce? For the recipients of spousal and child support the consequences can be devastating. […]
Divorce, Kids and College
Over the past twenty years, our team of advisors has built literally hundreds of financial plans for our clients. At any given time, we’re in the process of crafting a dozen or more new ones. Many of these plans are for married couples, but a significant number are for single parents, who have either never […]
Could Applying For College Financial Aid Be Getting Easier?
Could it be that applying for financial aid for college will finally get a bit easier? The federal Education Department recently announced that the notoriously complicated federal financial aid form known as FAFSA will shortly be available in a user-friendly mobile form. The FAFSA (or Free Application for Federal Student Aid), which calculates how much […]
Big Changes to Oregon’s 529 College Savings Plan
With school back in session for Oregon’s students, it’s time for parents to respond to recent changes made to Oregon’s 529 education savings plan. TIAA CREF has been replaced as the Plan Administrator by Sumday Administration, LLC, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon. As a result, current Oregon 529 plan account owners are temporarily unable to […]
Oregon says “no” to 529 plan use for private schools
A few weeks ago we noted that Congress, though the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, allowed owners of 529 education plan accounts to pay for private school tuition for kindergarten through 12th grade. Funds taken from a 529 plan to pay for private school will not be subject to federal income taxes. However, we […]
The Oregon College Savings Plan and Tax Reform
As we mentioned in an earlier post, Congress made changes to 529 education plans when it passed The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017. It is now possible to use a 529 plan to pay up to $10,000 per year, per student for private school tuition for kindergarten through 12th grade. This is […]
You can now use a 529 Plan to pay for private school
The tax reform legislation signed into law on December 22, 2017, brings several important enhancements to 529 college savings plans. Beginning on January 1, 2018, account owners may take tax-free withdrawals up to $10,000 annually from their accounts for tuition expenses at public, private, or religious schools. This provision applies to elementary, middle, and high […]