Getting Started With Savvy College PlanningSM
What follows are some suggestions on how best to proceed. Not a Member? Click here to learn more about the program.
Questions? Call Horsesmouth at (888) 336-6884.
The Financial Advisor’s Guide to Savvy College Planning
150 College Planning Questions Answered
Program manuals
You have two key printed resources with which you should begin familiarizing yourself. The first is Lynn O’Shaughnessy’s, The Financial Advisor’s Guide to Savvy College Planning. It walks you through all the major aspects of smart college planning and equips you with the technical knowledge and insights you’ll need to educate clients and prospects—be they parents or grandparents—about sensible and cost-effective approaches to find the right college for them. You’ll be coming back to this guide again and again throughout the program.
The other printed resource is, 150 College Planning Questions Answered: What Savvy Advisors Need to Know. This report gives you specific answers to real-life, difficult college planning questions your clients will face. Lynn O’Shaughnessy spends every day researching, writing, and training parents and other professionals about the tricky world of college planning. This report gives you easy access to a body of questions you’ll likely face as you educate clients and prospects about college planning.
Webinar training
In these multi-part webinar training sessions delivered by Lynn O’Shaughnessy, Lynn will walk you through the key material contained in the Savvy College Planning program. All sessions will be recorded for on-demand viewing later and posted to the Webinars page. It’s up to you whether you want to listen to each webinar as you work your way through the program guide, or if you want to wait until after you’ve completed the guide before starting in with the webinar training.
Once you’ve watched the webinars and read the manuals, you’ll be able to take the CE Exam and earn your CFP Continuing Education credits.
You’ll also see on the Webinar page a schedule of quarterly, subscriber-only webinars. These will be must viewing. You’ll get answers to select subscriber questions and updates on what’s happening in the College Planning field, plus news about the program.
You will be able to listen to all Savvy College Planning webinars on demand, as well as the live presentations. You’ll receive special email notifications from us whenever one is scheduled, plus follow-up emails with links to the webcasts. Visit the Webinars area of the site to begin.
Presentations
Your subscription includes access to Finra-reviewed College Planning workshops. These are ideal presentations for clients and prospects. If you plan on making such presentations, you should start familiarizing yourself with your options, which you can find on the Presentations page. You’ll simply download the PowerPoint slides and speaker notes and customize them as needed. You’ll also see the associated Finra letters on that page, too.
Savvy College Planning Marketing Toolkit
Marketing
You or your marketing team should download the Marketing Toolkit and become familiar with all it contains—which is substantial. It has timelines, checklists, and a range of information about organizing, hosting, and following up after you make one of your Savvy College Planning presentations. The toolkit can be found on the Marketing page.
The Marketing page also has links to customize your postcards, posters and press releases to promote your presentations. (The Finra letters are also there.)
The Savvy Parents’ Guide to Cutting College Costs
Parents’ Guide
Your program comes with 50 copies of The Savvy Parents’ Guide to Cutting College Costs by Lynn O’Shaughnessy; they’ll be delivered to your office within two weeks of joining the program. This is an excellent, easy-to-understand reference to give to clients, prospects, and attendees at workshops.
You can order additional guides on this page.
Custom article reprints
During the course of the year, you will have access to five Horsesmouth article reprints on various College Planning topics. These articles are customized with your photo, logo, contact information, and disclosures. Because they will bear your name and disclosures, the articles will be Finra reviewed.
When you add your customization, you’ll get instant access to a PDF version which you can post on your website, add to your email newsletter, or post to social media. You may also order hard copies, or print on your own, to hand out to clients and include in marketing packets. You can find your first article in the Reprint area of the website.
Lynn O’Shaughnessy
Q & A
On this section of the website you can post your College Planning questions for program leader, Lynn O’Shaughnessy, to answer. Additionally, you can browse the questions asks by other program members and benefit from the answers they received. Go to the Q & A page to submit your question(s).
Newsletters
One of the best ways to build your College Planning expertise is to review the monthly Savvy College Planning e-newsletter. Each issue will contain answers to selected subscriber questions, plus tips, insights, and news about the program and the complex world of College Planning. You can find an archive of the e-newsletters in the Newsletters area.
Other resources
If you visit the Resources area of the website, you can find additional tools and important updates about Savvy College Planning.