Oops...it makes sense to go back and read my own BLOG posts!

It never even occurs to me to go back and read my own BLOG for good ideas!

Well, I was looking back at postings from March and I found one reminding myself that the girls have some US Government Bonds that are in their name that they can get tax benefit from if they utilize them for education.

In fact, this is exactly why my mother gave them.....for college!

Now that Kim is a senior, she needs to spend them this year on school.....or pay taxes on them when she ultimately cashes them in. I will have to talk to our accountant (Terry Strout) and ask him how we have to document their use as being for education. (Can we cash them in and just dump the money into checking and then write checks of an equal or greater amount for education expenses....and how do they define those anyways?)

So I guess I've learned something by reading my own BLOG.......if others come out with even a small bit of insight, I suppose I am doing something good. (at least I would like to hope so)

College Tuition Time of Year again

Well, it is that time of year again......no, I'm not rushing it, I'm talking about August...the time college starts again after summer break.

But right now is when the thoughts of paying the bills come to mind. I received the $17,500 (or so) bill from Pratt and it is due by August 24th. I have not yet received the bill from the University of Tennessee (UTK), but I'm sure it is "in the mail".

In the long term, Cheryl and I had prepared to pay these by saving money, and I have that fact placed solidly in my head.....but still, when that bill shows up with all those zeros......it is a bit of a sticker shock.

I just don't have a checking or savings account with that kind of bread in it......so it's always an investment transfer, which sort of puts it all into perspective. I normally slap it down on my AMEX for a month so that I can use that time to transfer the money from a mutual fund. (and get the total costs figured so that I only do the transfer once)

This year has the added complication of Kristen transfering to UTK and Kimberly moving off-campus to an apartment. All of those costs are "new" and as of this moment, not fully understood. We had the loans and monthly payment plans figured out for Hofstra, and that is all up in the air for UTK as of now.

The other problem is that it looks as thought the loans taken while at Hofstra basically "come due" 6 months after she leaves the school because the loans appear to be connected to the school and not the student. (I guess this keeps people from going on and on as "professional students" and never paying off their loans) I have no clue as to how much those loans might be...I think they were small though....like $3500 per semester.

So writing this is probably less interesting for you the reader, but it helps me get my mind around the money that I will have to be paying out in the next month or two. At least it will
cause me to go and look at my investment accounts and get a mental sense of where I will have to "dip in" to get this money.

Education is a good investment......I know that, so I'm not in the least upset. Also, Cheryl and I had planned this pretty well, so other than a few small expenses we never thought of, everything has been OK to plan so far.

My foray into FAFSA

I thought this was actually my first connection with FAFSA, but apparently I had filled out a PIN application before this. Having done that, when I approached FAFSA again for a PIN, I was stopped at the moat!

Of course, I forgot my PIN from 3 or so years ago, so the FAFSA people had to check me out by asking all sorts of personal questions and then asking me to answer my "secret" question. (which for some reason I was able to remember)

But why does it take FAFSA 4 hours to email out the PIN? Are there really computers processing this request, or people looking in huge rolodex?

If you have kids and you they are going to school beyond High School, you need to know about doing a FAFSA.

Here is how the website describes their function:

Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S. Department of Education, plays a central and essential role in America's postsecondary education community.

Federal Student Aid's core mission is to ensure that all eligible Americans benefit from federal financial assistance—grants, loans and work-study programs—for education beyond high school. The programs we administer comprise the nation's largest source of student aid: during the 2004-05 school year alone, we provided approximately $74 billion in new aid to nearly 10 million postsecondary students and their families. Our staff of 1,100 is based in 10 cities in addition to our Washington headquarters.

Among our most visible and essential services are the development, distribution, and processing of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the fundamental qualifying form used for all federal and government-guaranteed commercial lenders' programs—as well as for many state, regional and private student aid programs. By filling out the online or paper FAFSA, applicants start the process of qualifying for aid. Each year our staff processes approximately 14 million FAFSAs.

Because we oversee $391 billion of outstanding student loans, it's our job to ensure that all of our partners in the student aid community—schools, lenders, servicers and guaranty agencies—operate fairly, honestly and efficiently. Another key role we perform is to make students and their families aware that financial aid is available and is a necessary first step to further education. As America's premier source of federal student aid information, we distribute numerous publications, host multiple Web sites and run several customer call centers.

Before you attempt to fill out a FAFSA, you really need to get your hands on the Checklist of Documents Needed form and collect up those documents. The main papers needed are your prior year's tax returns.

You will of course need Social Security numbers, bank statements, and other investment, income and Federal Tax records.

FAFSA is the main clearing house for all loan and grant money information. It isn't all that hard,. but requires patience to finish.

Thank God for our simplicity and my wife's organization

I wrote a post along the same lines a week or so ago, but I thought I would update people on the progress to date.

Money does NOT make the world go around:
My wife's passing has been an emotional roller coaster, and I have commented on that quite a bit in my Journal....but I wanted to keep this BLOG at least somewhat related to personal finance....so I don't mean to make our situation sound like it is all about money....far from it....it is MOSTLY about family, and as my father ALWAYS told me: "Money does not make the world go around....but it sure greases the wheel."

Translation....doesn't doesn't buy happiness, but life is sure harder if you don't pay any attention to it at all.

Well, I want to report that I have not quite finished a month and I feel a bit more in control of the finances. I did have an initial problem with cash flow....not having enough money in the bank to feel safe about writing checks against any bills....but once I pulled a little from savings in as a buffer, I felt a lot better. (actually, there probably was enough, but not having an actual knowledge of what we really expected for bills, it made me unsettled to be as close as $200 from zero)


Bloated Mastercard Bill:
I fully expect about a $14,000 Mastercard bill coming in about January 15th....but that is mostly due to the funeral expenses of about $11,000. That is the largest credit card balance I have ever had....though there was one time we paid part of my daughters college semester on the card in order to grab some of the cash back we get from Mastercard. (but we always paid it off)


The Roll of Insurance:
This brings me to the topic of insurance. Get some....make sure it at least covers burial costs. it isn't all that expensive, and it helps your survivors. We have a fairly large policy on me, and only the policy my wife had at work on her.

The concept behind our doing that was that I am the big bread winner, and it is "mostly" my salary that ran the house. In fact, for a number of years my wife stayed home with the kids because we both agreed this was the best thing for them....so my salary was critical and had I died back then, she needed to replace that salary in order to live. (and not in a cardboard box)

So we really had little insurance on my wife...but enough to make a dent in things we owe in all this. But let me be clear, the big problems in life are not money problems.....they are generally emotional in nature and are often connected with health, love and people.

Oh, and our insurance only covers us for our daughters time in school. We bought term policies for just a couple of years longer than they would be in school. Term was cheaper, and we were trying to guarantee the viability of our payment for school....after that and we figured we could live on our own savings. (but our daughters education was very critical to us)


Current Cash Flow & Long Term Investment:
My short term cash flow is under control....I need to focus a bit more on my long term investment situation, since I think this will be changing given our new family configuration. Also, my youngest daughter wants to change schools, and keep going for her PhD....which I want to support in some manner. (for tuition)

We certainly are NOT millionaires, but Cheryl and I had goals to get our daughters into school and to pay for their education. So this is part of the plan. (I just need to make sure things are "tuned up" to maximize our opportunity to do just that)

Tomorrow I tackle the world of College Finances and FAFSA

This is another area where Cheryl and I discussed matters, but Cheryl pushed the keyboard and made it happen!

FAFSA....this is going to be a brave new world for me, and one I really need to master if my daughter is going to transfer to another school. Tomorrow I set off on a learning experience.

I need to create my own FAFSA log-in and get synced up with the rest of the family.

Technically speaking, I should have had my own already given that I am also going to school nights for an MBA....but since I wasn't going to be getting any federal money, I didn't think it made any difference. (well, it might have calculated into the entire family education "load".....my bad)

So at least this is a more "standard" process that I can learn about. There are plenty of online help pages, and even books written on the subject.....so I become a FAFSA student come tomorrow!

Wish me luck.....

My latest wrestling with our home finances.....

I thought I would just post some of the finance thoughts and things I have been pondering these days. I have not written as often as I had in the past, so you may not have followed our families situation.

My wife passed away just before Christmas last month, so quite frankly, money has not been anywhere near the top of my priority these days. Not that it isn't important, but as my dad used to say..."Money doesn't make the world go around, but it sure greases the wheel."

But let's face it, taking care of my daughters and family affairs is top priority....because blood is thicker than money. (ok...so I did a mash-up on a couple of old sayings....you get the guist)

But I have to admit that I can't just "forget" money....neither Cheryl nor I were born with a silver spoon in our mouth....and life isn't free.

Neither Life nor Death Are Free:
So here are a couple of things that have come up that you might never have considered. First, passing away isn't inexpensive. Even if you have some form of insurance, it is at least a cash flow problem. Simple services and burial costs between $10,000 and say $13,000....and the cemetery plots up here in NH are actually quite reasonable. (my wife and my plots costs $750 per site with a cost of another $750 to "open" the site for burial...but remember this cost pays for upkeep of the cemetery forever. Even inexpensive when you consider it "by the acre" :-)

The funeral home arrangements were about $9300. (I don't think that is too personal to disclose) I never looked into these costs, but I guess I wasn't surprised by any of them. Then there were all the costs for various ceremonies and participants. (no, I will not itemize those....but they include donations to the priest, church, organist/singer, and other people who worked along the way...all donations, but customary)

But back to that comment I made about the NH funeral plots being inexpensive..... my cousin who came up from Florida for my wife's funeral, and he wants to be buried with his parents in Woburn Mass. He took a ride over to size it up and get a price for cemetery plots. (Not my idea of a fun time....but he wants to have all his ducks in a row so that he doesn't impact his mate when he passes away...hopefully many, many years from now)

Anyways....the plots there in Woburn cost $2200 each! (Both are Catholic Cemeteries too!) I knew land was cheaper here in NH, but that sort of difference is crazy.

So I suggest everyone at least consider how their passing will impact the remaining family members, and either set money aside or have some level of insurance.....I suppose that is a tough thing to consider, but it doesn't have to be. We talk about health and auto insurance and we clearly never want to use it just the same.

Short Term and Long Term Planning:
Besides this cash flow crunch, I have also been starting to think about my youngest daughter's desire to transfer to another college. Cheryl and I had a financial plan worked out where we have saved money to help our daughters get through college, so this is a topic we have discussed many times.

My focus now is around Kristen's desire to go on for her PhD.....and believe you me, I am thrilled that she understands the value and wants to do that! (My dad warned me not to stop my education because it would be tough to get back to it...and I have to say, my dad was 100% correct!)

So I'm not so much stressed about Kristen transfering (I am taking a week off from work to take a grand tour of a few colleges on the east coast with her soon)...nor am I too worried about her leaving $30,000 in scholarship money behind at Hofstra, since I do want to support her and Kim to the fullest. As we talked about this the other night, I realized that I just moved my investment portfolio on to a more "conservative" tack. (I am worried about our economy, the falling dollar, and the housing bubble....but you know I worry a lot less about it when I don't pay attention! the old saying is right-on: "Ignorance is bliss!!!")

So I guess I need to add one more item to my massive "to-do" list....to again look at our long term financial plan for everything and re-balance it given a slightly higher (and longer) cost of college.

But like I noted earlier....I have my priorities....and unless the market is crashing down around my ears, I have more pressing priorities at the moment.....like my kids! The finances can wait until they get back to school and I get back to my empty house. (not actually empty at the moment with both my girls and my mother in-law here right now :-)

I hope this sort of BLOG entry isn't so boring or "frightening" as to turn people off....please bear with me as we get through our family problems. I will attempt to keep all my posts at least tangentially related to personal finance...and perhaps bring up topics like this that some may not even consider thinking about. (but will probably unfortunately affect every one of us at some point in our lives)