Future Scholar Blog

January 8, 2018

New Year, New Ways to Save

Happy New Year to all of our account owners! It feels like 2017 came and went in the blink of an eye. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season spent with family and friends. With the start of the new calendar year comes the long-standing tradition of creating resolutions. This year, I encourage all families to create financial resolutions to help set your ‘future scholar’ up for educational success.

New Year's Financial Resolutions

For those of you who have not already created a Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan, I urge you to prioritize opening one for your loved one – the earlier the better. In addition, for families across the state of South Carolina, I’ve listed some handy financial tips to help you save for your child’s college education:

Do your research and make a plan: Map out what your college savings goals are. Is your plan to save for tuition only, or for everything your child will need, such as books or a computer? Do you envision your child attending a four-year university or a technical college? Research tuition and added costs across different educational paths, and create a budget that works for your family.

Take advantage of resources: Giveaways and contests are often overlooked but can be great resources for adding to your Future Scholar savings. Throughout the year, encourage your child to participate in various opportunities to win contributions to an existing 529 account. Be sure to visit my office’s Facebook page to stay up to date on upcoming contests and events.

When your child is close to attending college, turn in FAFSA Forms as early as possible: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) may provide qualified applicants with grants, loans or work-study funds to add to savings and help pay for educational costs. The sooner you submit your application, the more likely you will be to receive financial aid, so apply January 1 of the year your child will be attending.

Automate your contributions: From payroll deductions to automatic transfers from a bank account, many 529 plans offer a variety of convenient ways to make contributions. Not to mention, you can decide when and how often to contribute. For example, South Carolina’s Future Scholar 529 plan allows your contributions to be made bimonthly, monthly or quarterly on any day of the month you choose.

Here’s to starting the new year off on the right financial foot. From the Future Scholar family to yours, we wish you a happy and healthy 2018.

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Future Scholar 529 Plan
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Click to expand full legal disclosure

Investing involves risk including the risk of loss of principal. Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. Contact your financial advisor or visit futurescholar.com for a Direct Plan Program Description, which contains this and other important information about the Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan. Read it carefully before investing. You should also consider, before investing, whether the investor's or designated beneficiary's home state offers any state tax or other state benefits such as financial aid, scholarship funds and protection from creditors that are only available for investments in such state's qualified tuition program.

Tax treatment varies by state. The tax information set forth on this website is general in nature and does not constitute tax advice on the part of Columbia Management Investment Distributors, Inc., its affiliates or the South Carolina Office of State Treasurer. Please contact your tax advisor before making any tax related decisions.

The Direct Plan is sold directly by the Program and is limited to a specific group of investors, as described in the Program Description . You may also participate in the Advisor Plan, which is sold exclusively through financial advisors. The Advisor Plan offers additional investment choices, but the fees and expenses are higher. Please contact your financial advisor for additional information on the Advisor Plan.

The Office of State Treasurer of South Carolina (the State Treasurer) administers the Program and has selected Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC and Columbia Management Investment Distributors, Inc. (Columbia Management) as Program Manager. Columbia Management and its affiliates are responsible for providing certain administrative, recordkeeping and investment services, and for the marketing of the Program. Columbia Management is not affiliated with the State Treasurer.