By David Alemian

College tuition for your children is one of the Seven Retirement Killers™. Just when you should be really focusing on saving for retirement, along comes this massive bill called college tuition for your kids. It’s bad enough if you only have one child, but if you have two or three children, or more it’s absolutely staggering.
Paying for college is not easy and one mistake can financially affect the rest of your life. A huge mistake many parents make is they start a 529 plan to save for their kid’s college education. There are simply too many restrictions and risks associated with a 529 plan. I have three words to say about a 529 plan… “Don’t Do It!!!”

Easily the biggest and most common mistake parents make is using their retirement money to pay for their kid’s college tuition. As a result, those parents find themselves in their late 40s and 50s with absolutely no retirement savings.
The best way to put your kids through college is to get someone else pay for it. There is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization called Power of Working Together www.POWT.org. This organization works with families to help them get merit award money from the colleges. They have a terrific program that the student goes through. It’s a lot of hard work but it’s definitely worth it.
Merit award money is free money that you do not have to pay back. It comes in the form of discounts on your child’s college tuition. That means the money is not taxable because it’s a discount, not actual cash.
The same way that students compete to get into the best schools, the schools also compete to attract the best students. Each school has a profile of what they consider their ideal student.
Contrary to popular belief, students do NOT have to be athletic, or academic superstars, to get merit award money. The student simply has to match the profile of the school’s ideal student. Students should start as early as the eighth or ninth grade and as late as early in their senior year in high school. The earlier they start the better, because it gives the student more time to prepare.

Free Webinar

Before I go, I have a special invitation for you. On Wednesday, March 30th, 8:00 PM Eastern time, 5:00 PM Pacific, save the date!!!
My friends at Next Generation Trust Services are presenting a live webinar on self-directed IRAs. I’ll be on the webinar too talking about the Seven Retirement Killers. We’ll have a live open question and answer period and you can ask me any question about retirement you like. It’ll be a great opportunity for us to interact together in a live open forum. There is no selling involved at the webinar. It is for educational purposes only.
Please register for How to Avoid the 7 Retirement Killers Webinar on March 30, 2016 8:00 PM EDT at:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1107679172834399748
In the meantime, check out and “LIKE” The Alemian File Facebook page, or simply go to the www.theAlemianfile.com. Absolutely make sure you come back here next week to for another edition of the Alemian file, because the more you learn… the more you know!!!

About David Alemian

Successfully creating affordable retirement plans guaranteed to last a lifetime is a unique, specialty skill. It’s a challenging arena but respected writer David Alemian makes it look easy. Alemian is a leading retirement expert and nationally recognized authority whose expertise is shared via video columns, numerous journals, and talk-shows.
His national recognition results from both revolutionizing and revitalizing how organizations and individuals like you and me plan and save for retirement. Alemian is considered “The Go-To Guy” for creating and implementing absolutely irresistible, lifetime retirement pension programs.
Formerly the host of “It’s About Money” Radio Show, Alemian has also produced and is featured in over 200 financial education videos. Additional content can be found in many well-respected, publications including: MD Magazine, Physician’s Money Digest, Physicians Practice, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Consultant Live, Psychiatric Times, Cancer Network, OB/GYN.net, and The Healthcare Executives Network.