Gerber Life College Plan – win a $100 Visa gift card
Good morning, dads and moms. I have a lot to say today. My main topic is about saving for college, but I also want to mention a couple of other things now. First: thanks to Gerber Life Insurance Company, I’m giving a $100 Visa gift card on my dad blog (more about this giveaway later in the post). Second thing: you can win a $1,000 VISA giftcard by uploading a photo of your child to the Project Open Book picture mosaic on the Gerber Life Facebook page (contest ends February 13, 2012). In addition, as part of Project Open Book, Gerber Life will donate a dollar to Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) for each photo uploaded. Reading Is Fundamental provides books to children in underserved communities across the country. RIF is the largest children’s literacy non-profit in America. They motivate children to read by working with them, their parents, and community members to make reading a fun and beneficial part of everyday life.
College Savings Plans Comparison
We all know being a parent means you have to make sacrifices. For instance, I’m a geek dad and I would love to buy the latest and greatest gadgets. But I can’t. I have to support a family of six on my single income, and I just can’t afford to buy most of the cool gadgets I want. Not even close. However, like many parents, this is a sacrifice I’m willing to make for my kids. When my children are all grown up, I’m not going to look back on my life and wish I bought all those gadgets I wanted. Instead, I’ll think fondly about my kids’ milestones: their birth, the first time they walked, first birthday, first words, first day of school, driving lessons, first date, college, and marriage.
My oldest child is only eleven, so my kids have not reached the last four milestones in my list. I’m not looking forward to teaching them how to drive or their first dates (especially the girls), but the one that really concerns me the most is college. I want my children to have a college education, but the cost of going to college has skyrocketed since I graduated. I just checked my college’s website, Oregon State University, and discovered that it currently costs about $22,500 a year to attend college. By the time my oldest child graduates from high school, it will probably cost $32,000 annually (assuming 6% annual increase). By the time all four of my children graduate from college, their education bill will total over half a million dollars. Yikes! Keep in mind this figure is for a public in-state university. We’re going to be in even more financial trouble if the kids decide to go to an out-of-state or private college.
With four children in our family, my kids will have to rely on scholarships, grants, loans, jobs, and savings to put themselves through college. My wife and I want to help too. That’s why a program like the Gerber Life College Plan is really helpful. The Gerber Life College Plan was designed to help busy parents safely and easily save for tomorrow. Their program offers guaranteed growth, life insurance protection, flexibility, and fixed monthly premiums payments.
The Gerber Life College plan is different from other plans. It’s kinda of a combined saving and life insurance product. In their plan, parents select a fixed monthly payment that fits their budget, and then they select when they would like to receive their payout (between 10 and 20 years). Depending on the plan selected, the designated beneficiary will receive a guaranteed and predetermined payment of $10,000 to $150,000 when the policy reaches maturity. In the event of the death of the insured (typically the parent), the benefit amount will be paid to the beneficiary. This also means the monthly premium is dependent upon the age and gender of the parent (like in a medical or life insurance policy).
Keep in mind the Gerber Life College plan is not a 529 plan. This means the monthly payments are not tax deductible. On the other hand, the money from the Gerber Life College Plan can be used for anything without a penalty. So if your child gets a scholarship, you can use the money for yourself, or maybe save the money for your child’s wedding down the road.
Gerber Life Giveaway
Thanks to Gerber Life, a reader of my dad blog will win a $100 Visa gift card. The winner will be randomly selected. The deadline to enter the giveaway is Thursday, February 9, 2012 (Pacific time). The giveaway is limited to readers located in the U.S. To enter the giveaway, answer this question: what milestones have you or your kids accomplished recently or are close to accomplishing?
Six Bonus Entries (leave a separate comment for each entry)
- Like Gerber Life on Facebook
- Follow Gerber Life on Twitter
- Click on the Facebook like button above the comments area and then on my Facebook page, answer this question: have you started saving for your child’s college education?
- Follow Daddy Forever on Twitter and tweet out a message like this (or use the retweet button above the comments area):
Win a $100 Visa #giftcard in the Gerber Life College Plan Giveaway @daddyforever http://daddyforever.com/2012/02/02/rif/
- Write about this giveaway on your blog or Facebook page with a working link to this page: http://daddyforever.com/2012/02/02/rif/
- Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email:
— don’t forget to click on the confirmation link after you subscribe. Note: you still have to be subscribed when I announce the winner.
[Disclosure: I did not receive anything for hosting this giveaway. The giveaway prize will be provided by Gerber Life, but they are not the administrator of the giveaway on my blog. I am not liable for the prize. As always, the opinions expressed are mine and I am not obligated to write a positive review.]
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Not me or my children, but my grandson just graduated from high school and it was a very hard trip for him. I’m so very proud of him and he is even talking about some additional education.
I like Gerber Life on Facebook.
Like Gerber Life / Facebook: bryan eason
Clicked on the Facebook like button & posted comment on your Facebook page: bryan eason
Following YOU via Twitter: @brianpiero
Tweeted: https://twitter.com/#!/brianpiero/status/167856004699127808
Our daughter just got accepted to college.
Posted giveaway on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=186395424798236&id=1463894354
Following @GerberLife via Twitter: @brianpiero
My child will be going to high school soon.
I Like Gerber Life on Facebook (Donna Kozar)
I Follow Gerber Life on Twitter (donnak4)
I subscribe by RSS.
https://twitter.com/#!/mkjmc/status/167936212613599232
My 5 month old saying his first words.
I’m an email subscriber.
https://twitter.com/#!/mkjmc/status/168303668653858817
Dear Ken,
On behalf of Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), thank you for supporting Project Open Book. All the money raised through our partnership with Gerber Life helps us provide new books to the kids who need them most. In low-income neighborhoods in the U.S., there’s only one book for every 300 children. For many RIF kids, their RIF book is their only book.
Learn more about RIF and our efforts through our newsletter, Facebook and Twitter.
http://bit.ly/RIFeNews
http://www.facebook.com/ReadingIsFundamental
https://twitter.com/#!/rifweb