College is an exciting time, and one of your primary helpers during college will be your academic advisor. Your advisor will help you determine what classes to take, how to plan your college career and how to tackle life away from home.

However, one thing that your advisor may also try to help you take on is funding your college education. Please note: your advisor means well. It is highly unlikely to virtually impossible that many of the "malicious advisor" myths about lenders paying of academic advisors are true. These people have your best interests and your educational success at heart in nearly every case.

When you start saving for college, it is very exciting. Not only is it the wise and responsible thing to do, but you will get a great deal of pleasure out of knowing that you are taking steps to secure your financial future. Starting to save for college now will help you avoid taking out student loans once you have started your education. However, before you throw your money into the first college savings strategy that you see, there are four important questions that you need to ask yourself. Getting clear about the answers to these questions ahead of time will help you select the right college savings plan for you.

1. Do you want a financial advisor?

One of the best things about 529 savings plans is that they are open to everyone. You can have any income, and intend to save pretty much any amount of money that you like usually up to about 230,000 dollars. 529 savings plans often get a “bad rap” because they have a lot of fees attached to them (largely because they are tax-free or nearly so). However, there are also a lot of good things about 529 investing not just for the person going to college, but also for the other people in their lives.

Here are 3 things that you need to know about 529 savings plans that you might not have considered:

1. You can donate large lump sums that then grow tax free.