• Create your own Power of Attorney Form
• Create your own Health Care Directive Form

Don’t borrow more than your first year’s Gross Earnings!

• Remember the federal loan limits:
  

• Set up an account with your loan servicer.

• Estimate your loan repayment with the Federal Student Aid Loan Estimator
  (select Proceed and enter your loan totals or loan estimates)

Private Loan Consolidation:

• Will consolidating save you money? Check out additional information about private loan consolidation.

Direct Loan Consolidation:

• Do you have both Perkins AND Federal Direct (Stafford) loans? Discover more information about a Direct Consolidation Loan.

Student Loan Consolidation Guide:

• Learn the basics of student loan consolidation.

• Additional resources on the following topics
  • Spending
  • Budgeting & Saving
  • Credit
  • Debt & Loans

https://www.opploans.com/mooc/

• You are considered self-employed (for social security purposes) and an employee for other tax/fringe benefit purposes.
  SECA (Self-Employment Contributions Act) covers both social security and Medicare taxes at 15.3%
  SECA must be paid on all income (including the amount of housing allowance and/or fair market value of provided housing)

• Income tax/social security tax/etc. will not be automatically withdrawn from your paycheck.

• Plan on setting up a separate account to deposit 20-25% of each paycheck (work with a tax preparer to know how much to set aside). You can then pay your quarterly tax estimates directly from this separate account to prepare for the large payments.
  Quarterly tax estimates are due on:
  April 15 (Jan 1 to March 31)
  June 15 (April 1 to May 31)
  September 15 (June 1 to August 31)
  January 15 (Sept 1 to Dec 31) *paid the following year

• Guidance from the IRS regarding Estimated Taxes

• When you complete your taxes, talk to your accountant/tax preparer! Let them know you are a Minister of the Gospel so they can help you properly complete your tax return information.

• For more information on tax implications, review information provided by GuideStone.

• Gross pay – deductions and taxes = Net Pay – fixed expenses = Disposable income – elastic expenditures = Discretionary income
• How to Read a Pay Stub video
• Take-Home Paycheck Calculator
• Overlooked Tax Breaks for Recent College Graduates article and IRS Pub. 970 Education tax benefits
• Education Tax benefits (including student loan interest deduction)
• File taxes online: Turbo Tax, Tax Slayer, Credit Karma, H&R Block
• Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) free tax help for qualified individuals

To help keep college costs down,
good planning is the best strategy!

• Take AP Courses that will transfer for your major (or as needed elective credits.)

• Save money from high school graduation and work as much as possible in the summer.

• Utilize the available payment plans .

• Apply for scholarships.

• Apply for financial aid every year.

• Minimize student loans – only borrow what you need.

• Try to graduate in 4 years.

• Review the current Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary catalog.

• During your Financial Review Meeting, preparation for seminary payments are reviewed.

• The Student’s Guide outlines different scenarios for a variety of scams that range from tax scams and identity theft to PayPal and rides share scams. Each section provides prevention tips for each situation and a top 10 list of fraud prevention tips are share.