At Last: Financial Education for Grown-Up Kids
Dear Fellow Parent:
It’s been seven months since we introduced financialfootprint and we continue to learn a lot about the personal financial needs of young adults. Not surprising they can range widely and the level of sophistication depends on how engaged they are or want to become in their personal finances. We’ve also had some parents ask, what is it exactly that you do? And while the answer depends on individual needs, I thought I’d share some specific examples:
- Worked with a college freshman to create an executable plan to graduate from a private university in three years. The outcome was to minimize debt and expense being incurred by the parents. Net effect: $60,000 reduction in projected private college cost for the 2013 / 2014 academic year plus a $50,000 income beginning a year earlier than originally planned.
- Assisted a 2010 college graduate in taking control of their difficult financial situation by designing a strategy to manage accumulated student loan debt. The complexity existed in that the loan providers varied and offered different terms along with the fact that some loans were co-signed by parents and others were not. A budgeting strategy along with payment deferment was the best solution.
- Helped a client with two different 401(k) Plans from former employers understand the options they had to 1) Keep the money where it was, 2) Rollover into an IRA 3) Take a distribution gaining access to the money or 4) Rollover to their new employers 401(k) Plan. Once they understood their options including the benefits and risks relating to each they chose to consolidate the previous plans into an individual Roth IRA, paying taxes now so during retirement the money coming out will be tax free.
Collaborative problem solving of relevant personal finance challenges is where our greatest value is delivered. Our clients experience both an educational outcome as well as a tactical game plan they can act on. Beyond problem solving, we work with our clients to build goal-oriented budgets. Whether it is saving for something special or just lowering the cost of day to day life, a budget is the foundation to taking control of our finances.
Frequently we find ourselves involved in helping solve problems, but our aspiration is to keep our clients from having them altogether.
Sincerely,
Dave Kittredge
Co-Founder and President
Testimonials
“To be honest, prior to the call I was actually a little bit nervous because I had no idea what to expect from my guide on the other end. The appointment was scheduled for 2:00pm and he called promptly at 2:00pm which I appreciated. After the session, my guide sent me a recap of everything we discussed. He gave me a list of “to-dos” and in turn also gave himself a list of “to-dos.” Overall he was great. he was very helpful and extremely personable. He even emailed me some website to use as a reference for researching credit card product options. This experience was enjoyable and I can see myself recommending the site to people in the future.”
- Katie, Providence, Rhode Island
Beta user, financialfootprint financial solutions
“One of the biggest problems I am trying to figure out revolves around how to allocate my surplus income between short and long-run savings. I was a little bit nervous going into the conversation because i was not sure what to expect, but my guide was very friendly and I was at ease almost as soon as we started talking. I was really impressed that he was able to come up with a basic budget plan, personalized for my income and expenses, based on a twenty minute conversation.”
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