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Financial advice from an expert: Money moves for families

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — From our electric bills and eggs to shaky stocks and rising interest rates, finances are top of mind for a lot of people. Action News Jax sat down with a certified financial planner to answer some of your questions about the key money moves you should be making, no matter what phase of life you are in.

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Action News Jax talked to local mother Gloria Nixon. She lit up while talking about her baby girl Aspen, who was born in December.

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Nixon said, “She just brings me a lot of joy and just really makes our little family so complete now.”

Nixon and her husband J.D. are first-time parents. They prepared as much as they could for Aspen’s arrival. Now they are focused on her future and have some questions. To start, she wanted to know about saving for her daughter’s college fund.

Local mother Gloria Nixon wanted to know about saving for her daughter's college fund.

Nixon said, “I wanted to know what options are out there. What are some of the pros and cons of each one and smart ways to do that and how early to start.”

For answers, we turned to Christian Barnett, a certified financial planner and Managing Director of Investment Services with our Family Focus partner, First Florida Credit Union.

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Barnett recommends parents start saving for college as soon as possible. He said, “A 529 investment account is the best way to save for education.” Barnett recommends that parents utilize the Florida Prepaid Program. Barnett said, “It offers us an opportunity as Florida residents to purchase future units of college at today’s cost.”

Up next, Nixon wanted to know about estate planning and how to make sure Aspen will be taken care of. Nixon asked, “What are some key things to consider when building a living will on the financial side that we need to make sure we’re mindful of? And just overall, how does that flow? How does that work?”

Barnett says life insurance is a major way to protect your family and he also recommends talking to a professional. Barnett said, “It’s always good to talk to a qualified experienced estate planning attorney. Typically, you will run through combinations of guardianships, talking about that or perhaps revocable living trusts.” Nixon continued, “In other words, if happen not to be here tomorrow, it would appoint someone to have custody of the child for their benefit. Then it also would be a place to distribute assets for their benefit.”

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The new parents also want advice on how to help their daughter establish credit.

Nixon asked, “How do we go about building some credit for her before she turns 18, so that way she has a little bit of a headstart?”

Barnett said, “We can authorize our minors are minor children to be authorized signers or users on our credit cards and so then they would sort of piggyback on our credit score up to a point. The benefit would be that some point in time, once they turn 18, they would have a credit score based upon that credit history.”

Barnett says parents can also opt to put money on a share-secured credit card for their child to use.

“Now they would have their own credit card. Maybe it’s $500, maybe it’s $1,000 and run transactions off that, and with each transaction that gives them the benefit---if paid on time---to grow that credit score.”

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If you want help with managing your finances, there are several resources available for you. You can search for certified financial planners in your area by clicking here.