Getting the upper hand on college expenses

Income Strategy:

Lesson 2

College Students & Family

The cost of higher education isn’t getting cheaper and classes aren’t getting any easier.

So how does a family that wants top support its college-bound student make the ends get a little closer together?

In our second installment of Income Strategy we’ll look at how creatively structuring your Lyoness tree can help maximize the benefits for everyone.

A recent family I spoke with wanted to know how they could best maximize their membership to help their soon-to-be 18-year-old daughter pay for college. We sat and talked and came up with the following strategy.

First, use Lyoness as much as possible. There are several ways top do this, beginning with either of the textbook suppliers that are Lyoness Loyalty Merchants. Textbooks.com and BookByte.com are two great resources for students as they look for great deals. Both of these member merchants do quality checks on the books and you can get either a new or used version when you buy.

So I’m just gonna get my cash back on that purchase right?

Oh no, not if you’re smart.

See, my suggestion to the couple was that they sign up their daughter on her birthday, and that she in turn sign up her mom. Her mom would then sign up her dad, giving them a tree three people deep and a grand investment of $3.00.

From there they would take advantage of the Lyoness cash back and Friendship Bonus. So, the father buys the book and has it shipped to his daughter at school. Meanwhile, the mother and daughter each benefit from a friendship bonus of 0.5%. It may not look like a lot, but if you’re buying hundred’s of dollars in books each semester it can add up quick.

So what else is our new member of the academic community going to need? Well, clothes for starters, and there are a ton of online and retail merchants where they can get those. And again, all shopping is done through the father so that they can maximize both levels of their Friendship Bonus.

Paper, pencils and pens? Maybe Kmart or Walmart. They carry ink cartridges and some computer supplies as well.

Maybe a prescription when they get sick? Walgreens and CVS are available. They also have some pretty good prices on juice, soda and snacks for those late-night study sessions.

Gas for the car? Sam’s Club (Walmart’s club store) and some Kmarts have gas pumps, or you could just use Chevron or Exxon.

The point is, have the student use the card for those ‘immediate need’ items and the parent for the ones that can be planned out. But with more than 2,000 stores out there, and that number growing every day, everything you need for school short of housing can be purchased through Lyoness.

Toss in the every day purchases that the couple will make while their daughter is away at school, all made through the Father’s membership, and they can double up on the savings.

Let’s see what that might look like…

Purchases made to get a student ready for college.

OK, so we have the material needs out of the way. But what about trying to generate some additional income? I mean, it’s all about the Benjamins, right?

So while their baby girl is off at school, mom and dad can get busy sharing Lyoness with family and friends. And just as we described before, two things will happen as they do that. First, the family will get the benefit of great deals and cash back on whatever they buy from Lyoness Loyalty Merchants. It won’t be a ton, but anything helps in today’s economy.

But when you share, the power of the Friendship Bonus comes back into play. First, for anyone the Father refers into the program, that person becomes a Direct for the Father and an Indirect for the Mother. Again, double the Friendship Bonus. Let’s looks at it…

Purchases made by the Father’s Direct referrals.

We’ve already covered how the Father’s Friendship Bonus would work, but see how that Direct now pays the Mother as well? Pretty nifty.

And when the Father’s Direct refers a new person – an Indirect for the Father – he’ll see rewards from those purchases as well.

Purchases made by the Father’s Direct and Indirect referrals.

This setup allows a family to make the most out of every purchase they make, as well as those that refer into Lyoness. And the more they share, the bigger the rewards.

Oh, and as for their son who is just entering is sophomore year in high school? They can take care of him too. He can be registered into Lyoness when he turns 18 and can become the beneficiary of his parents when they are gone, as Lyoness memberships are able to be transferred or included in a will.

There may be other strategies. Maybe even better ones. If you have an idea for how to make this model work better, let me know! I’d love to hear it, maybe modify this post and pass the information along.

If Lyoness is about anything, its about sharing.

Maybe you’d like some help understanding more about Lyoness and how it can work for you. Just let me know with a quick comment or email. The information is free and so is the membership.