t works The Citigold Relationship A $500 initial deposit opens your Citigold account. Within six months, the combined average balance of your HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/prod_and_service/prod_serv_detail.jsp?BS_Id=Citigold&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"linked eligible accounts has to be: $100,000 or more across all your linked Citi accounts OR $250,000 or more if your Citibank first mortgage is included in the total relationship. If you maintain the balances shown above, we'll waive the $25 monthly service fee. Upgrading is easy It takes only a few minutes to submit your upgrade request online. You'll get the option to order new checks (which are free) and a choice of ATM/Debit cards: Gold Citibank® MasterCard® Debit Card with ThankYou® Network9 Premium Citibank®/AAdvantage® Debit Card Gold Citibank® MasterCard® Debit Card Within 2 business days, you'll see your checking, Checking Plus® 10 and brokerage accounts upgraded to Citigold status  but your account numbers will remain the same. We'll also mail you a new card and checks as you requested. Planning Eg1 Education Planning Face your future head on. We know it's exciting to start college, make friends and experience new opportunities. Besides a social life and keeping up your grades, you need to keep up with your tuition payments too. ˆ_Ystrategies HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-124&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"The College-Savings Superpage HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-125&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"The College-Savings Superpage, Part 2 HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-126&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"How Much Should You Save? HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-127&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"Free Money HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-128&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"Private-School Tuition, for Cheap HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-130&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"College Savings Without the Tax Bite HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-131&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"The 529 Basics HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-132&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"College-Savings Plans HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-133&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"Prepaid-Tuition Plans HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-134&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"Grade Your 529 Plan HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-135&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"The College Tax Breaks Explained HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-137&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"The 529 College-Savings-Plan Estimator HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=LBP-71&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"The Cost of a College Education Eg: College-savings plans are a little bit like a very restricted 401(k). (Although with a college-savings plan you are contributing after-tax dollars, while with a 401(k) contributions are generally pretax.) In other words, you contribute money to the plan, which is then invested in some sort of savings vehicle  typically mutual funds. Many of these plans offer stock funds when a child is quite young, which will then be transferred to more conservative investments, like bond funds, as the child gets closer to college age. Of course, unlike the prepaid tuition plans, there are no guarantees that your money will grow large enough to cover your tuition bills. But should you invest in a good plan, the returns (combined with the tax-free withdrawals) certainly give you a fighting chance. Also, these plans aren't strictly geared toward in-state schools, but are meant to be applied toward whichever school your child chooses to attend. For stay-at-home mom Becky Harvey of Oxford, Mass., investing in a college-savings plan was a much wiser choice than a prepaid tuition plan. When her five- and six-year-old sons were first born, Harvey and her husband Greg began investing on their behalf. They initially used a prepaid plan sponsored by the state of Massachusetts, but they've since begun contributing instead to the U. Investing Plan, Massachusetts' college-savings plan, which is run by Fidelity. "Since our kids are so young, I figure with our long investment horizon that we'll do better in this type of plan," says Harvey. "Sure, you lose some stability, but the way I see it, the money we are contributing today will help us buy low and sell high." These days it seems pretty much every major fund family, including T. Rowe Price, Strong, Alliance, Wadell & Reed and TIAA-CREF, has partnered up with at least one state. And since most college-savings plans allow you to invest across state lines, this means that if you don't like the plan in your home state, you can look elsewhere and most likely go with a fund family that you already trust. (You could, however, lose out on some state-tax benefits.) Keep in mind, investing in a college-savings plan could also affect your financial-aid eligibility, although in a different way than a prepaid tuition plan. College-savings plans are typically viewed as a parental asset, rather than a child's. And that means that a financial-aid officer would count a maximum of 5.6% of those assets toward your financial-aid eligibility, says CPA Rick Darvis of College Planning, Inc. Of course, once you start withdrawing funds from your account, then the earnings will most likely be treated as income for your child, which could hamper your financial aid further. This could change, however, now that distributions are tax free, although that is far from certain. "I don't think anyone can predict with certainty how this income will be treated by financial-aid offices even one year from now," says CPA Joe Hurley, who runs the Web site Savingforcollege.com. No matter what, don't let the fear of hurting your child's eligibility for financial aid paralyze you from developing a sound savings strategy. Remember, a lot of financial aid comes in the form of student loans, which means you'll save youself (or your child) some money by planning ahead. Eg 2 Buying a home Set your sights on a new castle. Bungalow or back split? Either way, it's one of the longest financial commitments you'll make in life. So before you drop down the cash, pick up the latest research on buying a home.Ðc›Oú^®‹‚Y N 1 ÿHome purchase basics HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/article.jsp?BS_Id=SM-11&BV_UseBVCookie=yes"How Much House Can You Afford? HYPERLINK "https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/infrastructure/