Savings Tips & Tools for Your Employees

While everyone saves differently, we’ve found the tips and tricks below to be helpful to a lot of parents who are saving for their child’s college.

Find the ones that work for you and use them early – and often!

Start with research.Your kid’s not the only one with homework!

Here are a number of tools and calculators to help you determine projected college costs, savings and Colorado state tax deductions.
» College Cost Calculators

Set a Budget Yes, the dreaded “B” word.

Not only is budgeting one of the best ways to determine how much you need to save, it can also help you determine how you’ll go about saving it!

Here are several tools to help you determine how much you can put away each month, how small deposits can add up and how to make the dream of saving a financial reality.
» Education Cents budget worksheets
» 529 University

Set goals.

OK, how about “whatever college costs.” But seriously, you should know the cost of college and an important step is determining how much you’d like to save. Once you have set a goal, it’s much easier to reach it.

Pick a number.

Dedicate a percentage of your monthly or yearly income. Just like you put 5 percent into retirement, chose a percentage and put that in your college savings account .

Start early, save often.

It’s never too soon to save for college, but also never too late. Even starting while the child is in high school is better than not starting at all. Many parents even use CollegeInvest college savings plans while their kids are in college, just to take advantage of the tax benefits.

Two words: Automatic deposit.

It’s proven that parents who save regularly save more. Putting away consistent amounts, any amount, can add up to big savings.

Holiday bonus = college graduate.

End of year windfall? Each dollar you contribute to your 529 college savings plan before December 31 can be deducted from that year’s Colorado Income Taxes.

Pretend that car is college.

One easy way to save is to “keep paying” a bill that is now paid off – but “pay” it into your 529 account.

For example, after you pay off your car, take the dollar amount you had been spending each month for your car payment and invest it in your 529 savings. An additional year of “car payments” can add up to several thousand dollars!

Other similar options include continuing to “pay” daycare costs after a child enters public school or continuing to “pay” a home equity loan.

Friends don’t let friends pay full price.

Most students receive some type of aid. Scholarships, loans and grants are all ways to offset the costs of college.

To learn more about other resources available to help pay for college, visit Education Cents website www.educationcents.org and click on the Paying For College tab.

Speed up savings with Upromise.

This free service gives back a percentage of your qualified spending on groceries, gasoline, and other goods and services. If your CollegeInvest 529 savings account is linked to your Upromise account, the savings are transferred into your 529 account on a regular basis.