Educational Financial Planning Services

The three biggest concerns most parents are faced with are:

  • Planning for my child's college education
    • What type of activates should my child participate in High School? What type of SAT/ ACT scores are considered excellent, average or poor? How important is my child’s grade point average and/ or how important is his or her class rank? It boils down to, what does my child have to accomplish to have the best opportunity to get into the school of his or her choice?
  • Picking a college
    • What college should my child go to or apply to given their interest, talents and perceived career goals, and considering how well they did on their college boards, class rank and grade point average.
  • Paying for / financing of my child’s educations
    • Once my child has been accepted to a college or university, how do we pay for it? What type of help can I get in the form of financial aid or loans? What is the most efficient way for me to pay for tuition from an investment stand point and a tax stand point?

At the Connecticut Institute of Finance, we realize that a good education is the greatest gift a parent can give to their child. Education is the largest single indicator of a child’s economic, social and personal success in life. We believe that college planning begins at the early stages of the child life. We also encourage parents to incorporate the child into the plan once they get to seventh and or eighth grade. Giving the student both responsibility and input into the process.

The following is a list of 10 of the topics we discuss with our clients and their children to ensure they get the education that they need and deserve. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it will give you some idea of the scope of the conversations. When possible, the conversation should start when the child is very young and continue until the student is finished with his or her formal education and has entered the work force. But no matter where your child is in this process whether an infant or a student already at university, we are here to help.

  1. We encourage parents to come in and discuss what their expected contribution will be when their child is ready for college.
  2. We will discuss different saving plans for college.
  3. We will discuss the most efficient way for the parent to fund their child’s educations taking into considerations the parents values and their perceived responsibility.
  4. We will discuss with both the parent and the child how the child/ student can get into the school they desire.
  5. How important are SAT/ ACT scores and how can we improve those scores? How important are letters of recommendations, extracurricular activities and grade point average in getting into the school they want?
  6. We will discuss the interview process and what type of schools your student should be considering given their performance and or their career aspirations.
  7. We will help parents and students position their finances to get the most financial aid that is possible. We will help you fill out your FASFA forms
  8. We will discuss how to apply for merit scholarships
  9. And finally we will discuss with the student their responsibility in the whole process.

The three things that we at the Conneticut Institute of Finance are most proud of is that we try to achieve for every family three things.

  1. To get each family into their first home.
  2. To help get their children the best and most appropriate education available.
  3. To retire with dignity.

These three goals, common to many of our clients, should work in tandem whenever possible and not in a triage/ either-or type scenario.

Thereby helping our clients achieve their goals by becoming Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.