You’ve shopped for new clothes, bought their school supplies, enrolled them in after-school activities and arranged the carpool.

Congratulations, you’re well on your way to starting the new school year on the right track!

But what about next year and the years following?

If your back-to-school checklist doesn’t include a plan for future education needs, you might need to make some additional preparations.

It may seem like college is years away, but waiting to save for those expenses — even for one year — can make a great difference.

Photo by Whimsy Studios

Planning For Their Future

Children grow quickly, and the cost of a college education is growing at an even faster rate.  Today, many of the elite institutions cost upward of $30,000 annually to attend—and those costs are projected to double in 18 years.

The sooner you start thinking about future college costs, the more time you’ll have to develop and implement a solid education plan.

• 5.9 % Average increase in public university tuition from 2006–2007 school year to the 2007–2008 school year

• $ 148,004 Estimated cost of four-year public university in 2026

• 5.9 % Average increase in private university tuition from2006–2007 school year to the 2007–2008 school year

• $ 300,000 Estimated cost of four-year public university in 2026 (Statistics from CollegeBoard.com)
  

An Education Plan

Creating an education plan will help you determine how much you’ll need to save for your family’s future education needs.  When it’s time to implement your plan, there are several options available, including 529 College Savings Plans.  The plans are one of the best ways to save for higher education, since they provide tax-deferred asset accumulation, professional management, flexibility, as well as several other benefits not available in other education saving options.  Most 529 plans also offer systematic investment options, allowing you to make regular, automatic contributions and take advantage of compounding and tax-deferred growth.

As you prepare for a new school year, make an appointment to speak to your Financial Advisor about developing a customized education plan that may help you meet your college-funding goals.  Even if you already have a plan, it is still a good time to meet with your Advisor for an annual education review to make sure you are still on the right track.

When Should You Start?

Whether your child is preparing for kindergarten or studying for the SATs, an education plan should always be a part of your back-to-school checklist.

_____________________________________________________

Related Posts:

• Personal Finance 101:  What is a 529? -   The Simple Dollar
• A Good Problem To Have (How He Saves) -  Dumb Little Man
• What Is the Value of a College Education? -  Financial Aid Podcast
• 529 College Savings Plan -   Wikipedia

_____________________________________________________

Guest Author Bio:
Todd Herrenbruck is a Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Milwaukee, WI.

You can reach Todd via email, phone 414-226-3106 or by visiting his website.

Let’s Talk

• Do you have an educational plan?

• Is it an important part of your family’s future?

• How important is it for your kids to go to college?

• Is it expected or do you believe that it’s an individual choice that each child needs to make?

• Is your child planning on attend a private or public university or.. maybe a technical college?

Since my daughter is 19 years old, this is a subject that has been on my mind quite a bit over the last two years.  It’ll be interesting to hear some other opinions.  — VickyH

Did you know that Blog Action Day will be having a 12 hour Blog Talk Radio Talk-a-thon?

It’s happening on October 15th, 2008 (Blog Action Day) from 12:00pm (EST) to 12:00am (EST).

“Using Social Media For Nonprofits” Roundtable

One session that will be on the Blog Talk Radio Talkathon will be a “Using Social Media For Nonprofits” roundtable discussion.

The session will be live beginning at 5:00pm (EST) to 5:45pm (EST). We have some of the best bloggers, social media experts, and nonprofit experts included so it should be very interesting.

Who’s on the roundtable panel?

Host: Easton Ellsworth, U.S. Coordinator Blog Action Day,
Cohost: Vicky Hennegan
Panelists: Paul Chaney, Liz Strauss, Mark J. Carter, Beth Kanter.

Beth Kanter

Nonprofit Technology Trainer, Consultant, and Evaluator

Beth Kanter is a trainer, blogger, and consultant to nonprofits and individuals in effective use of social media. Her expertise is how to use new web tools (blogging, tagging, wikis, photo sharing, video blogging, screencasting, social networking sites, and virtual worlds, etc) to support nonprofit. She has worked on projects that include: training, curriculum development, research, and evaluation.She is an experienced coach to “digital immigrants” in the personal mastery of these tools.

She is a professional blogger and writes about the use of social media tools in the nonprofit sector for social change.

Liz Strauss

The founder of SOB (Successful and Outstanding Bloggers) list and the founder of SOBCon Conference, which is a biz school for bloggers.

Anyone who knows Liz personally knows what a giving person she is. Liz is constantly giving to others and views her friends and clients success as part of her success. Liz has two main mottos that envelop exactly who she is as a person and business woman, they are “be irresistable” and “you’re only a stranger once“.

Mark J. Carter

Over the last 7 years Carter has interviewed, worked with and/or been mentored by the best professional relationship builders.

Then Carter put everything into a duplicable, step by step system by taking the best of their strategies (and these people ranged from what you would call business “movers and shakers” to the “nice guys/girls”…the common thread: they all got (and get) results from their relationships).

In addition to networking Carter builds social media campaigns that not only create word of mouth marketing but also build relationships online and offline.

One of his current projects is serving as Director of Social Media for www.SavingTheWorld.net; an online community created by NY Times Bestselling Author Tim Sanders (just released his latest book, “Saving The World At Work“). The focus is creating change in your workplace and your community.

ONE80 Consulting :: Training

“Building Pivotal & Profitable Business Relationships”

Paul Chaney

Paul is the Internet Marketing Director for Bizzuka, a Web design and development company based in Lafayette, Louisiana. When he’s not serving Bizzuka, he also serves as President of the International Blogging and New Media Association (IBNMA), a non-profit trade association dedicated to advancing blogging, podcasting and social media as an industry.

Paul has been involved in online marketing for nearly a decade. As one of the first business blogging consultants he understands at a granular level how conversational media tools such as blogs can be used for marketing purposes and has worked with a number of clients assisting them in deploying such strategies.

Paul was co-founder of Blogging Systems, a blog software company that significantly impacted the real estate industry in terms of encouraging Realtors to adopt blogging as a marketing strategy. Along with Blogging Systems CEO Richard Nacht, he co-authored Realty Blogging: Build your Brand and Outsmart Your Competition, which similarly impacted the industry and which was the first blogging book to target a specific industry vertical.

He is a feature writer for Practical Ecommerce magazine on the use of blogs and social media for marketing purposes. He has led numerous workshops and seminars on the topic, including the first ever such seminar in Asia in 2005. He also blogged professionally with Weblogs, Inc, as well as with Allbusiness.com.

Paul has served as Technical Editor on a number of the “For Dummies” series books related to blogs and Internet marketing, and was contributing writer on Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies, published by Wiley..

Realty Blogging (Paperback)

by Richard Nacht (Author), Paul Chaney (Author)

Junta 42 #14 of Top 42 Conversational Media Marketing

Social Media Resources:

Web 2.0 Social Tools Starter List

Beth’s Wiki
Lots of links and resources about nonprofits and social media -
explore and enjoy

Eight Secrets of Social Networking for Nonprofits

Social Networking Options for Nonprofits

How To Find Your Blog Community: Managing Information Overload

Netsquared

Social Actions

NTEN

Blog Action Day Posts

Can You Live A Life In Poverty?

Excerpt Imagine if:

• Your life purpose was getting clean water for your children to drink that day.
• Living with abundance meant having a plate of food and not just scraps.
• Manifesting your dreams included having a roof over your head.

What if you had nothing, and had to scrape by every day, worried about necessities like food and water and housing? Most people in extreme poverty do not have the luxury to think about a life purpose – other than how to stay alive. That is their purpose. Food, Water, Shelter.

For every Life Purpose Course you purchase from us today we’ll donate $25.00 to Heifer.org and buy some goats, chicken and water systems to support others.

My Poverty Callout

Excerpt
So you want to help? Then tighten your belt
You’re going to do things that’s going to be heartfelt
Look inside yourself, ask what you will do
If you struggling and your country won’t help you
What do you do? How about where you’ll go?
How’s a stranger going to help? Just let him know
that “I don’t want to hand out, just a hand up
So I can contribute to life’s everloving cup”
I have desire and I want to leave my mark
In this world before my lights goes dark
What can I be? What can I contribute?
I could be a doctor, who can distribute
the cure for many diseases, for every season

The Vicious Cycle Of Poverty (Or Why Jessie Won’t Go to College)

Excerpt After all, as Winston Churchill eloquently put it, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

What will you give today?

Tell you what… I’ll donate $25 to Save the Children for every pledge of $10 or more from each of you out there. Just drop me a note in the comments with your pledge, and go here to make your donation.

If there are companies out there that would like to make a more substantial donation, I’ll be more than happy to recognize you for it in a follow-up post. Send me email with the details. Thanks for your time and attention.

In closing, thank you to everyone who participated in Blog Action Day! Bloggers Rock!

Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day.

One Issue, Thousands of Voices

Video: Blog Action Day 2008 …the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue. By doing so on the same day, the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue. Out of this discussion will naturally flow actions, advice, ideas, plans, and empowerment.

Mass Participation

From the smallest online journals, to huge online magazines, to EU ministers, to professionals and amateurs, Blog Action Day is about mass participation! Who’s participating?

Elena Valenciano, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, LifeHacker, Mashable, SmashingMagazine, VentureBeat, ProBlogger, Inhabitat, ZenHabits, StepcaseLifeHack, MentalFloss, DailyBlogTips, TorrentFreak, SEOMoz, GetRichSlowly, WiseBread, LifeDev.net, GigaOm, DumbLittleMan, RemarkableParents, SuccessfulBlog, DiscoveringDad, ChrisBrogan, Shift+OneMedia, DivinePurposeUnleashed, LifeInPerpetualBetaMovie, DeafMom, IBNMA, ChrisG, and more…

How You Can Participate

1. Register your blog. 2. Get Blog Action Day banner. 3. Respond to email confirmation. 4. Save email with html script code. 5. Insert script code into October 15th Blog Action Day post.

Blog Action Day 2008

In 2008, the Blog Action Day theme is Poverty. Bloggers are free to interpret this as they see fit. We invite bloggers to examine poverty from their own blog topics and perspectives, to look at it from the macro and micro, as a global condition and a local issue, and to bring their own ideas, views and opinions on the subject.

Other Resources:

Blog Action Day web site Live Stream of @BlogActionDay Tweets (Right Now!)

Live updates on October 15th from 12pm (EST) to 12am (EST):

Twitter: @BlogActionDay

Web: http://www.blogactionday.org Blog Talk Radio: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/blogactionday

Social Media for Non-profits Roundtable (moderated by Vicky Hennegan) live on Blog Talk Radio 5pm (EST) October 15th

Guest Panel: Paul Chaney, Liz Strauss, Mark J. Carter, and Beth Kanter

Flickr photos for your post:

Ideas – posting on topic? Need post ideas? Need Technical help with your post?

Vote for a story about us on Yahoo! Buzz: http://tinyurl.com/bad08yahoobuzz

Earlier today, I added my 25 words at a friends website Productivity in Context. Here is my poetic contribution of what was on my mind today.

Random 25 Words

by Liz Strauss

A Random Twenty-Five Words

Might Not Convey Meaning Or Power.

Yet Translating A Thought

Into Precisely Twenty-Five Words

Can Transform A Thinker Into A Writer.

Changing The World

by Vicky H

Change The World You Say?

Not On My Agenda Today!

It’s All Work, No Play.

Change The World Another Day.

Life Needs Reevaluation Right Away!

The Science – The Art

by Stephen Smith

Work When You Work

Live When You Live

Balance Them Carefully

The Science: Knowing The Difference Between The Two

The Art: Knowing When To Stop

| View | Upload your own

Note: Added the above slide on July 21st.

So express yourself, tell me how you feel today in twenty-five words or less!

]]> http://remarkableparents.com/your-life-today-in-25-words/feed/ 0 http://remarkableparents.com/life-strategy-really-living/ http://remarkableparents.com/life-strategy-really-living/#comments Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:06:08 +0000 Vicky H http://remarkableparents.com/?p=20 As role models, we need to consider the way we live our everyday lives and how this is perceived by children; both those we have chosen and those we haven’t chosen to be the role models of.

The phrase role model is all about doing and the children of the millenium are watching!

“Parents, get out your paper and pencils.

I am going to tell you the most important thing you will ever need to know about raising children!”
[Parents wait breathlessly for answers and words of wisdom]

“Example. Example. Example” — Fritz Redl, Child Psychologist

The evidence is in, various researchers, psychologists, educators, and other professionals have spoken and it is what it is.

Good or bad it’s you!

It’s not only you as a parent, but you in your other roles; as an aunt, a coach, a mentor, as your child’s friends parent, girl scout leader, or bible study school volunteer.

Reevaluating Our Decision Making

There are great advantages for us when we choose to re-evaluate our own decision making patterns and ask ourselves hard questions about our personality and behavior.

The most important advantage is that we will make better decisions! Those decisions that we make more than once and ask ourselves ‘why did I do that again?’. Feeling that way is one of the first indicators that I used to re-evaluate my own life.

The way I have personally accomplished this, was to question and challenge everything that I have accepted on blind faith or that I have adopted out of tradition or history.

I think you will be as surprised as I was at the number of choices that involve patterns of doing things a certain way simply because someone else, who didn’t know anymore about the topic than you do, did it that way.

You will find things that withstand the challenge of your questioning and reevaluating. These patterns that have withstood the challenge, should be embraced and continued.

Really Living vs. Existing

The second question I have asked myself while reading the book “Life Strategies: Doing What Works, Doing What Matters” by Phillip C. McGraw, Ph.D. , which was pretty ugly was am I really living life or does my life resemble someone who is merely existing?

Below are some of the characteristics and a brief sentence describing the difference between really living and existing.

Existing: Instinctual, reactive, involuntary, repetitive, and routine.
A life of merely existing is “living life with the main goal of getting from one day to the next”.

Living: Using knowledge, sharpened skills, conscious decision-making that is part of a larger goal.
When you are really living you exercise challenged skills, attitudes, and abilities that you have built to a level of being sharp and focused.

To truly understand if we are really living, merely existing, or are somewhere in between, we need to know or learn why we make the decisions we make.

* Do we make our decisions with or without the necessary information and skills to create the results we desire?

* Do you know or can you learn why you do what you do, and don’t do what you don’t do?

Solid Framework

I think we all realize how important role models have been in our own lives and how important it is for us to make the best decisions that we can, example the behavior we want our children to emulate, and live our lives fully everyday.

“When parents talk about discipline, they mean a rigid set of rules to prevent their children from misbehaving.

But the only discipline worthy of the name lies in providing a solid framework of ideals—not for the child to live up to, but for the parents to live within.

You can beat children until they are black and you are blue, but it cannot make them any better than the examples they see around them every day.” — Sydney J. Harris, Chicago News columnist

The framework should reflect our own values and be a transparent view of who we really are. Although many times it seems like we must be perfect, we all know that is not possible and I’ve found people are usually understanding when you just come clean. They can’t understand what they don’t know.

Moving Forward

Moving forward, we can only do our best. The past is the past and the future is full of possibilities, growth, and opportunity.

That’s what remarkable parents is all about. It’s not about whether you are a ‘remarkable parent’ right now, we were never trained to be parents. There is no guide.

What’s important is that you are trying, growing, and place great importance on your family. That’s the foundation of being a remarkable parent.

They are growing as you are growing.

It all happens so fast and at the same time, but don’t be discouraged, they are so worth it!

What do you think?

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