Working Beyond 65 — Will You Want To Or Need To?
But what if someday you become that less-than-engaged worker, yet you aren’t ready or can’t yet afford to retire? What are your options then?
Source: Forbes
Income and Financial Aid Eligibility
Federal student aid does not have any explicit income cutoffs on need-based aid eligibility. The number of children in college can have a big impact on aid eligibility. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is used to calculate the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
The EFC is the sum of a student contribution and a parent contribution, and the parent contribution is roughly divided by the number of children in college. So if the number of children in college increases, it can significantly cut the EFC and thereby allow a family to qualify for student aid despite having a higher income.
It is important to apply for financial aid every year even if you didn’t qualify for any financial aid last year. Suppose you apply for financial aid for your freshman year in college and don’t qualify for any aid because you are the first in your family to enroll. If you give up and stop submitting the FAFSA, you might miss out on a lot of financial aid in a subsequent year when you and one or more siblings are enrolled in college at the same time.
But even if you don’t qualify for grants it is still worthwhile to submit the FAFSA. The unsubsidized Stafford loan and the PLUS loan are available without regard to financial need. You can be extremely wealthy and still qualify for these loans. The Hope Scholarship tax credit is available to families with income up to $90,000 (single filers) and $180,000 (married filing joint).
Note that student employment can have a big impact on aid eligibility, especially for independent students. A portion of student income is sheltered from the financial aid formula, but as much as half of income above this income protection allowance will be counted as part of the EFC.
To be eligible for federal student aid, you must be a US citizen or permanent resident (green card holder). There are also a variety of types of noncitizens who are eligible for federal student aid, such as citizens of the Freely Associated States, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republics of Palau and the Marshall Islands. Individuals who have been granted asylum or refugee status and victims of human trafficking are eligible for federal student aid.
Your parents, however, do not need to be US citizens or permanent residents. They can be foreign nationals or even undocumented. If your parents do not have a Social Security Number, use 000-00-0000 on the FAFSA where it asks for the parent’s Social Security Number. Do not use a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).
If your parents are not US citizens or permanent residents, they will be unable to borrow from the PLUS loan program. In that case you will be eligible for increased unsubsidized Stafford loan limits, the same limits that are available to independent students.
Source: Fastweb
What Financial Lifestyle Will You And Your Partner Have?
The money date should focus on discussing the logistics of your financial lifestyle. To get you started, each of you should ask and answer the following questions:
Source: Forbes
How Your Summer Vacation May Help Your Retirement
Whether you are putting off that well-deserved vacation or planning for your next upcoming opportunity to disengage from the workforce, here are some ways you can use your vacation time to improve your sense of financial wellness both today and during your retirement years:
Source: Forbes
What The New Fiduciary Rule Won't Do For You
Regardless of its merits, the new fiduciary rule is not a panacea to the challenges of working with a financial advisor for your retirement accounts. Finding one that is legally required to act in your best interest is really just the beginning.
Source: Forbes
3 Risks To Being An Over-Saver
Saving money is definitely a necessary aspect of achieving financial security. But there’s a balance that we all need to achieve in order to find that sweet spot of seizing the day while also setting our future selves up for financial independence.
Source: Forbes
Students Lose Financial Aid for Failure to Make Satisfactory Academic Progress
Some students in college have found out the hard way that getting good grades literally pays. In the world of higher education, academics and financial aid go hand-in-hand. One must keep their grades satisfactory in order to maintain their financial aid package.
To be eligible for federal student aid and college financial aid, a student must be making Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). This generally consists of maintaining at least a 2.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale (i.e., at least a C average) and passing enough classes with progress toward a degree. The maximum timeframe requirements typically limit financial aid eligibility to no more than three years for an Associate’s degree and no more than six years for a Bachelor’s degree.
Scholarships also have satisfactory academic progress requirements. Oftentimes, these requirements are even stricter than universities. Many private scholarships require recipients to maintain a higher GPA.
Most students who lose eligibility for student financial aid do so because of grades, not the maximum timeframe restrictions. About one in ten college students will have a cumulative GPA that is less than 2.0 on a 4.0 scale. Students who do not have at least a C average are much less likely to graduate.
If a student loses financial aid for a failure to maintain satisfactory academic progress, the student may be able to regain eligibility by getting better grades. Until then, however, the student will be ineligible for financial aid and will have to pay for the college costs on his or her own. The student will be ineligible for all forms of federal student aid, including all types of federal education loans. Some students who are ineligible for federal student aid will borrow from private student loan programs, but this can be rather expensive.
In some cases a student may be able to appeal for a temporary waiver of the satisfactory academic progress rules. These circumstances include when the failure to make satisfactory academic progress was due to injury or illness of the student, death of a relative of the student or other special circumstances. The appeal should not only document the special circumstances (e.g., a letter from the student’s doctor) and explain how the circumstances affected the student’s performance, but also explain what has changed which will allow the student’s performance to improve.
However, these are the only circumstances in which a student may fight to regain financial aid eligibility. A family’s financial circumstances will not help alleviate the suspension. Students lose eligibility for federal student aid if they are no longer maintaining satisfactory academic progress, regardless of financial need. There are no special exceptions to the satisfactory academic progress requirements for low-income students.
This is unfortunate, because low-income students often lack the resources to continue paying for college on their own without financial aid, not even for a semester or two. Low-income students are also unlikely to qualify for private student loans. Students should always file an appeal if the failure to maintain satisfactory academic progress is due to extenuating circumstances. If a low-income student cannot afford to pay for tuition without financial aid, the student should ask the college about taking classes at a local community college. If these classes are accepted for credit by the student’s college, it will help the student regain eligibility at much lower cost.
There is also a loophole in the rules concerning satisfactory academic progress that may allow a student to regain eligibility for financial aid by changing majors or degree programs or by transferring to another college. Depending on the college’s policies, classes that don’t count toward the new major may be excluded from the determination of satisfactory academic progress. This can effectively reset the student’s eligibility for federal student aid.
It is a good idea to start by reading the college’s satisfactory academic progress policy, which can be found on the college’s website or course catalog. The college’s financial aid office can also provide a copy of the policy upon request.
Source: Fastweb
How To Save For A Down Payment On A First Home — Without Giving Up Avocado Toast
When you are ready to buy a home, you’ll make it a priority. If you haven’t saved much up until that point, you’ll need to spend some years building up your savings account.
Source: Forbes
How Do I Become Independent on the FAFSA If I Am Under Age 24?
If my son applies for public assistance and does his own financial
aid, will he be able to apply as independent next year? In addition,
(assuming he’s able to) would I be able to claim him on my income tax
returns this year? He is 19 years old. My goal is to get him as much
financial aid as possible. I just want to do it the right way.
— Tanya H.
I am a freshman college student who is worried about the amount of
financial aid I will receive next year. I am claiming myself on taxes
this year and figured I would not need to supply my parents tax
information on FAFSA. My parents are not helping pay for my
college education and are not supporting me as their dependent
any longer. Is this true? Is there a way that I can supply only my
tax information since my parents’ tax information is no longer
relevant?
— Kristin T.
Students who are dependent for federal student aid purposes must
supply parent information on the Free Application for Federal Student
Aid (FAFSA). Students who are independent do not have to supply their
parents’ information and often qualify for more student financial aid
as a result. But students cannot choose to file as independent. There
is a statutory definition that determines which students are
considered independent. Any student who is not independent under the
statutory definition is considered dependent. Most students who are
under age 24 as of December 31 of the award year will be considered
dependent.
Undergraduate students who are under age 24 as of December 31 of the
award year are considered to be dependent for federal student aid
purposes unless they are married, have dependents other than a spouse,
are an orphan, are a veteran or active duty member of the US Armed
Forces or satisfy other very limited criteria. If a student who is
under age 24 doesn’t satisfy one of these criteria, the odds of being
considered independent are very slim.
Dependency status for federal student aid purposes is not the same as
dependency status for federal income tax purposes. Students
cannot qualify as independent merely by claiming themselves
as an exemption on their own federal income tax returns, not even if
they are no longer supported by their parents.
Based on data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study
(NPSAS), only 14.7% of undergraduate students under age 24 were
independent in 2011-12. Of undergraduate
students under age 24, 8.3% were independent because they have legal
dependents other than a spouse, 3.8% because they were married, 1.1%
because they are orphans, 0.5% because they were veterans of the US
Armed Forces, 0.3% because they were on active duty with the US Armed
Forces and 0.9% because the college financial aid administrator
granted a dependency override due to unusual circumstances. (Only 0.5%
of all undergraduate students are independent because of a dependency
override.)
Colleges will not grant a dependency override because the parents
refuse to contribute to the student’s education, because the parents
refuse to file the FAFSA or complete verification, because the parents
do not claim the student as a dependent on their federal income tax
returns or because the student is totally self-sufficient. None of
these reasons, not even in combination, is sufficient justification
for a dependency override. Unusual circumstances that may merit a
dependency override, subject to a case-by-case review by and the
professional judgment of the college financial aid administrator,
include an abusive family environment (e.g., court protection from
abuse orders against the parents), abandonment by the parents, or the
incarceration, hospitalization or institutionalization of both
parents.
Source: Fastweb
Adopting Financial Habits That Stick
These are just some of the techniques that we’ve found helpful in creating behavioral change that can produce results. The key is to find what works best for you.
Source: Forbes
Surviving The Summer Wallet Drain
After a couple of years of tracking my spending, I caught some of the obvious as well as not so obvious summer financial leakage. Now that I know where the leakages are, I am able to plan well in advance and survive the summer without turning to credit cards or excessive chocolate to save my sanity.
Source: Forbes
Your One Stop Guide To Retirement Planning
Do you feel overwhelmed thinking about retirement planning? It’s one of the most common topics we’re asked about. One way to make it more manageable is to break it down into a series of decisions:
Source: Forbes
