As as financial planner, many families have turned to me to help them plan for their child’s college funding, but today we’re going to combine those roles as we welcome Joe Saul-Sehy, a financial planner and a father of twins who are in college.

Joe will share his experience with us, as co-founder of the financially-focused podcast, “Stack-ing Benjamins”, financial planner as well as a parent. As someone in this unique position, we hope you can benefit from his expertise as he’s been in the trenches, too.

Then we tackle a question I get often about when to file your taxes and whether it matters when it comes to providing that information for financial aid forms (the FAFSA).

Applying a talent to a passion

Joe had been a financial planner for 16 years, and has worked with about 175 families to help them plan for college and other aspects of their lives. About 14 years into the business, a coworker announced he was leaving the company because he wasn’t sure that working 16 hours a day left him much time to evaluate what he wanted out of life. He subsequently climbed Mt. Everest and some of the highest peaks around the world, and started a travel business.

Call it a reality check, but Joe soon realized that he liked what he did for a living, but didn’t love it, so he too started his own adventure, moving across the country, taking classes to become a teacher. He realized the part he loved about his work with Ameriprise Financial was talking with the media and writing. So he started to develop a column, which led to the formation of “Stack-ing Benjamins” with a partner to produce podcasts.

Planner to Parent

It’s not a given that being a planner for people’s finances will necessarily make you more pre-pared for your own situations, and Joe laughs when he says that no one is ever ready.

However, being a planner did give him an idea of what to expect and he says he knew he had savings in various accounts. So far, with twins – a son at the University of Texas and a daughter at the University of Arkansas – in sophomore year, despite hitting a few walls, he feels he’s go-ing to survive the process.

Lucky for Joe, he lives in Texarkana, TX which views both schools as in-state, saving his family the cost that could be charged for out-of-state students.

Get Started Saving: As much as you can, as early as you can

Joe remembers the moment he realized he was going to be the father of twins early in his ca-reer, his planner side saw 18 years into the future and the costs that would go with it. The goal was to save as much as they could, as soon as they could.

Initially, he started saving into a variable universal life policy, which worked OK, and isn’t something he’d recommend now. However, he realizes that for some this is a good option.

Later on, they added in 529 plans, which are tax-advantaged to encourage saving for tuition, and were an even better device.

Ultimately, Joe says that it’s not the product you use to save money that is good or bad, but how you use it.

Get the Conversation Started Early

Joe and his family always had some expectation that the twins would have some after-high school ambitions, whether vocational or otherwise. So the college conversation started sooner than perhaps most.

* In middle school, Joe and his wife shared stories about their alma mater, Michigan State. Not a heavy discussion, but they explained what classes they took and how the college experience worked.

* The twins also took the PSAT in middle school, and in eighth grade, his son took a version of the ACT to get students used to the type of testing they could expect in their junior year. Both took their first ACT in sophomore year.

* Between sophomore and junior year, the family started taking their first college tours,