In this episode of the Investor Podcast, we sit down with Shanna Due, founder of Due Financial and a certified college financial consultant, to break down the complexities of strategic higher education planning. Drawing from her experience as an accidental financial planner who shifted from sports medicine to personal finance, Shauna shares how families can navigate the shifting financial aid landscape without sacrificing their long-term retirement goals or taking on overwhelming student debt.
The conversation focuses on practical workflows for high-earning business owners, detailing the pros and cons of vehicles like 529 plans, Roth IRAs, and taxable brokerage accounts. Shauna exposes major misconceptions around full-ride athletic scholarships, discusses the vanishing landscape of prepaid state tuition plans, and highlights powerful structural workarounds like state-specific "two-and-two" community college transfer programs. Additionally, we explore critical macro updates, including the tightening of federal loan limits and how modern innovations—from Mark Zuckerberg's trade schools to physical AI infrastructure—are challenging the traditional pricing model of higher education. Shauna concludes with an essential timeline for parents, outlining why the eighth-grade year is the ultimate sweet spot to begin long-term planning, and leaves the audience with a powerful reminder to anchor every life and financial decision in a clear, defined statement of purpose.
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