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With gasoline prices steadily on the rise, many commuters are finding it more and more difficult to justify spending their hard earned money on the high cost of fuel rather than other necessities, including food and electricity. With that in mind, there are five simple steps that you can take to help stretch your dollar a little bit farther when it comes to your car’s fuel consumption.
Carpool. If you have children who are in school, consider sharing the driving responsibility with other mothers that live nearby. This is especially helpful if you can alternate days. Perhaps you would drive the children on Monday and Wednesday, while the other women fill in on the rest of the weekdays. This will save you money on gasoline and will also make the children’s ride to school a lot of fun because they will be riding with friends. The same is true of commuters on their way to work, who can share in the responsibility and costs of driving amongst one another.
Buy a smaller car. If you own an SUV or other large vehicle, your gas mileage per gallon will be less than if you were to own a smaller car. As a general rule, larger vehicles just normally use more gasoline. If you want to save money on the cost of fuel, buying a smaller car is a good start.
Purchase a hybrid car. These cars are fairly new on the market and are still quite expensive, but many find the benefits outweigh the high cost when they figure in their savings on fuel. Hybrid cars usually get better gas mileage per gallon and this results in big savings for the owner.
Turn off the ignition. If you are stuck in traffic that is moving about an inch per minute, then just put the car in park and turn the ignition off. While sitting in traffic, you are just using more and more gasoline and aren’t really getting anywhere. Rather than waste, try to save money by not leaving your car running in parking lots or your driveway. If you need to stop by the store and will just be gone for a minute, take the time to turn the ignition off. In addition to saving on gasoline, you will be ensuring that your car isn’t stolen by turning off the ignition and taking your keys inside the store with you. Many people would be surprised to know how many shoppers actually leave their car running while in the store.
Walk. If you live near a store, walk instead of driving. This will save not only in the price of your car’s gasoline, but also in the general everyday wear and tear that your car receives by being out on the road. No to mention, walking is good exercise and is generally safe for most people. So why not walk off some of those pesky winter pounds and save some money on gasoline in the process.
The aforementioned ways are five of the most popular to help you save some extra money where fuel is concerned. Some of the more obvious ways are to stock up when gasoline is decreasing in price. If you get $10 or $15 worth of gasoline every few days, you may get a good price one day and a terrible cost per gallon during the next trip. However, if you fill up your car’s gasoline tank while prices are still low, you will be sure to get the best deal possible. Not only that, but you may also end up saving some time at the gas pump when all of the other consumers are waiting in line to fill up before the prices go even higher.
Stocks ownership in a company. Each share of stock represents a small piece of ownership. The more shares a person holds, the more part of the company he owns. The more part of the company a person owns translates to more dividends he earns when the company profits.
A stock market is a market for the trading of publicly held company stock as well as associated financial instruments such as stock options and stock index futures. On the other hand, stock market trading is the buying or selling securities or commodities specifically in the stock market.
There are two basic methods of doing stock market trading. Traditionally, stock markets where open-outcry where trading happened on the stock exchange floor. The more modern way of doing stock trading is through electronic exchanges where everything occurs online real-time.
Stock market trading via the exchange floor could not look any more chaotic. When the stock market is open, hundreds of people are seen rushing about, shouting and gesturing to each another on the exchange floor. Traders are also often seen talking on phones, keeping a close eye on the consoles and entering data into terminals.
Online stock market trading moves the trading off the floors and more into the networks. The electronic market employs a vast network of computers to match buyers and sellers instead of human brokers. While lacking the excitement of the usual stock market exchange floor, it is faster and more efficient. Investors frequently get an almost instant confirmation on any trades done.
How does stock market trading work? Be it on the chaotic stock market exchange floor or electronically, one needs to get an investment broker first.
For traditional exchange floor trading, after asking a broker to buy a certain number of shares at the market, the brokerís order department sends this order to the clerk on the floor. The clerk alerts a trader who finds another trader who is willing to sell the shares the investor requested. The two traders agree on a price for the stocks and close the deal. Notification is sent back the same way until the broker calls the investor to inform him of the final price. This process may take a while depending on the market and stocks. Days later, the investor receives the confirmation mail.
The electronic counterpart is less complicated because the stock buying and selling are matched by the computers in real-time. And the investors get instant updates on what happens to his stock trade.Stock is ownership in a company. Each share of stock represents a small piece of ownership. The more shares a person holds, the more part of the company he owns. The more part of the company a person owns translates to more dividends he earns when the company profits.
A stock market is a market for the trading of publicly held company stock as well as associated financial instruments such as stock options and stock index futures. On the other hand, stock market trading is the buying or selling securities or commodities specifically in the stock market.
There are two basic methods of doing stock market trading. Traditionally, stock markets where open-outcry where trading happened on the stock exchange floor. The more modern way of doing stock trading is through electronic exchanges where everything occurs online real-time.
Stock market trading via the exchange floor could not look any more chaotic. When the stock market is open, hundreds of people are seen rushing about, shouting and gesturing to each another on the exchange floor. Traders are also often seen talking on phones, keeping a close eye on the consoles and entering data into terminals.
Online stock market trading moves the trading off the floors and more into the networks. The electronic market employs a vast network of computers to match buyers and sellers instead of human brokers. While lacking the excitement of the usual stock market exchange floor, it is faster and more efficient. Investors frequently get an almost instant confirmation on any trades done.
How does stock market trading work? Be it on the chaotic stock market exchange floor or electronically, one needs to get an investment broker first.
For traditional exchange floor trading, after asking a broker to buy a certain number of shares at the market, the broker’s order department sends this order to the clerk on the floor. The clerk alerts a trader who finds another trader who is willing to sell the shares the investor requested. The two traders agree on a price for the stocks and close the deal. Notification is sent back the same way until the broker calls the investor to inform him of the final price. This process may take a while depending on the market and stocks. Days later, the investor receives the confirmation mail.
The electronic counterpart is less complicated because the stock buying and selling are matched by the computers in real-time. And the investors get instant updates on what happens to his stock trade.
How to (not) Day Trade
So you’d like to earn your living Day Trading? You have all heard the stories of losing Day Traders running down the streets shooting people?
During the heady .com days prior to 2001, (when Bush became president,) there were stocks, 3 or 4 times a week that went up from 30 to 200% a day. It was possible, if you knew what you were doing, to check before the market opened to see which stocks were running in real time and why. And, if you then had a fast electronic brokerage system you could dive into the market, buy a bunch and sell them the same day.
About 1% of people doing this consistently made money. I saw one private individual make a million in one day shorting Corel. And then there was somebody who lost a bunch hanging on too long to the WWWF IPO. As a matter of fact the bottom line is that if you take inflation into account you’d have been better off putting your money in an old sock since 2001.
So what to do?
Give up on the Stock Market let alone give up on Day Trading? Don’t give up on the Stock Market, if you use the right system which is a simple set of formulas you can still make 30% or more on your money annually. Using this simple system $11,000 left in the market for 17 years would be worth more than one million dollars today.
But it is not Day Trading and you still would need a strong stomach to sit out these 17 years, because some of those years would give you negative returns. The bottom line is this; if you want to Day Trade there is only one way to do this today. And that is with MINDBLOWING News. MINDBLOWING News along the lines of:
XYZ corporation finds cure for cancer. ABC Inc invents Eternal Life Pill DreamCar Corp invents car that runs on water.
You get the idea.
And then I am going to use another qualifier:
You should get this news BEFORE most other people get it.
How to do this:
For about $10 a month you can get a subscription to real-time market news. Get your Real Time Market News at about 6 AM Eastern Standard Time. Say you find the real time news that a company has invented a car that runs on water.
Check the time the news was first released, making sure that news item was not available yesterday. Buy the stock now with money that you can afford to burn ALWAYS USING A STOP LOSS.
Most electronic brokerage firms today allow you to buy stocks on NASDAQ only as early as 6 AM EST. Sell the stock at 9.28 AM EST to all the traders that are waking up.
You could conceivably double your money. So would you then trade again in this stock after the market opens officially? No,I would not.
Too many mindgames will be played by market makers during the first day with the stock that produced the mindblowing news.
Remember the statement above:
“There have been very few days since 2001 that any stocks actually went up more than 30% in one day, the oomph has disappeared from both the Nasdaq and the Dow.” Never hold the mind blowing news stock overnight, because people in most cases will dump it on the second day.
One more tip:
Never buy IPO’s on the first day. The most touted IPO(meaning almost all large brokerage houses were praising this IPO to the sky) cost people the most in decreased value on the second day after the IPO came out.
Who were the winners? The brokerage houses.
So, if you have money to burn, have a cast iron stomach and want to watch market news from 6 AM to 9.28 AM EST, Day Trading may be for you.
In tough financial times, saving money is easier said than done. For many of us, once we’ve paid the bills and bought the essentials, there is just not much, if anything, left to save. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could save up at least a little money each month without even missing it? Actually, most of us can.
Some people make the effort to dig out exact change when they buy something. But the overwhelming majority of us just fork over the closest thing we have in paper money. When we get change back, we stuff it in our pockets and forget about it. Once we go home, it often ends up on the dresser. We may forget about it for weeks or months, or the kids might get it and spend it on candy or toys. Just imagine how all that change that we toss aside could add up over time.
Instead of leaving change lying about where it will get lost or pilfered, try putting it into a jar, piggy bank or some other container. Avoid spending it, and use only bills to pay for everything. If you faithfully put all your change in there, you will be surprised at how quickly it fills up. You might even find that you need a larger container if you want to save for any length of time!
Try saving your change in this manner for a year. If you have an extra dollar bill or two, feel free to throw that in as well. Just resist the urge to borrow from your fund, and let it keep growing. At the end of the year, you could have enough money to buy something nice or do your Christmas shopping. And if the entire family pitches in, you might even end up with enough money to take a vacation!
Saving change is also a good way to start an emergency fund. It will take some time, but saving up slowly is better than not having any money put away at all. Once you have built up some change, you could roll it up and put it into an interest-bearing savings account or a short-term investment vehicle to add a little more to it.
Other Ways to Save Change
If you do not usually spend cash, it is still possible to save up your change. Some consumers who keep most of their money in a checking account round their checks up to the next dollar when subtracting them in their registers. This leaves them showing less money than they actually have in their bank accounts. It takes some getting used to when balancing your checkbook, but once you get the hang of it, it is a great way to save change without actually handling it.
Some banks have also begun to offer programs that help account holders save change when using their debit cards. They round each purchase up to the nearest dollar, and transfer the difference into a savings account. Check with your bank to see if they offer such a program.
Even the most careful budgeter can waste change without even realizing it. By making a conscious effort to save your change, you can accumulate lots of extra money in a year’s time. And best of all, you will probably never miss a few cents here and there!
Credit card debt is one of the most wide spread financial problems throughout many countries of the world. The convenience of using credit cards, combined with the special offers, discounts and reward systems offered by the credit card companies make this method of paying for goods the number one favorite for hundreds of millions of people. However, irrational spending or simply gradual uncontrolled spending habits can lead to a lot of accumulated debt. Preventing this is essential, as it is much easier to avoid credit card debt problems before they grow strong, instead of battling them when they are already at maximum intensity.
The temptation to use credit cards repeatedly a fact that is also supported by the reward systems and lower monthly payments – will often lead to debt problems. Here are a few tips that will help you use your credit cards more wisely and enable you to prevent the unpleasant situations of having to pay off credit card debts: Set your budget create a framework for a monthly budget, as this will enable you to get a better sense of what your earning and spending balance is. Much notice that they simply can’t stick with the planned budget in this case you should leave your credit card at home when going shopping, and use cash instead. Try to pay as much of the balance for each month. Don’t settle for the minimum payment, as that will gradually develop into credit card debt as you are loosing quite a lot of money to interest rates.
Always remember that your credit card is a cash substitute, nothing more. You can either carry a balance, which comes with a high interest loan or you can make the minimum payments. Although the amount of the minimum payment seems insignificant (it is usually around 3% of the entire balance), this approach will gradually put you in debt. The credit card company accepts such low payments because they get their money back from keeping you in debt for an unlimited period by using high interest rates.
Many studies have been carried out on the psychology of the credit card owner. We tend to spend more than we can afford, own things that are above our financial reality levels and gratify an immediate need with a debt that might take years to pay off. Try to adapt your spending habits to your life style and earnings. If you can’t pay off the balance on a monthly basis, then you are going into a vicious circle of overspending and credit card debt. Don’t use the credit card anymore, until you pay off the outstanding balance. You should also make sure to pay it off on time, as there might be late fees and different other financial penalties that will further complicate your debt problem. Your credit record will also get damaged if your payments are inconsistent and you are often late with them.
Prevent credit card debt by making sure to keep your finances simple. Use only one or two credit cards, if possible. The more cards you have the higher are the chances that you will not be able to pay them off in time. Never pay off one credit card balance with another credit card. If this happens, you need to drastically change your spending habits and come up with a good credit card management plan. Cash advances might sound attractive, but the truth is that they come with higher interest rates and you don’t get a grace period. There are also transaction fees to worry about.
The credit industry is extremely dynamic, and credit card issuers are always trying new ways to convince more people to sign up with their services. Different forms of rewards, life insurances, protection plans or point systems were created to make the credit card plans more attractive. Make sure you don’t let your emotional side dictate when you make a credit card related decision. Getting free gifts or free air miles sounds amazing, but is it really worth it? Try to base your choice on hard facts and a realistic financial plan, not on an advertising created fantasy.
Filing for unemployment can leave you feeling like you’ve been raked over the coals. But when you are approved for benefits, it is all worthwhile. Its not always over when you get approved, though. Your former employer has the right to contest your claim, and if he exercises that right, you’ll have to attend a hearing to prove that you are eligible to receive benefits.
The very thought of an unemployment hearing is intimidating. What chance does a former employee have against a company that has been through all of this before? Actually, if he was honest when filing for unemployment and was not terminated for cause, there is a good chance that he will win.
The key to winning an unemployment hearing is being prepared. Here are five things you can do to make sure you are ready for such an important event.
1. Consider working with a lawyer. If you can not afford one, your state is Legal Aid office may be able to set you up with one. Having an attorney who is knowledgeable about employment law will give you a better chance of keeping your benefits.
2. Write to the company and request a copy of your personnel records. Send your request by certified mail, with a return receipt requested. If the company sends the documentation, it may be used in your defense. If they refuse to send it or do not do so in a timely manner, that is a strike against them in the eyes of the judge.
3. Write down a statement of the facts of your case as you understand them. The judge may wish to see this statement. Even if he does not, bringing it to court can help you remember key arguments and prevent misstatements.
4. Ask witnesses who can legitimately back up your story to testify. Getting former co-workers to testify can be difficult, because they may fear losing their own jobs. But if you can convince them to do so, it could add credibility to your case.
5. Prepare questions to ask your former employer, or help your attorney prepare them. Asking the right questions will put your ex-boss on the defensive, forcing him to admit to errors or wrongdoing.
Unemployment hearings may be held in person or over the phone. Either way, it is important to be punctual and act in a professional manner. If the hearing is in person, be sure to dress appropriately.
Some individuals assume that a hearing will be the end of their unemployment benefits. But that is not always the case. Even if you fear that you will lose, it is important to attend the hearing and present your case. If you do not, you will not only lose your benefits now, you could be barred from receiving them for several years.
The annuity is a very unique type of investment. Instead of a bank or stock broker, investors obtain annuities through an insurance company. And while annuities have certain things in common with life insurance, they are not the same thing. They offer low risk while providing an opportunity to receive guaranteed income for a given number of years, or even for the rest of your life.
Annuities come in many different flavors. There are immediate annuities, which begin immediately after the annuity is purchased, and deferred annuities, which may begin years or decades later. Fixed period annuities pay out for a specified period of time, while lifetime annuities pay out until the annuity holder (and in some cases the annuity holder’s spouse) dies. Single premium annuities are paid for in one lump sum, and flexible premium annuities are funded by a series of payments over time. And then there are fixed and variable annuities.
Fixed Annuities
Fixed annuities are known for being safe, stable investments. The issuing insurance company guarantees the principal of fixed annuities, as well as a minimum rate of return. Growth in value is fixed at a given interest rate or dollar amount, or determined by a formula disclosed when the investor purchases the annuity.
Growth of fixed annuities is not always limited to the minimum interest rate. When an insurance company experiences unexpectedly high growth on annuity investments, it may pass that growth on to holders of fixed annuities in the form of dividends. Terms and conditions related to such dividends should be outlined in your annuity contract.
Variable Annuities
Variable annuities have more in common with mutual funds than fixed annuities. Money put into a variable annuity is invested in a fund with a particular investment objective. Like retirement accounts, variable annuities usually offer investors a choice of funds with varying degrees of risk.
Unlike fixed annuities, the payments distributed through variable annuities fluctuate according to fund performance. When the fund performs poorly, your payment decreases. When it performs well, it increases. There is no guaranteed rate of interest, and it is possible to lose principal with this type of annuity.
Variable annuities often come with a death benefit. That means that you can designate a beneficiary to receive the greater of your account balance or a guaranteed minimum. This prevents the loss of money invested if you die before withdrawing all of the money in your account.
Fixed and variable annuities each have certain benefits. Which one is best for a given investor depends on his goals and tolerance for risk. If you are looking for a safe, guaranteed investment, a fixed annuity may be the best choice. If you want to maximize your potential for returns, a variable annuity might be better for you.
There was a time when road trips were among the best vacation options for those on a budget. But with rising gas prices, they have become much more expensive. Even so, many vacationers still enjoy hitting the road and seeing the sights along the way. When planning a road trip, it is crucial to estimate gas costs as accurately as possible. If you just guess, you could find yourself halfway to your destination and out of money! Here is how to determine approximately how much you will have to spend on gas.
1. For at least a couple of weeks, keep track of your gas mileage. The easiest way to do this is to fill up and reset your trip odometer. The next time you get gas, fill up again and write down how much gas it took to fill up and how many miles you drove.
2. Divide the miles driven by the amount of gas used. For example, if you drove 200 miles and it took 10 gallons to fill up, you would divide 200 by 10 to get 20 miles per gallon.
3. Remember to fill up each time you get gas and figure your gas mileage. Once you have done this a few times, add up the results and divide the total by the number of times you filled up to get your average gas mileage.
4. Figure out how many miles you will be driving during your vacation. This is easy to do with online tools such as Google Maps. Just put in your starting point, add your destinations in order, and you will see a map with the best route and the total mileage.
5. Divide the total number of miles you will travel by the miles per gallon figure you came up with. Multiply that number by the price of gas per gallon, and you will have a good idea of how much you can expect to spend on gas.
Keep in mind that gas prices fluctuate. By the time you take your road trip, gas prices could have gone up or down. They will also vary from city to city. So it is smart to budget a little bit extra, just to be sure.
Saving Money on Gas
There are some things you can do to keep your fuel costs as low as possible. Here are a few:
* Seek out the cheapest gas prices along the way. Check prices in the towns and cities you will be passing through on a site such as GasBuddy.com, and try to fill up at the least expensive stations.
* Use cruise control when practical. This will keep you at a constant speed, which can seriously improve your gas mileage.
* Avoid speeding. Not only can this get you an expensive ticket, it is also bad for gas mileage. The optimal speed for fuel efficiency is 55 mph, and when you go faster than that you are using more gas than you should.
* Avoid abrupt stops and starts as much as possible. Try to coast to red lights so that they will have time to turn green before you reach them. When you have to stop, accelerate slowly and steadily when the light turns green.
* Get a tune-up before you leave. Things like replacing air and fuel filters and making sure your tires are inflated properly can help boost your gas mileage.
Creating a gas budget for your road trip can help avoid unpleasant surprises along the way. And if you drive with fuel efficiency in mind, you might even use less gas than you had planned.
For those in the workforce, Unemployment Insurance provides a safety net in case of job loss. But not everyone who loses a job is eligible for unemployment benefit. Certain criteria must be met. These criteria differ from state to state, but many similarities exist.
Initial Eligibility
Most of those who qualify for unemployment benefits have lost their jobs. In order to qualify, they must have been terminated through no fault of their own. Being laid off is one example of involuntary termination, but it is not the only one. Employees who were fired without reasonable cause may also be eligible.
In some cases, those who voluntarily quit a job may be eligible for unemployment benefits. The worker must have left with good cause, and the definition of good cause varies from state to state. In general, employees must have quit due to some sort of unfavorable working condition, such as significantly reduced hours or pay, an unsafe work environment or a change in duties that is at odds with moral or religious beliefs.
Some states allow those who have had their working hours reduced to stay at their jobs and collect partial unemployment payments. In such cases, the employer usually initiates the unemployment claim. Your state unemployment office can provide details about eligibility.
In addition to these requirements, claimants must meet their states requirements for time worked and/or wages earned during a specified period of time prior to unemployment. Money earned during this base period is also used to determine the amount of benefits the claimant is entitled to.
Maintaining Your Eligibility
When you first file for unemployment benefits, the state will determine whether or not you are eligible. Even if they find that you are eligible, your former employer can contest the claim. If this happens, you are entitled to a hearing to state your case. If you want to continue to receive unemployment benefit, you must attend the hearing and prove that you are in fact eligible.
Those who are receiving unemployment benefits must be ready, willing and able to work. States usually require those collecting unemployment benefits to register with the State Employment Service. They must actively look for jobs and document their job search and they must accept reasonable offers of employment. In some cases, however, those receiving unemployment benefits may attend school full time instead of looking for a job.
In order to continue receiving benefits, you must file claims every week or two weeks, depending on your state’s requirements. This may usually be done online or by phone. Claimants must report earnings, job offers and refusals. Claimants must also report to the unemployment office for interviews as requested.
Filing for unemployment benefits can be intimidating. But it is important to do so as soon as possible after separation from employment. Benefits may be delayed for up to two weeks even if you are eligible, so the sooner you file, the better.
Coming up with the money to pay for college is no easy task. Saving up over the years starting when your child is young makes things easier. But when you have retirement savings and everyday expenses to think about, it may be difficult to find room in the budget to save as much as you’d like to.
Having help from friends and family can reduce the burden of saving for college. In the past, it was difficult for others to make contributions specifically for college expenses. They usually had to send cash or a check and hope that it would go toward college. But with the Freshman Fund, making such a contribution has become much simpler.
The Freshman Fund is a company that facilitates contributions into 529 college savings plans. Parents can create an account for a child and notify friends and family members. When they want to make a contribution, they can easily do so online. Funds are then put into a designated 529 account. If the parents have not yet opened such an account, funds are held in an interest-free account until they do so.
Those who wish to send a gift of college savings can do so even if the recipient doesn’t have a Freshman Fund account. Gift certificates may be sent to anyone with an email address. The recipient can redeem the certificate into any 529 plan. This is a wonderful way to encourage those you care about to start saving for college, and it ensures that the money will not be spent on something else.
College Money for Birthdays and Holidays
More and more parents are opting to discourage traditional gift giving for holidays and birthdays. It seems that most of the gifts end up collecting dust, wasting space and eventually cluttering up landfills. Encouraging friends and family to give money for college is much more practical, especially considering that their gifts will draw interest until your child pursues higher education.
Freshman Fund users can send email notifications to others to let them know how they can make a contribution. They could also add links to the account to birthday party invitations. These are great ways to encourage contributions as an alternative to the usual kinds of gifts.
A 529 plan can help you save the money your kids will need for a college education. And now, it’s easier than it has ever been for people outside the immediate family to pitch in. When combined with family contributions, Freshman Fund contributions can really add up. By the time your child is old enough to go to college, he could feasibly have enough money to pay for tuition, fees and other allowable expenses with little or no outside help.Coming up with the money to pay for college is no easy task. Saving up over the years starting when your child is young makes things easier. But when you have retirement savings and everyday expenses to think about, it may be difficult to find room in the budget to save as much as you’d like to.
Having help from friends and family can reduce the burden of saving for college. In the past, it was difficult for others to make contributions specifically for college expenses. They usually had to send cash or a check and hope that it would go toward college. But with the Freshman Fund, making such a contribution has become much simpler.
The Freshman Fund is a company that facilitates contributions into 529 college savings plans. Parents can create an account for a child and notify friends and family members. When they want to make a contribution, they can easily do so online. Funds are then put into a designated 529 account. If the parents have not yet opened such an account, funds are held in an interest-free account until they do so.
Those who wish to send a gift of college savings can do so even if the recipient doesn’t have a Freshman Fund account. Gift certificates may be sent to anyone with an email address. The recipient can redeem the certificate into any 529 plan. This is a wonderful way to encourage those you care about to start saving for college, and it ensures that the money will not be spent on something else.
College Money for Birthdays and Holidays
More and more parents are opting to discourage traditional gift giving for holidays and birthdays. It seems that most of the gifts end up collecting dust, wasting space and eventually cluttering up landfills. Encouraging friends and family to give money for college is much more practical, especially considering that their gifts will draw interest until your child pursues higher education.
Freshman Fund users can send email notifications to others to let them know how they can make a contribution. They could also add links to the account to birthday party invitations. These are great ways to encourage contributions as an alternative to the usual kinds of gifts.
A 529 plan can help you save the money your kids will need for a college education. And now, it’s easier than it has ever been for people outside the immediate family to pitch in. When combined with family contributions, Freshman Fund contributions can really add up. By the time your child is old enough to go to college, he could feasibly have enough money to pay for tuition, fees and other allowable expenses with little or no outside help.
