This year I had the opportunity to celebrate my first Father’s Day! I just missed it last year as my daughter was born in July, so I had to wait a long time, but it was well worth it. Some of you may know, but my wife and I adopted our baby girl last year. She is a miracle to our family and I could not be more proud as a Dad.

She is not even one yet, so there was no traditional breakfast in bed or washing my car, but she did decorate a really nice coffee mug for me (Thanks to my wife!). I can now start my collection of gifts that have little to no monetary value, yet hold a very special place in your heart.

As I reflect back on Father”s Day it’s interesting to see how my priorities have already shifted. I think much more about saving for college, having good health insurance, noticing what schools we are zoned for, lamenting the fact that our driveway is as steep as a ski slope and my daughter can never safely ride her bike down it, and dreading the day when she becomes a teenager.

My reflections did however, drive me to jot down a list of a few things I need to take care of on behalf of my daughter. I suppose it is the Dad in me now, but I find myself thinking about protecting my daughter quite often. Not physical protection (Although I certainly would it is ever came to that) but financial and life protection.

Here are a few things I plan to do in the next month to protect my daughter’s future.

Open a 529 College Savings Plan

The only reason I have not done this yet was because we were waiting on my daughter’s social security number. The adoption paperwork took a bit longer than anticipated so opening a 529 college savings plan has to be put on hold.

I have been evaluating 529 plans however, and I have narrowed it down to the plans offered through my state (South Carolina) and those offered through Utah. The Utah plans are managed through Vanguard, and I can participate in the plan even though I don’t live in their state. The Utah plan also received an exceptional rating from MorningStar, which is a good enough reference for me!

I plan to invest a bulk of money up front that we had been savings from gifts and presents for my daughter over the past year. After the initial deposit, I plan to invest a small amount each month to take advantage of dollar cost averaging. Working in college finance, it is interesting to hear stories from parents about a 529 plan. One of the main questions I receive is: “How long does it take to process withdrawals?” We charge late fees to students ever year because their 529 college savings plan check arrived late. You can bet I will be asking my prospective plans how long their withdrawal process takes!

Changing my Beneficiaries

This is again something that would have been taken care of much sooner, but we were waiting on my daughter’s social security number. However, now that we have it, we can properly add her as beneficiaries to our private term life insurance policies, my life insurance policy through work, my retirement accounts, and all of our savings/checking accounts.

It is hard to keep track of every place that has you designate a beneficiary, so it is a good idea to keep a running list of those places whenever you are asked to designate one.

Create a Will

Finally, my wife and I need to create a will. It will be very simple, but to avoid a lengthy stressful court process, should it ever be needed, a simple will will save a lot of trouble.

I have looked at services such as LegalZoom.com but I chose to go with a lawyer in town who will create a simple will for my wife and I for $120. The ease of being able to ask him many questions and draft our will just as we want it, is worth much more than $120.

Also, knowing that my daughter will be well cared for should something ever happen to my wife and I lets me rest easier at night.

The Bottom Line

There is no way to protect our children from all harms that will come to them. In fact, many trials are often great teaching experience for children. However, I want my daughter to be protected and well cared for should something ever happen to me.

What ways to you plan and save to provide and protect the future of your children?

This past weekend I had the opportunity to sit down with a friend of mine to talk about real estate. Specifically, I was picking his brain about how he built his successful rental real estate business. He currently owns 22 properties, all mortgage free, and he is buying more properties at a rate of 2 – 3 per year. He has acquired all 22 of his properties in the past 12 years.

Here is how he did it…

The First Rental is the Hardest

Getting your first rental property is the hardest. My friend, let’s call him Jack, bought his first property seven years ago as a “fixer upper” foreclosure. He had saved up around $15,000 in cash from working extra jobs, and from a bonus at work to have the money needed for the down payment. He bought the house for right at $100,000. He then did most of the repair work himself, and spent $5,000 getting the house cleaned up and move-in ready. His mortgage payment, with higher rental taxes and insurance, was $600 per month. After doing a good bit of rental market research he listed his rental property at $800 per month rent. He listed on Craigslist, through social media, and by placing a sign in the front yard. He had signed his first tenants within two weeks of listing his home for rent.

Jack now had a tenant in his home, paying the mortgage for him, with an extra $200 per month. He made the wise decision of putting $50 of that surplus into a savings account to pay for any necessary repairs to the home. He then put the additional $150 towards extra mortgage principle payments. Just by adding that additional $150 to the mortgage payment, he was able to shave 12 years off of the estimated 30 year mortgage repayment schedule. But that was not fast enough for Jack. He also continued to work extra jobs, and put every extra paycheck, every bonus check, every tax refund, every gift that he received towards the principle down payment. Fast forward two years, and he was able to pay off his mortgage in full.

Jack now had one rental property, free and clear, that was giving him $800 per month income.

The Dominoes Started to Fall…

Dominoes falling is a good thing right? Well, for Jack it sure was. Once he had paid off his first rental property he was hungry for more. He began saving the $800 per month from his first tenant, and soon had enough funds for another down payment on a new rental property. He again bought a house through foreclosure, but this home was practically move-in ready and he did not have any expenses in repairs. He spent $80,000 on this new home, but because it was in a better neighborhood, with 3 bedroom and 2 baths, he was able to charge $1000 per month in rent. He had new tenants within a week. Between the two properties he was now bringing in $1800 per month in rental income that he applied entirely to the new mortgage principle. Again, with the combination of extra side job paychecks, he was able to payoff the mortgage on this new property within 2 years.

Jack’s third home purchase went a bit differently. He was trying to figure out a way to generate more cash quickly, so he could use that as seed money for additional rental properties. He decided he would buy a house and try to “flip” it. He again bought a small bungalow as a foreclosure, and spent about 2 months doing repairs himself, and getting the home move-in ready. With a very quick turnaround, he ended up netting almost $60,000 when he re-sold the home. Please remember that this was in 2005 at the height of the real estate market. I think it is still possible, although much more difficult, to “flip” houses for this sort of profit in today’s real estate market.

However, he used that $60,000 to purchase a third rental property. Paid it off in full in a few months, and now had three properties generating rental income each month.

From that point, his system went as follows: Take rental income from all properties and apply towards mortgage payoff, once mortgage on new property is paid off apply the rental income towards down payment for next home, buy next home, apply rental income towards mortgage payoff, save for downpayment, buy next home, apply rental income towards mortgage payoff, etc….you get the idea! He was also saving a little out of each rental check to pay for repairs on any of the houses that the security deposit would not cover.

Fast forward to today and Jack now has 22 properties generating net rental income of around $20,000 per month. He can now payoff a brand new $100,000 rental property within 5 months, and rent it for $1,000 per month. He has literally built a rental real estate empire.

Can We Replicate This?

Jack’s system makes a lot of sense, and I REALLY appreciate his stance on paying off very rental property before purchasing a new one. This virtually eliminates the risk from investing in real estate. If a rental property were to sit vacant for a few months due to repairs or to finding a new tenant, there is no mortgage payment to front.

Jack was also blessed with the ability to work extra jobs and generate significant extra income to put large extra payments towards the mortgage principle. I think this is entirely possible for anyone, maybe just on a more extended time frame. 6-8 years may be a more realistic mortgage payoff schedule. However, once you have one rental property free and clear, you have an instant boost to your mortgage payoff plan.

Jack is also a very handy man. He has taken on almost all of the home repairs himself, or has contracted the work out to people to knows well. This has saved him a lot of time and money in arranging and paying for repairs. Now that he has such a large number of properties however, he is contemplating hiring a part-time handy man to handle all of the repairs for him. I told Jack I thought he would be crazy not too.

One option that may be a bit more attainable for you and I, is to apply these same principles towards our primary residence. We can apply all of our extra income towards paying off the principle on our primary residence. Once we are able to pay off our primary residence we can move homes and rent out the old house. You can then apply the rental income from the old house, with your regular mortgage payment, plus any extra income, and payoff your new home mortgage very quickly. Rather than moving again so quickly, you could then buy a new house as a rental and continue applying your regular monthly mortgage payment plus all rental income towards paying off that property.

Whatever route you decide to take, please understand that there is risks involved, and everyone is not cut out to be a landlord. However, if you make smart decisions, there is serious wealth to be made!

We all know who Dave Ramsey is.

What you may not know is that Dave has recently entered into the college finance arena with his new product, the Custom College Guide. The product provides a comparison breakdown of the top 6 schools you are interested in attending and gives you a cost summary based on your personal financial situation.

It claims to take the work out of the college cost comparison process for you by automatically compiling the information for you.

The product also provides free FAFSA preparation, filing and support for you.

You can get all of this for $139.99

What I Think of the Product

I respect Dave Ramsey’s stance on finances a great deal. His philosophy on credit, living debt free, and his steady investing strategy all resonate well with me. Moving into the college finance arena however, was a risky move.

The Custom College Guide requires you to call into their service to give them your personal information. This will include your top 6 target schools and your personal financial situation, including your parents finances. From this 10 – 15 minute conversation, they will then prepare your school cost comparison for you. Here is a sample of what that could look like

Dave Ramsey’s service actually uses the services of Student Aid Services. They essentially pull all of the estimated cost of attendance information from the net price calculator required at every college. Every figure listed under the “Estimated yearly cost of attendance” is pulled directly from these figures on a college’s website.

The next category down includes all of the grants and scholarships that you may be eligible for. If you will notice in this example, a large portion of the scholarships are provided through military assistance. This is obviously NOT money that is available to the majority of students. SOme students may be VA recipients, some students may be active military or college ROTC, but this is not a scholarship that a majority of U.S. students would qualify for. Including this military assistance in the scholarship package can be very misleading.

I do really like the section included in the “Your Contributions Summary”. I think it is important for students to work during college, so I am very glad Dave’s folks made the decision to put this in there. Also, student loans are not listed here which is encouraging!

Then the bottom of the cost comparison you see how large your gap is, between your costs and the funding you have secured.

This information can then be used to make the decision on where you would like to go to college.

A Few Problems

First, I don’t like the fact that the military assistance plays so prominently in the online example. The military is not an option for everyone, so this can be very misleading.

Second, there are no federal financial aid benefits from FAFSA listed here. Federal Pell grants, FSEOG, and other grants could add some additional aid for students.

Third, do you really want to pay $139.99 to have someone do this service for you? I have had this debate with my colleagues and here on the blog before, but would you feel comfortable paying for this service that you can easily do yourself? I would argue that for most people, this is not a good bargain. All of this information is free and available to you, with a little time and effort. However, for many people this could be an invaluable decision making tool, and one which frees you up to work on other projects.

The Bottom Line

The Custom College Guide proclaims to be personalized to each student, but it can only go so far. It will never know what your exact college costs will be, it can never tell you the exact amount of financial aid you will receive, it cannot make the decision for you.

As with most things in life, it is important to remember that making a decision as important as where to go to college should only be made after weighing all of your options and seeking wise counsel. This product could be a good guide for you, but I would encourage you to do your own research to see how Dave’s answers compare with your own!

I would never buy this product, but I also work in college finances and am much familiar with this product than the average parent or high school student. It could be a good option for you, but just remember that this is not proprietary information. It is an information gathering service in a slick package. If that is what you want, awesome! But don’t be fooled into thinking that Dave is working magic here.