If you’re planning for your kids’ college costs – and what parent isn’t before the footprint ink is even dry on their birth certificates – we spotted one interesting statistic recently in ThinkAdvisor.com, citing Fidelity’s 8th annual College Savings Indicator Study:

Less than half of parents without an advisor have a plan for reaching their college savings goal, compared with 82% of parents with an advisor. Less than a quarter of advisor-less parents are using dedicated education savings products like 529 plans, compared with 57% of those with an advisor.

As an advisor, I think those data points are pretty interesting. Presumably, the 82 percent of advisor-guided parents are finding their advisor relationship helpful, not only in determining what to invest in, but to actually move beyond their best intentions and “get the job done,” (to quote one of my children’s current heroes, Bob the Builder.)

As a young father, I totally get why getting started with a college savings plan can be a challenge. For a young, hard-working family, time and money are precious resources. It’s not only difficult to find the time to research all the various investment options, but it’s also difficult to set aside money that could readily be put to any number of good uses right away. On top of that, there’s an added hurdle if you want to make the most of any tax incentives by considering a 529 college savings plan. Bottom line, 529 plans can get pretty complicated, pretty fast.

As good fortune would have it, in my former career as a Morningstar analyst, I was actually paid to learn all about 529 college savings plans and communicate my findings to others. What a sweet gig that was – for my professional and personal life alike. In October, I’m going to share some of the insights I’ve learned about this critical area of family money management in a two part series. Stay tuned!

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