Podcast episode with Momi Pointer: College Admissions and Your Financial Future

Hello, this is Shellee Howard with College Ready, and I'm so excited to introduce our guests to Parents Is Your Teen College Ready podcast. I'd like to first give you a little bit of background. Momi Pointer is a brilliant mortgage, I guess, broker with Arbor Financial Group, and she'll tell you a little bit more about that. But I want to share what's so amazing. She has two daughters going through this process herself, and so she has raised her hand to try to help our listeners get clear on another opportunity they may not know about. You may be thinking, mortgage, how is this going to help me get into college? The nice part is it's more knowledge for you to utilize. So with that, I'd like to welcome Momi.

Hi everybody, thank you Shellee for the introduction. I really appreciate that.

Absolutely. So maybe you can give us a little, our listeners, a little background about your, um, background, your daughters, and, and we'll start with that.

Oh, absolutely. So as you mentioned, uh, during the introduction, I do have two daughters that are actually enrolled with College Ready And I want to preface that with the oldest daughter was actually already a sophomore at a junior college, and we kind of fast-tracked her with you. Remember that?

Yeah.

She started years ago, but we fast-tracked her. And then my youngest was a sophomore when we started with you, and she's now a junior in high school and moving along nicely through College Ready. My oldest ended up getting accepted with your help with Chapman University, Loyola Marymount, and St. Mary's. And what's great is she actually ended up getting, I guess, do you call it scholarship, scholarships from all three. And ultimately, because we are in Orange County, she chose Chapman University so she could stay at home and, you know, go to, go to campus that way. But what's, you know, what's amazing, Shellee, is that For the 2 years that she was at junior college, um, you know, it was 2020, 2021. She did not set foot on campus at all because it was all during COVID and there were no online— or there were no campus classes. They were all online. So she's only done college 2 years online and has not had a true college experience. So it was great that you guys were able to help her get into those 3 universities and she chose Chapman and She just started and she's loving it going to college.

Oh, that's such great news. I have chills.

Thank you for sharing. Yeah, the second daughter is a junior in high school and she's still moving along the process. And, you know, as we talked before we started, she's a competitive gymnast. And so, you know, we're going to help try to get her into a university or a college that has a gymnastics program. Right.

And not only is she a gymnast, she's— what'd you say, a level 9 gymnast?

A level 9, yeah.

Okay, so that commitment, what did you say, 4 hours a day?

4:30 to 9, 5 days a week.

Unbelievable, right? And I think you said she has over a 4.0, correct?

Yes, taking honors and AP.

Yeah, so for those parents who are listening out there and your child is struggling to maybe get the grades or to balance, what, what could you share with them from a mom's perspective before we get into the financial side? How do you support her doing this?

You know, that's actually a good question. Um, well, the one thing about both of my daughters is they both did, uh, zero period. So when the oldest was doing zero period, it actually started at 6:30 6:30 in the morning. So she went to high school at 6:30 in the morning 4 years in a row. But now, you know, the state has moved— or actually, maybe the nation has moved up start times an hour. So the gymnast does go to early— she does go zero period early start, but it starts at 7:30. But she gets out a whole entire period earlier than anybody. She's actually taking a college course this year, which takes up 2 of her periods. So she gets out early. It allows her to get home, spend, I don't know, 2 hours doing homework, and then she goes to gym until 9 o'clock.

Wow. It's all about finding that balance. Outstanding.

It is about finding that balance. She does take AP and honors. Sometimes, you know, there aren't enough hours in a day, right?

Right.

Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day, but she seems to manage. The thing with being an athlete and anybody else out there, who's a parent who has an athlete, you know, your, your child, you know, your child is very disciplined because they are in a sport. And so she's very disciplined. She knows what she needs to do when she gets home. Wow.

And you know, what's interesting is that's why employer— employers love athletes is for that same reason. They're self-motivated and they know that they have to get done certain things in a short amount of time.

And they don't have an attitude or typically an ego because they're used to their coach telling them, you need to do this, you need to do that, you need to do this. And they do it without feedback. Does that make sense?

Absolutely. It reminds me of a student I had last year. He was a rugby player. He's now at UCLA, and his mom did nothing for him. Absolutely. He basically— I mean, not in a bad way. Like, he was like, I got it, Mom. Like, I'm good, don't worry. And he, he transitioned into college so easily. And I'm guessing your daughter's going to do similar because she's had to manage this kind of schedule for some time now.

Yeah, she's had to manage her time since, uh, probably elementary school.

Yeah, you know, before we got on, you mentioned that she made a decision to take a year off of gymnastics. Can you maybe share how that was for you as a parent?

Devastating.

That's real. Okay.

No, it is real because she is ranked nationally as a gymnast and has been through 5 years in a row. And, you know, you can't— if your child doesn't have a passion for the sport anymore, You can't tell them to continue because they're going to be distracted. They could have an injury. They just don't want to continue. So when their heart isn't in it and they don't have the passion, you— I'm, I'm a believer that you can't force them to do something they don't want to do. Right. So my husband and I let her, let her quit. She wanted to be a cheerleader. So we let her do the, you know, the 1 year of cheer. And long story short, towards the end of cheer, she decided that it wasn't for her. And she finished out the season of cheer. And, you know, we're big believers in you need to be involved in something. So we told her, you need to pick a sport, track, you know, the long jump, because gymnastics transitions very nicely into the long jump. Oh, interesting. How many female athletes get recruited for long jump, right? That's a good one. And, you know, so, or even the hurdles or diving. And so we said, you need to pick something. And she actually surprised us and said that she was going to go back to gymnastics because we thought she had retired.

Yeah.

So she ended up going back.

And when she went back and it was her own choice, did you see a different person?

It was her own choice. We did see a different person. She's very committed. So she just went back this year. She's relearning all her skills because, you know, she took over a year off, having to relearn all her skills. And she is more committed. She actually has a passion for it again. You could tell when she had lost the, the light to do gymnastics. You could just tell in her performances. And now she takes pride in her performances and is very excited to go to gym.

Yay!

I see a different, I see a different athlete and a different student.

Amazing. Now, does she see that and does she have any regret from trying something else and coming back? Like, how has that been for her?

You know, we talk about it. I don't know if she has any regret. She does realize that she set herself back because she probably could be a level 10.

Sure.

Um, I mean, but we don't know, you know, she didn't compete, so we don't know if she would've moved up to level 10. She does realize that she did set herself back, which makes her more motivated now to get all her skills and start competing again. She realizes what she did. And she realizes what she needs to do in the path ahead to get to where she wants to go.

That's amazing. You know, working with scholar athletes like your daughter is so fulfilling, but there are the highs and the lows, right? There's the injuries, there's the exhaustion, but there's also the focus and the determination, and obviously she gets it from her mama. Awesome.

Thank you.

Let's, let's talk a little bit about you and your work and how does this relate to helping families graduate without debt?

You know, that's actually a really nice segue. Um, as you mentioned, I work with Arbor Financial Group and we are a mortgage broker. Um, and a lot of people don't realize, well, Actually, most of us realize that's why we're enrolled with you. College is getting expensive. I mean, I went to college another lifetime ago. It was not the same. What these kids have to do to get into university now, it astounds me. It's, it's so very different from when I went and maybe when you went.

For sure.

You know, it's— my daughters both want to go to private. Well, the oldest wanted to go to private because she wanted a smaller class size. And you guys helped her realize that, recognize that dream and opportunity. But in doing so, it's a little pricier. And so what we can offer to our parents, to your parents, is the ability— if you own a home, most homeowners have a lot of equity. You can actually pull or pull from that equity and do a cash-out refinance to help pay for college. That's one of the, you know, one of the things that we can offer. But I also have— I do reverse mortgages, and a lot of people aren't familiar with them. Reverse mortgages are for homeowners that are 62 years and older, and you don't have to have your mortgage paid off, although a lot of my clients that are 62 years and older do have their mortgage paid off at that point in time. You can do a reverse mortgage and gift your grandchild some cash to go to college, to utilize for college.

Wow. See, there's always a strategy.

Always.

I love that. And so what would be the perfect scenario or somebody who can reach out to you? Like, what kind of person could take advantage of either of those situations?

So with— if you're not 62 years or older, and you have a home, if you have at least, I would have to say maybe 60 or 40% equity, 40% equity in your home. So I'll use numbers. If it's valued at a million and you have a $600,000 mortgage, meaning that you've paid it down by $400,000, you do have the ability to do a cash-out refi up to $800,000, which would give you $200,000 in cash, right? Right. And that would, that would definitely pay for college, uh, and then some, uh, depending on what college you went to or if you were paying out-of-state, uh, tuition. Um, so I would say if you at least have 60% equity depending on what your value is— so again, $1 million would mean your loan amount is $600,000. If you are going to do a reverse, um, again, if you own your home free and clear, that's a great scenario. That's like the ultimate scenario for a reverse mortgage., but you can also still have a loan on that home, and I can run the numbers to see if you would qualify for the reverse to gift your grandchild, uh, cash for college.

Two incredibly new strategies. I don't often talk about utilizing your home, but if it makes sense, I mean, I know at least in California, um, our real estate never seems to let us down. And so maybe you can speak to how that would make sense for a family versus taking a conventional college loan.

Yeah, like a student loan?

Yeah.

Yeah. So you're right. In California, we've recognized, gosh, depending on what county, anywhere from 20% to— I've heard all the way up to over 30% double-digit appreciation. With our properties here in Orange County, well, here in Southern California, even in Northern California. So, you know, you probably know this, Shellee, that real estate is the best wealth builder. I mean, none of us are recognizing 8 to 28, um, value appreciation on our stock right now, right?

Right now, no.

Or our mutual funds right now. So if you own a home, you are in a very nice position. Um, so in, in Orange County, you know, I have people that bought 2 years ago and they already have appreciated the value of their home by a couple hundred thousand, you know. And it's always just about evaluation. Um, I, I still recommend that people buy homes because even if we only recognize 8% appreciation this year or next year Again, your stocks aren't doing that and your mutual funds aren't doing that. Well, your portfolio isn't doing that, right?

And interesting enough, if you look at the interest rate on student traditional loans and you start to do the comparison, it's all about what's best for your family, right?

Right. And so the student loans, I, you know, I see, I see student loans a lot when I run credit. And I, I've seen anywhere from, you know, a student loan of $3,000, $10,000, to believe it or not, almost $300,000 in student loans for one person. Oh, one person. Um, yeah, private university, and then went on to, uh, to their specific trade. Um, you know, a very professional trade, but when you think about even just $150,000 in student loans, will you ever pay that off? Because the student loans, the rate might be small, but the rate might be not real large, but the payment is relatively small, and you could be paying on that loan for 20, 30 years, right? Right.

Where—

and it's not a tax write-off. And I would say say definitely consult your tax professional. But if you roll that, if you have a student loan and you roll it into your mortgage by doing a cash-out refi, or you do a cash-out refi instead of taking a student loan to pay for your student's college or university, that mortgage interest is typically a tax write-off. So now you have the best of both worlds, right? You've done a cash-out refi, to get cash for the student to go to college, or you've consolidated those student loans by doing a cash-out refi, and now that becomes a tax write-off. Again, consult your tax professional though, right?

Absolutely. And I, I like— it's very important for the listeners to realize there's not one strategy, right? This is just another one in your arsenal of figuring out how can I get them into college and out without debt and/or if I do, what are my options?

Yeah, there are many tools in the toolbox, and, you know, my goal is always to make sure that it makes sense for you and your family and fits within your budget now and within your budget for your financial future. Because, you know, we, we still want to make sure that we're saving enough money for retirement. We still want to make sure that we are building equity in our home because, again, real estate's a great wealth builder. So I always want to make sure that it fits into your financial future. And like you said, there's a— it's just another, you know, it's another tool in your toolbox to be able to get your child to college. I love that. Debt-free. Yeah, debt-free.

That's it. So I always like to, to, um, end my podcast with two things. One is, if you could either give your children or your your younger self any words of advice or wisdom as it comes to preparing for college, what would that be?

As it comes to preparing for college, um, it would be make sure that you— well, we talked about this earlier, we still aren't sure if the SATs and the, um, what is— what's the other one? ACT. Yeah, is going to be optional. So I would say definitely take those, take the PSAT, the PACT, get prepared for that in, in the event that they don't become optional, right? Because you want to have that under your belt. Um, you know, for me it's really about utilizing, you know, the student utilizing their time wisely. Um, as we mentioned, you know, even my oldest was very busy. She was in the high choir at high school and was on the tennis team., you know, and did zero periods. So she was always really busy and still maintained over a 4.0 GPA. You know, you just have to teach a student how to manage their time because I, I truly believe that our kids don't necessarily know how to manage their time, especially with the phone. The phone eats up so much of their time and they really don't realize how much time they do spend on the phone. Doing social media, chatting with their friends. And I think it's important as parents that we monitor that time and monitor how much time they spend studying, how much time they spend prepping for college, you know, how much time they, uh, spend, you know, learning the SAT and the ACT. That would be my advice. I love that.

So just plan, prepare, and, you know, be proactive. Yeah, that's another thing I'm hearing. Well, thank you. Now, if parents wanted to learn more about these options, how can they reach you?

Oh, thank you for allowing me to do that. So my cell phone— can I give my cell phone?

If you want to blow it up, you go ahead and give it.

So my cell phone, which is the only number you can reach me at, is a 714 area code and it's 423- 4-1-2-9. Again, that's 423-4129. And if you prefer email, my email is momi, and that's M-O-M-I, @arborfg.com. F as in Frank, G as in girl. Or you can always go to my website, which is whymomie.com, which is W-H-Y, whymomie.com.

I love that. Excellent. And always remember, starting sooner will save you so much time and energy. So thank you, Momi, so much for being on the podcast today, and it is a pleasure serving your family as you prepare for them to adult. So we look forward to continuing that relationship.

Absolutely. Thank you for having me, Shellee Howard. I really appreciate it.

You're welcome.