In this eye-opening session, college planning experts Beth Walker and Joe Messinger will show financial advisors how even high-income, high-asset families — including business owners — can implement sophisticated strategies to optimize financial aid outcomes. Using real-world case studies, they will demonstrate how strategic income timing, asset positioning, and business planning decisions can meaningfully reduce out-of-pocket college costs, even for clients who assume they won’t qualify for aid.
Jonathan Sparling of Private 529 Plan will join Beth and Joe to present sophisticated 529 plan strategies many advisors overlook. Jonathan’s review will include the power of grandparent-owned 529 plans, how funding 529 accounts during low-income years can create meaningful state tax arbitrage opportunities, how ownership structuring can position 529s as a powerful financial aid asset strategy for divorced or remarried families, and how deliberate beneficiary “generation shifting” can extend tax-free compounding across decades. Jonathan will also explore he unique value of private 529 plans — including the ability to lock in tuition at participating private colleges, hedge tuition inflation risk, reduce reported parental assets (depending on structure), and potentially improve financial aid positioning.
As a Certified College Planning Specialist (CCPS), Beth is trained in the complex strategies suitable for reducing a family’s out-of-pocket college expenses, routinely saving families 25%-50% on the cost of college. Beth is the author of two books, An Employee’s Guide to Stock Options (McGraw-Hill, 2003) and Never Pay Retail for College (Prussian Press, 2017).
Joe Messinger, CFP®, ChFC®, CLU®, CCFC® is a nationally recognized college funding and planning expert with over 20 years of experience in financial services. He is Co-Founder and Director of College Planning at Capstone Wealth Partners, where he created the proprietary College Pre-Approval™ process that helps families demystify financial aid and strategically plan for college costs. Joe also co-founded College Aid Pro®, an innovative software platform that streamlines the financial aid planning process for families and advisors. He has trained thousands of financial advisors on effective college planning.
- Turn financial aid into a strategy — not a myth by reframing it as a planning opportunity, even for high-income families.
- Time income and position assets intentionally to reduce their impact on FAFSA and CSS Profile formulas.
- Integrate business planning decisions into a coordinated, multi-year college funding strategy.
- Unlock overlooked 529 strategies — including grandparent ownership, low-income year funding for state tax arbitrage, smart structuring for divorced/remarried families, and beneficiary generation shifting.
- Leverage the unique power of private 529 plans to lock in tuition, hedge inflation, potentially reduce reportable parental assets, and strengthen financial aid positioning.