BeamaLife Blog

With tuition costs rising dramatically over the past 20 years, it’s no wonder that financially savvy parents have started saving more money more quickly, just to make sure there’s enough to put the kids through college when the time comes.  And 529 college savings plans have been promoted as the number one way to set [...]

On July 1, 2009, the interest rates on variable federal Stafford and PLUS Loans dropped to the lowest rates in the history of the federal student loan program. These new rates apply only to loans issued on or after July 1, 1998 and before July 1, 2006. The Department of Education sets the rates once [...]

There are two education tax credits, the Hope credit (renamed the American Opportunity credit for 2009 and 2010) and the Lifetime Learning credit. To claim either credit in a given year (you cannot claim both in the same year), you must list your child as a dependent on your tax return. In addition, you must [...]

Higher-education experts say the Obama administration has proposed the broadest overhaul of federal college aid programs in decades. But for all the focus on the size of the budget, it has been hard to tell just what this means for students and their families. A detail article by The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/your-money/student-loans/loanprimer.html

Since the main purpose of life insurance is to protect against financial loss when someone dies, it’s not required to purchase life insurance on child as there will be no loss of income.  Although your child’s death would be a tragedy, it would probably not affect your family much financially unless he or she was [...]

Between the recession and the rising cost of college, more families than ever are filing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) this year, their first step toward Pell grants, Stafford loans, Perkins loans, work-study programs and much state aid. As of Feb. 15, the Department of Education had already received 2,213,408 forms, 20 [...]

Your late start means you’ve missed most of the best opportunities to grow the money you have for college savings plan. With only few years until your child starts college, you’ll need to refine the college selection process, accumulate enough of a down payment for the early college bills, and establish a college savings plan [...]

When we think or talk about insurance, we typically relate it with a cost or treat it as an expense. This is true for health insurance, homeowner’s insurance, car insurance, or even term insurance. And most of us try to minimize our expenses, and we should. The common thought process flows as follows: If I [...]