In our experience, most clients with children or grandchildren consider planning for the education of their family to be a top priority.
Still, perhaps you will agree that the basic rules surrounding tax, creditor and financial aid treatment of the educational resources of our clients and their minor children are often misunderstood or not understood at all.
If you have looked into this area in the past and found a confusing array of plusses and minuses, you are not alone. The various good and bad aspects of any particular investment strategy or titling method can be myriad.
This month, the East Side Business and Financial Forum will survey the major strategies available in the educational planning market and we will try to make sense of the good, bad and ugly inherent in each strategy. Along the way, we will ask:
• What are the tax implications of the major forms of resource savings?
• Is tax savings "the most important thing"?
• I want to make gifts to my grandkids - but should I? How?
• What is "good year" planning and why should I care?
• I've heard of 2503(b) and 2503(c) trusts - are those pretty good?
• Can a trust protect assets from being counted during financial aid?
• How about UGMA accounts - we use them all the time - what can go wrong?
• OK, a lot can go wrong. How can I unwind my UGMA account?
• What is a "Minor"?
• What is a "Totten Trust"?
• What is the "Kiddie tax"?
• What is the attorney going to think of this 529 plan?
• How does financial aid affect all of this?
Please join attorney and Comerica Vice President and Trusts and Estates advisor Jim Carolan and me next Friday, April 24th at 7:30 a.m. at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club for an exploration of Planning For Minors - Understanding the Basics.