Education

Get schooled on saving for education

Personalized, goals-based investment planning to help get the degree and dodge the debt.

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BrightPlan Goal Cards

Your tailored education goal

Our algorithms provide your education goal with a personalized investment plan.

  • icon roadmap

    College Start Date

    Set the year when classes begin.

  • icon target

    Type of College

    Model public vs. private schools.

  • icon monitor

    Years of funding

    Personalize your graduation timeline.

  • icon monitor

    Annual cost

    See the investment required to fund a degree.

Intelligent advice to keep you on track

  • 01

    Link accounts

    Already investing for your education? Securely link a 529 or other investment accounts to your BrightPlan goal.

  • 02

    Add potential scholarships

    Supplement your investments by applying for scholarships, every little bit counts/

  • 03

    Consider part-time work

    Most college students work part-time. Add extra income from a part-time retirement job.

  • 04

    Add grants and loans

    After exhausting scholarships and grants, you may look into federal or private student loans.

Automation for peace of mind

Once you’ve set your goal, stay on track by automating investing through BrightPlan. When you open a BrightPlan Investment Account, we’ll automate the essentials:

  • Automatic deposits
  • Asset allocation and rebalancing
  • Tax loss harvesting
  • Dividend reinvestment

BrightPlan uses low-cost Vanguard1 and Dimensional2 funds that have outperformed their benchmarks.

Learn more about how we invest
Automation for peace of mind
  • Goal Business
  • Goal Debt Reduction
  • Goal Emergency
  • Goal Education
  • Goal Home
  • Goal Business
  • Goal Travel
  • Home Purchasing

    A dream home starts with a real plan

    Let BrightPlan guide you step by step to your new front door.

    Learn more
  • Travel

    Meet your new travel planner

    Set a travel goal in minutes and start funding it right away.

    Learn more
  • Retirement

    Retire inspired

    Accelerate towards financial independence with a personalized retirement plan.

    Learn more
  • Debt Reduction

    Your roadmap to living debt-free

    Your paycheck can fund your future, not your past. Move towards living debt-free with a solid plan.

    Learn more
  • Emergency Fund

    Save up for peace of mind

    An emergency fund protects your stuff, your family, and your other financial goals.

    Learn more
  • Education

    Education planning that makes the grade

    Get the degree but dodge the debt with a solid plan to pay for college.

    Learn more

FURTHER READING

[1] Vanguard Statistic: For the 10-year period ended December 31, 2017, 9 of 9 Vanguard money market funds, 51 of 55 Vanguard bond funds, 21 of 22 Vanguard balanced funds, and 101 of 108 Vanguard stock funds—for a total of 182 of 194 Vanguard funds —outperformed their Lipper peer-group average. Results will vary for other time periods. Only mutual funds with a minimum 10-year history were included in the comparison. The competitive performance data shown represent past performance, which is not a guarantee of future results.

[2] Dimensional Statistic: Performance data shown represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Beginning sample includes funds as of January 1, 2002. The number of beginners is: Industry - 3,545 and Dimensional - 29. Outperformers (winners) are funds with return observations for every month of the 15-year period whose cumulative net return over the period exceeded that of their respective benchmark. US-domiciled open-end mutual fund data is from Morningstar and Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) from the University of Chicago. Performance of each fund in the industry sample are evaluated relative to the fund’s Morningstar Category Index. Dimensional fund data provided by the fund accountant. Dimensional funds exclude VA funds and those distributed exclusively through Loring Ward. Performance of Dimensional funds measured against prospectus benchmarks. When evaluating the Dimensional funds relative to the fund’s Morningstar category index, 79% outperform. For further methodology details, see DFA’s Mutual Fund Landscape brochure.