During this episode of The Confident Wealth Podcast with Bill Bush and Pete Bush, they interview Sean McAllister, Associate at Loeb Law Firm. Sean McAllister discusses how married couples can protect themselves from potential divorce issues, prenuptial agreements and post-prenuptial agreements, budgeting, and domestic cohabitation contracts.   Episode Highlights:   00:28 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce Sean McAllister and recap the previously discussed points from Family Law & Finances- Pt. 1. 01:01 – How does Sean McAllister recommend that married couples protect themselves from potential divorce issues? 02:02 – Prenuptial agreements and post-prenuptial agreements aren’t really that common.  04:12 – What are examples of when it would be a good time to consider a post-prenuptial agreement? 04:50 – How does a domestic cohabitation contract protect marriage partners? 07:20 – What is Sean’s advice for someone to create a budget to work their way through these divorce protections?   09:43 – Family homes aren’t always paid off at the point of a divorce split. 12:05 – Divorces can be a long drawn out process. Set money aside for court costs and living expenses.   13:39 – What happens when you fail to inform yourself about your spouse's assets on the side? 17:20 – Don’t forget to change your insurance and retirement benefit beneficiaries when you get divorced. 19:58 – Make sure your divorce attorney is a good fit with you and your needs. 22:17 – What are some of the resources that people getting divorced should use? 3 Key Points: The nuclear family is diminishing in favor of other alternative living arrangements, such as brothers and sisters living together or parents with their kids. Create a budget that includes the cost of living without your partner, emergency funds, and expenses you wouldn’t normally incur back when you were married. Money doesn’t care about your pride.   Tweetable Quotes: “Louisiana calls for matrimonial agreements, which basically say you can contract anything that isn’t against public policy, public policy being stuff like you can’t contract out of paying child support.” – Sean McAllister “I encourage prenups in situations where somebody has a child from outside of the marriage and brings it into the marriage and there are certain protections you can take to protect that child’s interest or inheritance.” – Sean McAllister “Contracts in Louisiana, if you are a couple and you are not married, you can still make contracts and protect yourself. But Louisiana is a civil law state. It is not common law. So, there is no common law marriage or anything.” – Sean McAllister     Resources Mentioned: Horizon Financial Group The Confident Wealth Podcast bbush@horizonfg.com pbush@horizonfg.com Linkedin: Sean McAllister Sean McAllister’s Email: smcallister@loeb-law.com Sean McAllister’s Phone Number: (985) 612-1946 Loeb Law Firm: loeb-law.com Louisiana Revised Statute 9:315: justia.com/codes/louisiana/2011/rs/title9/rs9-315/  

The Confident Wealth Podcast

Divorce: The Effect on Finances & Family, Pt. 2

During this episode of The Confident Wealth Podcast with Bill Bush and Pete Bush, they interview Sean McAllister, Associate at Loeb Law Firm. Sean McAllister talks about Louisiana Revised Statute 9:315, understanding divorce and finance, and what to expect when children, pensions, property, and tax returns are involved.     Episode Highlights:   00:29 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce the subject of divorce. 01:18 – Sean McAllister introduces himself and his work experience. 02:00 – What was it that pulled Sean towards working in family law? 03:15 – What makes divorce law different in Louisiana? 05:30 – Are divorce stats in Louisiana the same as other areas of the United States? 07:32 – What kind of expenses occur with divorce? 09:06 – One way to prepare for financial downside of divorce is trying to agree on as many costly areas as possible.  10:01 – How should a couple seeking a divorce go about dividing property? 11:11 – In which ways does having kids complicate a divorce situation? 14:38 – Sean McAllister discusses Louisiana Revised Statute 9:315. 14:15 – Seek out financial advice. 17:04 – How are tax returns affected by divorce proceedings? 19:26 – What are some of the issues that come up with pensions and retirement funds during divorces?  21:15 – Seek out financial advice. 23:04 – How are tax returns affected by divorce proceedings?     3 Key Points: If you have kids and you are getting a divorce, the ex-couple has to live separate and apart for a year. If you don’t have kids, you have to live separate and apart for six months. The percentage of married couples that get divorced in Louisiana is about 22-25%. Financial stress is one of the leading causes of divorce.   Tweetable Quotes: “We’re kind of a jack-of-all-trades firm, very multidimensional, work all across the entire state, do a lot of insurance defense, plaintive personal injury, family law. You name it, we will basically do it.” – Sean McAllister “What made me want to be an attorney is that I’ve always been attracted to the idea of representing somebody, and family law is so individual and so personal that, going through a divorce is one of the hardest times in anybody’s life.” – Sean McAllister “The trend across the country is that when the economy is going good, divorces are lower too and when the economy is going bad, divorces kind of go up. Divorces, the rates have been falling over the last couple of decades.” – Sean McAllister     Resources Mentioned: Horizon Financial Group The Confident Wealth Podcast bbush@horizonfg.com pbush@horizonfg.com Linkedin: Sean McAllister Sean McAllister’s Email: smcallister@loeb-law.com Sean McAllister’s Phone Number: (985) 612-1946 Loeb Law Firm: loeb-law.com Louisiana Revised Statute 9:315: justia.com/codes/louisiana/2011/rs/title9/rs9-315/ 

Divorce: The Effect on Finances & Family, Pt. 1

In this episode of The Confident Wealth Podcast, Pete and Bill Bush of Horizon Financial Group discuss the market downturn due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, and the declared global pandemic. Pete and Bill talk about strategies you can use to stay positive in scary times when your account value is declining. How can you build, gain, or maintain confidence during trying times? 

Confidence in the Face of Fear

This episode of The Confident Wealth Practice Podcast with Bill Bush and Pete Bush address the problems and issues associated with cybersecurity and how to protect yourself. Learn more about the financial scams that are targeting your credit cards and digital banking accounts. The cybersecurity defenses discussed in this episode can help you build up a stronger wall of protection from becoming a victim.     Episode Highlights:   01:36 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce the topic of cybersecurity. 02:03 – Pete Bush talks about having a credit card compromised. 02:35 – Bill Bush talks about having his email password compromised. 04:07 – Pete and Bill discuss a new cell phone scam to be on the lookout for. 04:52 – Storing your credit card numbers on websites makes you more exposed              for fraud. 05:24 – Create unique passwords. 05:57 – Keep your security software current. 07:30 – Pay attention to your accounts and your updates. 08:02 – Set up alerts for account activity. 09:14 – Check your credit card reports for suspicious activity. 10:24 – Get into a daily habit of checking your cash-flow accounts. 11:45 – Watch out for skimming devices that often happen at gas station pumps. 12:38 – Use cash for small purchases. 13:13 – Look into identity protection. 14:42 – Notify your credit card company when something is wrong and              consider a credit freeze. 16:30 – Go to gov/cyberforsmallbiz for cybersecurity resources. .   3 Key Points: Beware of a new scam where people are taking other people’s cell phone numbers, porting them to a different phone and when the two-factor authorization comes in it goes to their phone instead of the victim’s phone. The best defense is to have a good offense and take proactive steps to limit your exposure to fraud. Check your financial cash-flow accounts daily.   Tweetable Quotes: “Your information is still out there and there are bad people waking up everyday trying to figure out how to take it.” – Pete Bush. “Make sure you have multiple passwords and one for every different account.” – Bill Bush. “The more you shop online, the more your family is out there with cards stored on sites and things like that, you are just more exposed.” – Pete Bush.     Resources Mentioned: Horizon Financial Group bbush@horizonfg.com pbush@horizonfg.com gov/cyberforsmallbiz    

Defending Cybersecurity Threats in Your Financial Life

This episode of The Confident Wealth Practice Podcast with Bill Bush and Pete Bush take a look at the recent college football championship victory of the Louisiana State University Tigers and how the valuable lessons from that win can be applied to achieving your own financial success.     Episode Highlights:   00:30 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce the topic of how the lessons learned from the LSU Tigers college football championship win can translate into one’s financial life. 03:00 – What is the ultraspecific goal that you are setting for your financial year? 04:49 – What is the ‘summer of 10,000 passes?’ 06:41 – DIscipline is needed to make it through the long haul of focusing on your financial future. 08:14 – Have a lot of good options while putting your best investment choices. 08:51 – Coaching played a role in the LSU Tigers and it can do the same in your financial life. 11:07 – How do you go about reloading and rebalancing your investment decisions when your investments overperform or underperform? 13:45 – Pete Bush talks about having played baseball for LSU and taking the small daily steps that are needed to get better and reach goals. 14:42 – There is a time for celebration. Have people to share your wins with. .   3 Key Points: Set one unified goal for your family’s or your company’s financial future just as the LSU Tigers had one unified team goal to win the national championship. Discipline is need to stick with your financial goals on a long-term basis. Advisement offers a continual feedback loop to coach you through your decisions.   Tweetable Quotes: “At the beginning of any year, we need to sit there and we need to look ahead and we need to say, ‘What is it that we’re trying to accomplish?’” – Pete Bush. “You set the goal. But then you go about chipping away at the work that it takes to get there.” – Bill Bush. “You can’t be in your own financial world and in your head and completely understand and see everything.” – Pete Bush.     Resources Mentioned: Horizon Financial Group The Confident Wealth Podcast bbush@horizonfg.com pbush@horizonfg.com      

Lessons from a National Title

This episode of The Confident Wealth Podcast with Bill Bush and Pete Bush is the 9th installment in their series, The Value of Working with an Advisor. During this installment, Bill and Pete talk about the problems associated with not having a will, the value of having an advisor to walk clients through the process of estate planning, organizing and maximizing value, getting help with gift money to causes, how to handle life transitions, and how to prepare for taking care of your parents or other family members in the future.   Episode Highlights:   01:26 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce the topic of leaving a legacy, life              transitions, and caring for others. 02:18 – Everyone can use some coaching. 03:20 – Most people don’t have a will. 04:17 – What is the harsh reality of not having a will? 06:43 – What is the value of having an advisor when leaving a legacy? 08:07 – There is a moment in time when it is too late to designate a power of              attorney. 09:32 – Organization and maximizing value is important. 10:42 – Special needs situations can arise. 12:15 – Gifting is also leaving a legacy. 12:49 – Life transitions and taking care of others are emotional situations and can              lead to emotional decisions.  17:30 – As we age, health and abilities can decline and require help with financial              planning. 18:47 – What is a good way to bring up financial planning with your parents to              make sure they are taken care of in the future. 20:23 – A little bit of prevention is better than a lot of a cure. . 3 Key Points: People falsely assume that estate planning is only for rich people. Advisors can break down the complexity of estate planning into doable action steps for their clients. Death, divorce, kids moving out of your house, and inheritances are often unexpected situations that require financial planning.   Tweetable Quotes: “Most people, some 70%, do not have a will.” – Bill Bush. “Powers of attorney do end when you die. That is when your will kicks in. But at the same time, you are planning against these contingencies that just say, ‘you know, that is a good safety net to have.” – Pete Bush. “For a current income tax-type planning, which has really bubbled up with these new tax law changes, is you can set up a donor advice fund. Even though you may not know who or when you want to gift it yet.” – Pete Bush.     Resources Mentioned: Horizon Financial Group The Confident Wealth Podcast 

The Value of a Financial Advisor: Leaving a Legacy, Life Transitions, and Caring for Others

This episode of The Confident Wealth Podcast with Bill Bush and Pete Bush is the 8th installment in their series, The Value of Working with an Advisor. During this installment, Bill and Pete address the subject of preparing for retirement in a manner that you can feel confident about. What type of retirement goals do you have for you and your spouse? How will your financial needs change during different phases of retirement? What are the various ways financial planners can assist future retirees with proper preparation? Bill and Pete have the answers for you.   Episode Highlights:   01:37 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce the topic of planning for a confident              retirement. 03:17 – Social Security is typically not enough to rely on for retirement. 03:51 – When you get to 50 the clock towards retirement starts ticking. 04:47 – What is the date and amount you need for retirement? 06:09 – What are your retirement goals? 07:29 – What are the three stages that some retirements fall under? 08:04 – How should you go about taking out extra money earlier in retirement? 09:49 – How does healthcare play into retirement planning? 11:15 – Mortgage debt is a huge problem in retirement. 12:06 – Which unique factors should retirement planners prepare for? 13:26 – What are all the things that a financial advisor does to help clients prepare              for a confident retirement? . 3 Key Points: Have a dollar-specific/date-specific plan. The three phases of retirement generally are: checking off dream activities from your bucket list, the slowing down phase, and the older stage of not wanting to do anything. Runaway healthcare costs are the number reason for bankruptcy during retirement.   Tweetable Quotes: “A married couple that is 65, there is a one in two chance that one of them lives to be 90.” – Bill Bush. “It is better for people to think in terms of retiring to something instead of from something.” – Pete Bush. “A lot of times we are recommending going into retirement with no debt of course, going into retirement with a couple of years of cash that you can get your hands on.” – Pete Bush.     Resources Mentioned: Horizon Financial Group The Confident Wealth Podcast 

The Value of a Financial Advisor: Preparing for Retirement

This episode of The Confident Wealth Podcast with Bill Bush and Pete Bush is the 7th installment in their series, The Value of Working with an Advisor. Listen and learn all about how financial advisors can assist you with preparing, analyzing, and guiding your ever-changing financial situation. Bill and Pete point you in the right direction for budgeting, reviewing recurring fees, and overcoming disorganization.   Episode Highlights:   01:45 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce the topic of organizing, monitoring and              guiding your financial life. 02:45 – How can not having a budget becomes a setback? 03:41 – Are you paying too much in taxes? 04:47 – What financial opportunities are you missing out on by being disorganized? 05:40 – Make sure you have a 3-6 month emergency fund. 06:50 – Are you paying too much for insurance? 07:51 – What is your process for reviewing interest rates? 08:52 – Have a plan to have something to measure your financial life against. 09:47 – Are you letting your time management fall apart? 12:06 – Update your plan to adjust to life changes. 14:00 – Not knowing your numbers is a huge mistake. 15:15 – Are you up-to-date on technologies that can help you stay organized? 16:40 – Take advantage of the experience that advisors have to speed up the              process. 17:15 – Financial advisors can simplify the complex situations and minimize fear. . 3 Key Points: Give a name to every dollar that you spend to keep a strong budget Pay attention to interest rates and mortgage rates. The “I will get around to it” excuse is a form of being disorganized.   Tweetable Quotes: “Have you ever stopped and kind of put a price on disorganization might be costing you?.” – Pete Bush. “If you stay ready you don’t have to get ready.” – Pete Bush. “A high percentage of Americans can’t withstand an emergency of even $400 dollars...which is in this day and time nothing.” – Pete Bush.     Resources Mentioned: Horizon Financial Group The Confident Wealth Podcast 

The Value of a Financial Advisor: Organizing, Monitoring & Guiding

This episode of The Confident Wealth  Podcast with Bill Bush and Pete Bush is the 6th installment in their series, The Value of Working with an Advisor. Gain some useful insight on budgeting and cash flow. Find out how financial advisors can help clients get a handle on their budgets, find out where their problematic areas are, and how to go about building healthier spending and savings habits.     Episode Highlights:   00:55 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce the topic of budgeting and cash flow. 02:15 – What exactly is a budget? 03:32 – Do clients that budget have a higher chance to build wealth? 05:39 – What about folks that claim to have their budget in their head? 07:32 – What is the value that financial advisors can bring to budgeting? 09:49 – How can Horizon help young people get started with financial planning? 11:35 – What are some ways that advisors help clients get started with budgeting? 13:51 – How can advisors help clients get debt under control? 14:30 – What can be done about long-term goals and freeing up more money? 15:52 – Where does money leaking out typically go? .   3 Key Points: Review your household budget on a month-to-month basis. Advisors can bring value to a client’s budgeting by showing them how to increase savings and investments, how to reduce spending. Money can’t bring you happiness. But, if you are worried about money, it is hard to be happy.   Tweetable Quotes: “What a budget is, is the matching of income and outflows. The matching of income and expenses.” – Pete Bush. “There is some stat out there I read recently that says most people can’t afford an emergency of over $400. And that’s not much in this day and age.” – Pete Bush. “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” – Pete Bush.     Resources Mentioned: Horizon Financial Group The Confident Wealth Podcast  

The Value of Financial Advisor: Budgeting & Cash Flow

  This episode of The Confident Wealth Podcast with Bill Bush and Pete Bush continues on as the 5th installment in their series, The Value of Working with an Advisor. Learn more about the inherent risks we have, and how we can manage them from a financial advisement standpoint.     Episode Highlights:   01:56 – How does insurance come into play with life and death situations? 02:40 – What are you doing to manage your downside risk? 04:05 – There is a cost to waiting too long for insurance. 05:56 – Bill Bush shares a personal insurance story. 07:05 – Why do some folks underestimate their insurance needs? 08:52 – How does an advisor go about managing inherent risks? 10:19 – Usually there are financial incentives to get insurance evaluated. 11:27 – Motivate clients to take actions on steps towards their insurance needs. 13:01 – Focus on the difference between the cost of the insurance premium and the cost of the problem.   3 Key Points: The cost of the solution is always a fraction of the cost of the problem. Evaluate your need to find potential solutions for it. The steps for an advisor to manage a client’s inherent risks include: full analysis, figure out what is already in place, see if there are any gaps that need to be filled, keep reviewing, and motivate people.   Tweetable Quotes: “Life is going to happen. Thus, death is going to happen too. And of course, that can leave a big financial hole in a family or a business.” – Bill Bush. “It’s important to separate out the cost of the problem from the cost of the solution – Pete Bush. “You should monitor your beneficiaries, kind of review that, maybe in an annual review with an advisor.” – Bill Bush.     Resources Mentioned: Horizon Financial Group The Confident Wealth Podcast  

The Value of a Financial Advisor: Managing Inherent Risks

In this episode, we dig deeper into the conversation about how a financial advisor adds value. In this fourth installment of this ongoing series we delve into the strategies and advantages of managing and minimizing your taxes. No one wants to pay too much in taxes. Learn about the right way to have your tax professional implement deductions, tax credits, taxable events, HSAs, and Roth conversions.   Show Notes:   1:11 - Are you sure that you aren’t paying too much in taxes 4:08 - Don’t miss available deductions and tax credits 6:00 - Horizon Advisor Network looks back at old returns to find savings 8:06 - Certain investments produce tax credits 8:17 - Coordinate taxable events with your CPA or tax professional 9:07 - The higher you go, the higher amount of tax opportunities you can use 9:31 - What are the advantages of using HSAs 11:14 - How can you make Roth conversions work for you 12:05 - Horizon can help you coordinate charitable givings     3 Key Points: Know the right questions to ask your taxes and financial advisors to confirm you aren’t paying too much in taxes. Changes to your tax bill have to be done before December 31st of the tax year. In 2019, you can put $19,000 in your 401K plan.   Tweetable Quotes: -    “Who wants to pay the government more than they really need to?” – Bill Bush - “Are you confident that your tax and financial advisors have proactively turned over all of the stones to minimize your tax bill?” – Pete Bush - “How would you overpay? Well, you would miss a deduction. You miss a strategy there where you could have reduced your tax bill.” – Pete Bush       Resources Mentioned:   https://confidentwealth.libsyn.com Horizon Financial Group 

The Value of a Financial Advisor: Managing and Minimizing Taxes

  In this episode of The Confident Wealth Podcast, Bill Bush and Pete Bush, Advisors at Horizon Financial Group, continue their series on how financial advisors offer value. This time, they discuss planning and managing investments including the typical mistakes that investors make and how advisors can help them avoid those mistakes.     Show Notes:   0:35--- Introduction of the financial advisor series 2:10--- The logical and emotional sides of investing 5:55--- What studies say about investing with and without advisors 6:30— Investor behavior is the most important factor that affects an investor’s bottom line 7:50--- The common mistakes that investors typically make 10:58--- Why people make multiple mistakes at one time 12:00--- Disciplined investment is integral 12:35--- Talking through investment processes is helpful 14:30--- How advisors help increase your bottom line 17:35--- The average investor does not have the expert knowledge of a financial advisor 18:30--- Advisors can make adjustments along the way 19:20--- The next episode in the series will have to do with taxes     3 Key Points:   Investors typically make emotional mistakes. When investors make mistakes, they typically make several together.  Financial advisors help in a few major ways - saving time, providing expert understanding.   Tweetable Quotes: -        “The herd is usually wrong. They’re always doing the thing that they shouldn’t be doing.” -     “Most people don’t make one of these mistakes isolation, they make them in conjunction with each other.” -     “Make sure you worry with someone.”   Resources Mentioned:   The Confident Wealth Podcast-- Discover more about the Podcast Horizon Financial Group   Contact Information: bbush@horizonfg.com pbush@horizonfg.com 

The Value of a Financial Advisor: Planning & Managing Investments

Summary: In this episode, we continue the conversation about how a financial advisor adds value. We talk about how the financial advisors role is to “lay the tracks.” The advisor encourages positive habits and behaviors that help you get to your end financial goal. They make large tasks bite-sized achievable actions.   Show Notes:   :30 - How to break your finances into habits you do everything 1:00 - Making Your financial goals small, bite sized achievable actions 2:00 - Big, 30-40 year long-term goals can be intimidating 5:15 - Why your behavior determines if you will succeed of fail 5:30 - How your financial advisor laying your action track so that you will take action and be successful 6:00 - Inertia is a big thing especially in personal goals 10:00 - The financial advisor plays the role of a sounding board 12:30 - The financial advisor helps break large tasks into manageable tasks 13:30 - Laying the foundation of habit is important so that the investment train can run on them     3 Key Points: A financial advisor plays a key role in making large asks achievable. The advisor lays the tracks and holds you accountable for the goals you want to achieve. The financial lays the tracks so that investments can run on that foundation.   Tweetable Quotes: -    “A good coach is going to keep you on track to where we know he knows that if you eventually just follow this track, that it leads to success and you get down there a month, six months a year down the line and you look at and go wow, I got the results. But I didn't get them all at one time. I got them inch by inch. Yeah. And so the reality is, if there's no accountability built in, it's easy to veer off” – Pete - “Some people may say, Well, I don't make enough money, or, you know, I don't have enough to do what I want to do, or whatever. The truth of it is, is that most of the time we behave ourselves out of what we want.” – Bill - “So we have things that scare us, they take us off our path, we run into challenges that maybe we're not motivated anymore. And so we get off our path. So to your point without a coach or accountability partner, let's say accomplishing anything of these important magnitudes is very, very tough.” –Pete       Resources Mentioned:   The Confident Wealth Podcast  https://confidentwealth.libsyn.com   Horizon Financial Group 

The Value of a Financial Advisor: Laying the Tracks

In this episode of the Confident Wealth Podcast, the Bush Brothers talk about the value of a financial advisor. The starting place for any relationship with an advisor is to sit down and create a roadmap of your financial goals - past, present, and future. From there, the financial advisor serves as your thought partner, mirror, and accountability partner. There is a lot of value that can be captured from having a relationship with a financial advisor.     Show Notes:   1:28 - How people can get value out of their financial advisors 2:00 - Managing the relationship with your financial advisor 2:20 - Financial advisors build your financial roadmap for you 6:14 - The importance of writing down the roadmap 7:00 - The financial advisor also serves as a coach - a mirror for their client 10:00 - Financial advisor also helps manage emotions - fear of loss is twice as strong as the excitement of the game 12:34 - The unique, defined planning process of Horizon 13:39 - Taking your plans out of your head and onto paper helps to figure the little things out and take care of them immediately 15:15 - The financial advisor is your thinking partner and mirror     3 Key Points: One of the main roles of a financial advisor is to create a roadmap with you, allow you to share your goals, and be your thought partner. Financial advisors manage your emotions while helping you achieve your goals. At the end of the day, your financial advisor is a person you can count on to hold you accountable and tell you where you need to improve financially.   Tweetable Quotes: -    “It could be eye opening for folks that have never had that type of relationship or engagement. Many folks might think of it as well, you know, advisor kind of looks over investments and that kind of thing. But really, it's a hopefully a long lasting relationship that has many levels in many ways to bring value.” – Bill - “At some point, you stop, and you go, Okay, I have all these things, I have some assets have all this stuff. But what does it mean? Like, you know, how can I turn it into income, or what is my plan, so to speak. So I think the very first thing that we can do, again, any journey you go on, obviously got to know where you're starting from. So not just taking an assessment of where you are now. But really defining where is it what you want to go and then laying out that building that roadmap so to speak.” – Pete - “Because a coach can do something that no other human can do for themselves, which is hold up the mirror and go, Hey, look at that. See that right there? Yeah, that's what I see. Now, you're in your own head, you're in your own body, you're living in your own financial life, you may not be able to see outside of that.” –Pete       Resources Mentioned:   The Confident Wealth Podcast https://confidentwealth.libsyn.com   Horizon Financial Group 

The Value of a Financial Advisor: Building a Roadmap

During this installment of The Confident Wealth Podcast from the Horizon Financial Group, hosts Pete Bush and Bill Bush discuss how to manage, save, and withdraw savings for your child's college education. They answer questions around how much money to save, when you should start saving, and how to withdraw it.   Show Notes:   0:50---Introduction of today´s topic--saving and paying for college. How do you do it? 2:00---The 529 plan is a good way to save for college. You save after-tax money and all the earnings on this money is tax-free when you withdraw it. Depending on your state, you may also get a tax deduction or match. 4:00---College isn't a surprise. You know it is coming and the cost of education is escalating. Plan for it. 4:30--- Where do you start with saving? How much do you save? The sooner you start, the more time you have for your money to compound. 5:24---Time is your best friend when it comes to saving. 6:00---You don't need to know what school they are going to to start saving. 6:34---Saving for college is like the reverse of buying a house. You need to save like it is a mortgage or a bill. However, with college, you incur the bill at a later date. 8:30---Louisiana isn't broker fund. They are government funded, and they use Vanguard so the funds are leaner. 9:00---Now with the new tax code, you are capped at deducting $10,000 from taxes. College savings have tax and Match incentives. 10:30---There is a limit on the deduction, but you can always save more than that. 11:30---You can also make up a prior year´s max amount the year after if you weren't able to get the tax return. 12:12---In the past, you couldnt use 529 money for high school or any time before college. 529 isn´t available before college now. It is strictly regulated. 13:00---However, now there is a k-12 start account that you can use for high school tuition. 14:00---How do we decide when to withdraw the funds? 14:30---The funds are relatively easy to withdraw. You can write a check to the school and then write a check to yourself through the 529 plan. Or, you send the money to the school directly from your 529 plan. 15:15---What happens if your kid gets a scholarship? You are still allowed to take out the amount of money up to the amount of the tuition. They don't penalize you for scholarships. 16:20---If your kid decides not to go to college, you can change the beneficiary to your other child who wants to go to college. This is a tax free change. 17:30---The parents can also use the funds towards going back to school as well. 19:27---Sometimes the 529 makes you declare which school the kid will go to, but this does not restrict where the kid goes to school. Also, the child just needs to be a resident of the state when the account is opened, meaning that your kid can go to any school out of state without penalty.     3 Key Points: Saving money for your child to go to college can seem complex. Setting up a 529 plan is an after-tax way to compound your earnings and pay for your child's education without tax stipulation on your account´s earnings. You don't need to know which school your child will attend or the state of the school. You start saving by setting up an account, and if your child chooses not to attend college you can always pivot the account to support someone else´s college education--your other child or even your own. The 529 plan is flexible.   Tweetable Quotes: -       “529 allows you to put away after-tax dollars. However, the earnings on these dollars can grow tax free if it is put away for college.” –Pete. -       “Start as early as you can.” –Pete. -       “You kind of have to assume, in this day and age, that they are going to want some form of higher education.” –Pete.     Resources Mentioned:   The Confident Advisor Practice-- Discover more about the Podcast Horizon Advisor Network 

The 411 on 529's: Saving and Paying for College Education

The Confident Wealth Podcast is a production of Horizon Financial Group. Each episode explores tips, strategies, and perspectives for building, maintaining, and growing CONFIDENCE in your financial life.