If money could talk, what would it have to say about you and your family? Would it be a happy participant at your dinner table, or more like an uninvited guest?

Back in 2009, I was incredibly lucky to meet Marilyn Wechter, MSW, a financial therapist and wealth counselor who has dedicated her career to helping families create healthier relationships with money and among themselves. Former colleague Mont Levy introduced the two of us, and I distinctly remember what he said to me then: If there was ever an investment professional who would be comfortable taking advice from a therapist, I was the guy.

Mont was right. Meeting Marilyn was not only one of the most important events in my life, it also has directly influenced our approach here at Hill Investment Group, helping us facilitate many otherwise-challenging financial conversations among families.

Sorry if it seems like I’m gushing, but it’s hard to overstate my enthusiasm for Marilyn’s work. Most recently, we hosted a mid-February client event with her in Houston: “How To Have the Money Talk With Children of Any Age.”

Together, we explored:

• How can we give generously to our children or others without undermining their self-determination?
• How can we normalize money discussions, so “wealth” doesn’t feel so otherworldly?
• What are good, conversation-generating questions to ask intended heirs, so you can better connect the potential wealth with their higher goals?

Marilyn has a way of helping you connect dots. Once the new mental and emotional connections are made, it feels impossible to ever unknow the new story or frame. If I’ve whetted your appetite for more, you may enjoy reading my more extensive description of the impact she’s had on my own life. You’ll find that by picking up a copy of Odds On and turning to page 179.

I’ll close with a teaser excerpt from the book:

I started bringing Marilyn into our office four times a year to speak to Hill Investment Group’s employees. Her insight and guidance helped us take our approach to another level. She’s taught us how to be better listeners and how to pick up emotional cues. … It might sound simple, but it made an incredible difference in how we were connecting with clients. Before we met Marilyn, we didn’t keep tissues around our office. Now, we have a box of tissues on the table for every meeting. We’re not trying to make our clients cry, but we often end up touching on memories from childhood, key relationships in their lives, and their hopes for the future.

Intrigued? Let us know if we can arrange an introduction.

Among the many reforms found in the new tax law, one last-minute change allows families to begin using their 529 Plan savings to pay for their children’s K-12 tuition (up to $10,000 per beneficiary, per year). Until now, 529 Plans could only be used to pay for qualified higher education costs.

Since private schooling is expensive, you may be tempted to tap into this new, tax-sheltered funding source as soon as you’re able.

But should you?

The answer is: It depends.

What’s the highest, best use of your 529 plan assets?

The main reason you squirrel away money in a 529 plan is to protect your investments against taxes, and the debilitating effect they have on your end returns. With their tax-preferential treatment, your 529 plan savings are expected to grow bigger and faster than if you held that same money in a taxable account.

Thus it stands to reason, the longer you keep your money invested in a 529 account, the better you’re leveraging its tax-sheltering benefits.

In this context, among the best applications for a 529 plan remains the same as before: to start setting aside money when your kids are in diapers, in anticipation of that bittersweet day they head off to college.

That said, life doesn’t always go as expected. The new K-12 spending allowance may be ideal if you end up with “extra” funds in a 529 plan. For example, what if your firstborn decides to attend an in-state university instead of Harvard? Or what if she earns a full scholarship to her first-choice institution! It may make sense to use up the leftover 529 money on her younger brother’s high school tuition, especially if he already has a fully funded 529 plan of his own.

Where do you live?

There’s an added wrinkle to consider before taking money from a 529 plan for K-12 tuition. As this Forbes article describes, qualified 529 plan withdrawals for K-12 tuition may now be tax- and penalty-free on your Federal tax return (thanks to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act). But your state tax laws may differ.

Which brings me back to my initial answer. Should you spend your 529 plan assets on K-12 costs? It depends.

In the wake of February’s recent market volatility (after a nice, long lull), we thought this would be a good time to remind our readers how unusual it is for markets to deliver their “normal” average returns in any given year.

For example, while the S&P 500 index has delivered average returns of around 10% per year since 1926, the six orange dots in our “Illustration of the Month” below are the only years it’s actually toed the line of its long-term average.

What’s the real “norm”? Expect volatility far more often than not along the road to future growth.