Programs and Services

Smart College Money® starts with helping parents and students lower the cost of college.  In addition, the Smart College Money process improves cash flow and lowers expenses for parents and students in their day to day lives.      

Smart College Money (SCM) works with parents and students in a variety of phases in their college planning.  We have identified three phases of planning for college:

  • Early Stage Planning - This is the accumulation phase.  This phase goes from birth to within five years from the start of college.  This gives an adequate time for savings through different market conditions.     

  • Mid Stage Planning - This is the intermediary phase (yellow light) and the time to exercise caution.  In the first two years of high school you will have a good idea of what your savings program will look like and what direction your student may go in. 

  • Late Stage Planning -This is the intensive planning phase.  This is the phase within one year of submitting applications.  This is also known as the college red zone.  There is little time to make mistakes and options may become limited as the application time gets closer.    

The greatest need is in the latter (or final) years of high school.  There may not be enough resources available and college is right around the corner.  This has become our area of specialization and where Smart College Money can make a huge difference.  Our goal is to get parents and students started in the freshman year and savings programs started years earlier.

Smart College Money provides customized advice, strategies, and processes to help lower the cost of college.  Through our signature review process we exhaust all of the options available to you while lowering the overall cost.  We understand that taxes can take a big bite our of your income and savings so we use education tax incentives which are also known as tax scholarships to help preserve more of what you earn.  Let’s have the IRS pay for a portion of your education.

 

Advisory Fees

The costs of our advisory services are based on the complexity of your situation.  The following are variables that would impact the complexity:  

  • Special education needs for a student

  • Business Owner Considerations

  • Other Advanced Analysis

In addition we charge an annual renewal fee for ongoing support and updates since many plans change throughout the years.