Family Financial Planning
Organizing the education fund for newly-arrived families.
Families newly relocating to the United States often arrive with the capital to support their children's education for the next twenty years, but no map for how to deploy it. K–12 private-school tuition runs on a different cadence than college, the US tax code treats different account types in counter-intuitive ways, and financial-aid formulas can quietly reward or penalize the way a family holds money long before an application is filed. We build the map. The work is quiet, careful, and built to last — not a pitch for a new account or product, but a written plan the family can hand to their own advisors and follow for the next decade.
What it covers
A multi-year funding plan.
We coordinate with the family's existing wealth managers, financial advisors, and tax counsel to build an education-funding plan that matches the academic plan — when tuition is due, which accounts vest when, when funds need to move between currencies or jurisdictions, and how every decision interacts with financial-aid disclosures and US tax obligations. We do not sell financial products or manage assets. Our role is to translate between the family's academic plan and the financial advisors who execute it, so nothing is missed in handoff. For families relocating from abroad, that translation is most of the work — the planning concepts that apply in Seoul, Beijing, or São Paulo do not map cleanly onto how US private schools, colleges, and the IRS actually behave.
What's included
Where families typically need help.
K–12 Tuition Mapping
A multi-year view of expected tuition, mandatory fees, capital campaign expectations, and required deposit schedules for each school stage — elementary, middle, boarding, and the gap years between if applicable. Most families are surprised by how much of the total cost is not tuition: enrollment deposits, capital pledges, technology fees, travel for sports and arts, and the summer programs that have become a quiet requirement at competitive schools.
529s & Education Accounts
Setup and contribution strategy across 529 plans (state-by-state tax treatment matters more than families realize), Coverdell ESAs, custodial accounts, and brokerage-held education funds. We map which account to fund first, which to drain first, and where the IRS rules create traps for families who hold both K–12 and college-bound students. We also flag the rarer accounts — ABLE, Roth IRAs used for education, employer-sponsored plans — that occasionally make sense.
Tax-Efficient Structuring
Coordination with the family's tax counsel so contributions, gifts, withdrawals, and inter-family transfers fit the family's circumstances — including the cross-border tax issues that affect families with assets, businesses, or family members outside the US. We do not file taxes or give tax advice; we make sure the tax conversation happens at the right time, before a structural decision becomes hard to reverse.
Financial-Aid Considerations
How fund structure affects need-aware admissions decisions, the school's own aid form, and the federal FAFSA and CSS Profile used by US colleges. Some account structures look favorable from a tax perspective but read as red flags on an aid form, and vice versa. We map out how the family's account structure will appear to each aid office on the school list, three or four years before the first form is filed.
Process
How an engagement runs.
Discovery
An initial confidential conversation to map current assets, family goals, academic plans, and the existing advisor team. We listen first; the family does not need to share account balances or sensitive numbers at this stage — only the shape of the situation.
Plan
A written multi-year funding plan, coordinated with the family's existing wealth managers and tax counsel. The plan covers each school stage, each major decision point, and the action items each advisor on the team is responsible for. It is delivered as a document the family owns and can update without us.
Execution
Account setup with the family's chosen institutions, scheduled transfers, contribution calendars, and the documentation each US institution will eventually ask for. We coordinate directly with the family's wealth manager and tax counsel so nothing falls between teams.
Annual Review
A yearly review against academic milestones, life changes (new sibling, change of country, change of school target), and shifts in the US tax or financial-aid landscape. The plan is revised in place rather than rewritten from scratch each year.
What you take home
What families walk away with.
A written multi-year education funding plan you can hand to your own advisors.
Recommendations for 529s, Coverdell ESAs, and brokerage-held education funds with contribution targets.
A tuition payment and contribution calendar aligned with the academic plan.
A scheduled annual review against academic milestones and life changes.
FAQ
Questions families ask.
- Do we keep our existing financial advisors?
- Yes. We coordinate with them — we are not a financial advisor and don't replace one. Our work is the funding plan that ties the academic timeline to the accounts you already have.
- Do you handle tax filing?
- No. We coordinate with the family's tax counsel on structure so the plan sits comfortably with their advice. Filing stays with your CPA.
- Does fund structure affect financial aid eligibility?
- It can. We factor in CSS Profile and FAFSA treatment when designing the plan, so the financial picture supports the admissions one rather than undermining it.
- We just moved to the US — where do we start?
- A free discovery call. We map current assets, the family's goals, and the academic timeline before any recommendations are written down.
Plan the education fund.
Schedule a confidential discovery call. We work alongside your existing financial and tax advisors — never instead of them — and the first conversation is no-charge and no-pitch.
Schedule a discovery call