Paying for College

One of the main reasons that people seek the help of professional investment services is because they want to start saving for their child or children’s college funds. Unfortunately, most people don’t seek the help of these services when their children are young. Instead, they seek them a year or so (or even later!) before their children are about to start college.

If you’re in the same boat, don’t beat yourself up. While saving well ahead of time is definitely smart, you can’t turn back the hand of time. If you’re in need of fast money to help pay for your child’s college costs, you do have some options.

To begin with, start looking at local scholarships for which your child is eligible. There are lots of good ones out there, but you’ll often have more luck if you turn to those lesser-known or local scholarships for which the competition isn’t quite so fierce.

It’s also, contrary to popular belief, not such a bad idea to take out a few college loans to help ends meet. A financial advisor can help you to choose smart loans and to develop a plan for paying them back.

Even if you didn’t start saving when you should, college is likely still a possibility for your child. You just need to take action now and get the right help to make it happen.

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Evaluating Assets

Wise Investments Holiday Card (Photo credit: pjchmiel)

Many people wrongly believe that the secret to wealth management is to accumulate as many assets as possible. In reality, though, that’s not true. When it comes to assets, it’s all about quality, not quantity. Instead of just trying to get a giant stockpile of assets, focus on accumulating a few high quality assets.

One thing to keep in mind when evaluating an asset’s quality is how well that asset will perform over time. Don’t make an investment just because it will net you a nice profit right away. Actually take the time to think about whether that asset will be working for you a year from now or even five years from now. If something doesn’t have the potential to be a good long-term investment, you should probably steer clear.

Secondly, always consider risk when assessing a potential asset. If an investment seems too good to be true, it probably is! If you must engage in high risk investments, be aware of the risk and have a back-up plan in case the risk proves itself to be true.

If you can keep these strategies in mind and maybe get some help from a professional investment advisor, there’s no reason you can’t expect good things to happen in your financial future.

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What to do When You Come into Money

A lot of people dream of suddenly coming into a large sum of money. And, while that might sound great, the sad truth is that around 70% of people who get sudden “windfalls”end up wasting all that money within a year or two, putting them right back where they started.  

Obviously, you don’t want that to happen to you. So, if you are fortunate enough to get a windfall, visit an investment services company for advice right away. Good companies will likely tell you to just plain do nothing with your money for a little while. Take a few months to get used to having it and to think about what you’d really like to do with it. Waiting will also keep you from making any impulsive decisions, such as buying lavish gifts for yourself or others.

After you’ve had some time to get over the shock of your windfall, then you can start working with the investment services company to put your money to work for you. If you’re at that stage of the game, contact Platinum Financial Associates, Inc. of Naperville for assistance.

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Who Pays the Lowest in Taxes

With tax time just behind us, it’s not at all uncommon to hear people griping about how much they had to pay or how little they’ll be getting back this year. If you’re in one of those “unhappy” groups, get ready to be jealous! USA Today recently named the state with the lowest taxes, and it’s not Illinois.

Unfortunately—at least for Naperville residents—the state with the lowest taxes is Wyoming. Its average annual state and local taxes only total up to around $2,635. That’s an astonishing 66% less than the national average.

While Illinois might not be able to compete with Wyoming at the current time, that doesn’t mean that you can’t still pay less on your taxes or fare better financially.  

In fact, if you take advantage of companies that offer things like tax help and investment services, you’ll see that it doesn’t really matter how the rest of the state is doing because you’re doing just fine.

To get that “just fine” feeling, contact Platinum FinancialAssociates.

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