The Military Money Manual Podcast - GI Bill, 529s & Yellow Ribbon Program | "529s Aren't Just for College: It's Just Another Tax-Advantaged Vehicle" | College Planning for Military Families with Kate Horrell #124

GI Bill, 529s & Yellow Ribbon Program | "529s Aren't Just for College: It's Just Another Tax-Advantaged Vehicle" | College Planning for Military Families with Kate Horrell #124

05/13/24 • 36 min

For a limited time, Spencer is offering one-on-one Military Money Coaching sessions! Get your personal military money and investing questions answered in a confidential coaching call.

How to maximize your GI Bill, save using 529 accounts, and explore the Yellow Ribbon program? Kate Horrell tells us all about it in this episode where we discuss:

529s are more flexible than most people realize (transfer to other family member, transfer $35,000 to a Roth IRA, other uses than just college)
Scholarship awards allow you to take money out of the 529 (up to the amount of the scholarship)
No one's ever been mad about having too much money saved in a 529
In general, you can buy into a 529 from any state (doesn't have to be your state of legal residence or where you child may go to college one day)
529 Prepaid Plans are also available but not as good of a fit for most families
When might you have "enough" saved for college?
Yellow Ribbon program only applies to a semester where you're using GI Bill benefits. You can't use Yellow Ribbon benefits without using the GI Bill.

Remember, you can't be great at the big financial decisions like college if you've never done it before. Ways to prepare for college decisions:

Transfer your GI bill as soon as you can
Evaluate which benefits are tied to an individual and which can be transferred around
Look for scholarships
Consider a 529 for your children after your basic needs are met
Research Yellow Ribbon program options
Consider working with Kate for 1-on-1 coaching the maximize your college options

Links:

Our new TSP course is live! Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE!

If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email [email protected].

If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com.

I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3.

Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3.

The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active orders over 30 days. The annual fees on all personal Amex cards are also waived for military spouses married to active duty troops.

For a limited time, Spencer is offering one-on-one Military Money Coaching sessions! Get your personal military money and investing questions answered in a confidential coaching call.

How to maximize your GI Bill, save using 529 accounts, and explore the Yellow Ribbon program? Kate Horrell tells us all about it in this episode where we discuss:

529s are more flexible than most people realize (transfer to other family member, transfer $35,000 to a Roth IRA, other uses than just college)
Scholarship awards allow you to take money out of the 529 (up to the amount of the scholarship)
No one's ever been mad about having too much money saved in a 529
In general, you can buy into a 529 from any state (doesn't have to be your state of legal residence or where you child may go to college one day)
529 Prepaid Plans are also available but not as good of a fit for most families
When might you have "enough" saved for college?
Yellow Ribbon program only applies to a semester where you're using GI Bill benefits. You can't use Yellow Ribbon benefits without using the GI Bill.

Remember, you can't be great at the big financial decisions like college if you've never done it before. Ways to prepare for college decisions:

Transfer your GI bill as soon as you can
Evaluate which benefits are tied to an individual and which can be transferred around
Look for scholarships
Consider a 529 for your children after your basic needs are met
Research Yellow Ribbon program options
Consider working with Kate for 1-on-1 coaching the maximize your college options

Links:

If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email [email protected].

If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com.

Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3.

Previous Episode

Earn 1 Million Credit Card Points without Annual Fees | Secret 25% Cash Back Cards | Using Rewards to Max Out Your Roth IRA #123

For a limited time, Spencer is offering one-on-one Military Money Coaching sessions! Get your personal military money and investing questions answered in a confidential coaching call.

Military families can earn 1 million points without annual fees?! You're not going to earn a lot of points from spending. You need to focus on earning welcome bonuses. We'll teach out how in the free Ultimate Military Credit Cards course. Main points today: How to earn 1,000,000 credit card points without annual fees 1. Greatest bang for your buck comes from welcome bonuses 2. Referral bonuses 3. Spending category maximazation Value of 1 million points: $10,000 minimum, $11,000 cashout value, or $20,000+ when you transfer to a travel partner. Ways to maximize your points earning: 1. Use welcome bonuses more than spending for points 2. Use transferable points (like American Express) more than specific airline or hotel cards 3. Earn towards a specific redemption goal For example, if a business card offers $750 back after spending $6,000 in 3 months, that's 12.5% effective cash back! Or even better, you can pair with CSR and use at points in travel portal 18% cash back. To take it one step further, you can transfer to Hyatt or United, for example, and earn 2 cents and 25% cash back. Another example: Amex Platinum 150,000 offer, and you spend all $8,000 requirement on airfare. That's 5 pts per dollar (extra 40,000 points), 190,000 points earned for $8,000 spent = 47.5% effective cash back rate! Even an 80,000 point offer after $6,000 spend would be 13% effective rate... way better than the average cash back card. You can refer your spouse or friends (details in episode 26) Keep earning your points easy with 3 simple rules we use- 1. Gold card for dining and groceries 4x (not Platinum's 1 point per dollar) 2. Amex Platinum for flights (5 pts per dollar) 3. Chase Sapphire Reserve for travel and hotels (3 pts per dollar)

If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email [email protected].

If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com.

Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3.

Next Episode

Find a Financial Advisor You Can Trust | Nectarine with Jeremy Schneider @PersonalFinanceClub | #125

For a limited time, Spencer is offering one-on-one Military Money Coaching sessions! Get your personal military money and investing questions answered in a confidential coaching call.

Finance advise doesn't have to be confusing and depressing. Most of the "financial advisors" are actual salesmen. (Check out the 4 types of financial advisors.) So how does a military family find good help? Well Jeremy Schneider of Personal Finance Club (@personalfinanceclub on Instagram), Shane, and Vivi, the minds behind Personal Finance Club, have a new product called Nectarine. Nectarine provides one hour, no strings attached appointments with advisors for a flat fee- no subscription costs or recurring charges. You can book one hour and stop, or schedule more time. And one of our favorite parts about it- they even have a military filter to help you find an advisor that understands the unique challenges of military life. At certain times in your life, getting some professional help could literally change the trajectory of your life. The 2 Rules of Jeremy's Personal Finance Club:

Spend less than you make
Invest early and often

(This is not an ad or paid episode- we're just fans of what the Nectarine team is doing.)

Links:

helloNectarine.com Nectarine on Instagram Personal Finance Club on Instagram Our podcast episode #57 where we talked with Jeremy Schneider Military Financial Advisors Association (MFAA) Our podcast episode with Sean Gillespie about MFAA Personal Finance Club's courses (use code "militarymoney" for $20 off!) - How to Money Like a Millionaire - Build Wealth by Investing in Index Funds

If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email [email protected].

If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com.

Learn how to get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards from American Express in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3.

The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card waive the annual fee for active duty military servicemembers, including Guard and Reserve on active or...