The Importance of Saving Early and Often

Last weekend, Tommy, Nick and I attended the Boston Book Festival presents Hubbub, an event that describes itself as a new festival celebrating creativity, inventiveness and exploration for children ages zero to twelve and their families.

It took place in Copley Square and featured musicians, authors, arts and crafts, books, recess-like activities and more! Since it was a kids’ event in my backyard, I naturally had to go. I first went for a quick 4-mile run and then headed over by 11 am.

I couldn’t believe how many other moms I recognized from around the city. Between the babysitting at various gyms, Little Groove and Little Loveage Club, I felt like I was in a small suburb and not the state capital of Massachusetts. We first stopped by the music tent where we listened to a woman sing in Spanish and English. Tommy LOVES music. It’s so cute. The music drew a large crowd for obvious entertainment reasons. It also was age appropriate for us. Many of the activities were for older kids that required the basic ability to sit up which Tommy has yet to master.

Since he is still young, there were very specific features I wanted to check out. One booth we wanted to stop at was from the Fidelity & MEFA U.Fund Dreams Tour tent, featuring information on college savings plans. We spoke with our financial advisor* about opening up a 529 plan at our last meeting and were eager to learn more.

529 plans are flexible, tax-advantaged accounts designed specifically for college savings. The U.Fund Dreams Tour tent featured an online game that allowed me to enter in how many years we have left until Tommy potentially goes to college, how much we potentially plan to save each month and if we will have enough for college by the time he graduates high school. It was pretty eye opening at how much you need to save to have enough, . Fidelity has a similar calculator you can use online too.

Nick and I try to be practical people and love that we can have family give Tommy money towards college rather than a toy that doesn’t fit in our city living spaces.

While I typically blog about health and fitness, I equally believe in having good financial health, and that means saving – especially when it comes to your child’s future.

The U.Fund Dreams Tour will be at various events across the region this summer so make sure you stop by and check to see if your finances are in good health for when it comes time for your kids’ to start their college education.

I partnered with Fidelity and MEFA in support of the U.Fund Dreams Tour. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.