Services
Education planning
Aspirean Wealth plans for the cost of education with families from our offices in Mill Valley, St. Joseph, and Chesterton. Education planning sits under the same team as your investments, tax strategy, and estate coordination, so what you set aside for school is decided against your own retirement rather than apart from it.
Where we offer it
Education Planning in three offices.
Education planning in Marin County, CA
6 Knoll Lane, Suite BMill Valley, CA 94941
(415) 383-8404
Marin County, CA · Mill Valley, CA · San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Education planning in St. Joseph, MI
505 Pleasant St, Suite 401St. Joseph, MI 49085
(844) 687-5342
St. Joseph, MI · Benton Harbor, MI · Southwest Michigan
Education planning in Chesterton, IN
160 Rail Rd, Suite 4Chesterton, IN 46304
(844) 687-5342
Chesterton, IN · Valparaiso, IN · Northwest Indiana
The scope
What education planning covers
School is one goal among several, and the plan decides how much of it to fund and from where.
Meet with usWhat school may cost, set against the plan
We estimate what each child’s schooling may cost, from private school before college through an undergraduate degree and graduate study, and set that estimate beside your retirement, your home, and the rest of what the plan has to carry. The funding level then becomes a decision made on purpose, one you can hold to, rather than a number that quietly moves your own retirement date.
529 plans, from choosing one to the balance left over
We help you choose a plan by its investment options and costs, and by how your state treats the contribution, which varies by state and changes. We settle who owns the account, whether to fund it steadily or front-load several years of annual gifts at once, and when to change the beneficiary to a sibling or another family member. If money is left when school ends, we weigh keeping it for graduate school or a younger child, moving it within the family, or, where current rules allow and within their limits, moving part of it to the student’s Roth IRA.
Gifts from grandparents
Grandparents often want to help, by paying tuition directly, funding a 529 of their own, or adding to yours. Each route treats the gift, the estate, and later financial aid a little differently, and the right one depends on their plan as much as yours. Aspirean practices no law and prepares no tax returns: we coordinate with the grandparents’ attorney on the estate side and with the CPA who files any gift tax return, so the gift, the documents, and the return agree.
Frequently asked questions
The things you’re probably wondering.
Do you have a minimum asset level?
Yes. We best serve individuals with at least $1 million in investable assets, including 401(k) plan assets, or more complex financial situations. Our minimum annual fee is $7,500 for clients below that threshold.
How are you compensated?
We are a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor and a fiduciary, paid via a percentage of the assets we manage.
Should we fund a 529 before our own retirement accounts?
Usually not first. School can be paid for with scholarships, current income, and borrowing; retirement has no equivalent. We look at both together: what school may cost, what your retirement date needs, and what is left to put toward a 529 once that is settled. For many families the answer is some of each, revisited as income and costs change.
Meet with us
Let’s talk.
If you’d like to talk through what school may cost and how your plan can carry it, we’d like to hear from you.
Meet with us