As I mentioned a few months ago, I recently sent a letter to Upromise, requesting a withdrawal from my account. I am proud to say, I received a check from Upromise last week, and I’ve now deposited that check into my savings account. I have been using Upromise to earn reward dollars for more than five years. Instead of investing my reward dollars with a 529 Plan, I withdraw my reward dollars, once a year, and deposit them into my savings account. Please click here to read more about how to request a withdrawal from Upromise, and here to sign up while UPromise is giving away 500,000 for College. For someone like me, who doesn’t use credit cards, Upromise is…
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Sticking With TD Ameritrade
I mentioned in the last article that I would be opening two Education Savings Accounts – one for my son and one for my daughter. I had been planning to open the accounts with Vanguard – the same brokerage that has my SEP-IRA – but I’ve decided to stick with TD Ameritrade – the brokerage where I already have my oldest daughter’s ESA. While I really like Vanguard’s services, TD Ameritrade offers ESAs with no minimum contributions. Vanguard, on the other hand, requires a $1000 minimum initial investment. Right now, I just don’t have $2000 (for 2 accounts) sitting around, and I don’t want to wait to open the accounts. TD Ameritrade offers several no-transaction-fee index funds, my preferred investment…
Continue Reading→Retirement And Education Savings Goals
Here are my after-tax retirement and education savings goals for 2008/2009/2010. Contributions to Roth IRAs and ESAs can be made from December of one year until April of the next year. I have three children, and I have five months to fully-fund 2008 ESAs for each of them. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to afford to do this, but I’m going to try. Also, my wife needs to fully-fund her Roth IRA for 2008. Once those accounts have been funded, we’ll get to work funding 2009 accounts. The chart should clarify. (Chart corrected.) Month ESA 1 ESA 2 ESA 3 Roth 1 Roth 2 Totals Dec 2008 $400.00 $400.00 $400.00 Funded $1,000.00 $2,200.00 Jan 2009 $400.00 $400.00 $400.00…
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