Mother's Day and Father's Day may get more attention, but National Grandparents Day, observed on Sept. 10, has gained in popularity. If you're a grandparent, you might expect to receive some nice cards, but if you want to make the day especially meaningful, you may want to consider giving some long-lasting financial gifts to your grandchildren.

What might come to mind first, of course, is helping your grandchildren pay for college. You can choose from several college savings vehicles, but you may be especially interested in a 529 savings plan. With a 529 plan, your earnings accumulate tax free, provided they are used for qualified higher education expenses, such as tuition, books, and room and board. (Keep in mind that 529 plan distributions not used for qualified expenses may be subject to federal and state income taxes and a 10 percent IRS penalty on the earnings.)

You may be eligible for a state income tax incentive for contributing to a 529 plan. Check with your tax advisor regarding these incentives, as well as all tax-related issues pertaining to 529 plans.

One benefit of using a 529 plan is contribution limits are quite generous. Plus, a 529 plan is flexible: If your grandchild decides against college, you can transfer the plan to another beneficiary.

Generally, a 529 plan owned by a grandparent won't be reported as an asset on the Free Application For Federal Student Aid, but withdrawals from the plan are treated as untaxed income to the beneficiary (i.e., your grandchild) and that has a big impact on financial aid, a much bigger impact than if the plan was listed as a parental asset.

Beginning with the 2017-2018 academic year, however, FAFSA now requires families to report income from two years before the school year starts, rather than income from the prior calendar year. Consequently, it might be beneficial, from a financial aid standpoint, for you, as a grandparent, to start paying for college expenses from a 529 plan in the year in which your grandchild becomes a junior. Contact a financial aid professional about the potential financial aid impact of any gifts you're considering.

A 529 plan isn't the only financial gift you could give to your grandchildren. You might also consider giving them shares of stock, possibly held in a custodial account, usually known as an UTMA or UGMA account. One possible drawback: You only control a custodial account until your grandchildren reach the age of majority, at which time they can use the money for whatever they want, whereas distributions from a 529 savings plan must be used for qualified higher education expenses.

Still, your grandchildren might be particularly interested in owning the stocks contained in the custodial account — most young people enjoy owning shares of companies that make familiar products. And to further interest your grandchildren in a lifetime of investing, you may want to show them how a particular stock you've owned for decades has grown over time.

Naturally, you'll also want to let them know that stocks can move up and down in the short term, and there are no guarantees of profits — but the long-term growth potential of stocks is still a compelling story.

You'd probably do whatever you could for your grandchildren — and with a smart financial gift, you can make a big difference in their lives.

This article was written by Edward Jones on behalf of your Edward Jones financial adviser.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Brighten your grandchildren's financial future

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and Florida Sea Grant scientists at the University of Florida Nature Coast Biological Station at Cedar Key have teamed up to assess the horseshoe crab population on Florida beaches.

The Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch survey is held twice a year, during full and new moons of the fall and spring months.

This year, the fall sampling season is Sept. 19-21, Oct. 4-7 and Oct. 18-21.

Horseshoe crabs are important in coastal areas, especially to the many shore birds and other creatures that eat their eggs. They are also used in medical testing. Their blood has a special ability to coagulate around bacteria and is used as an indicator of sterility. They typically live in the muddy sandy bottom, but head to the beaches during the spring and fall to find a mate.

The females are much larger than the males and you often find them cavorting in groups. This behavior provides an opportunity to monitor them. We don’t currently have good population numbers on these prehistoric-looking creatures, but it’s a common perception that numbers have been declining for years.

Simultaneous sampling across such a large geographic area in Florida would be impossible without the help of volunteer citizen scientists. The FWC is dedicated to collecting data on horseshoe crab nesting, but does not have anywhere near enough staff to achieve the high level of data collection the volunteers are able to complete. Information of this kind is extremely valuable for helping researchers understand population connectivity across nesting areas.

In an effort to initiate the program in Okaloosa and Walton counties, the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Marine Science program will participate in a preliminary sampling project this fall.

It will be a simple presence-absence study, with volunteers walking the shoreline on their own, noting GPS coordinates of sightings and submitting data and a picture via email to the Extension office.

If initial data warrants, the program will be expanded in the spring, collecting measurements, and perhaps doing some tagging. The long-term goal is to try and get an idea of the numbers of crabs in Choctawhatchee Bay or on our beaches. The sampling program has worked well in other areas of the state with all of the volunteers in the program agreeing to some degree that they considered themselves stewards of horseshoe crabs.

Send me an email at lgtiu@ufl.edu for more information about how to get involved in Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch. If you see a tagged horseshoe crab, please note the number on the tag and use the hotline, 1-888-546-8587 or www.fws.gov/crabtag, to report the number, sighting location and condition of the crab.

Laura Tiu is an agent at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: The great horseshoe crab roundup

Next week, we observe Labor Day, a celebration of the American worker. You work hard your whole life with the hope that your efforts will ultimately allow you to achieve your financial goals, such as a comfortable retirement. But for that to happen, you may need to apply some of the lessons of the workplace to your efforts as an investor.

So, what are these lessons? Here are a few to consider:

•Be consistent. The most successful workers are the ones who show up, day after day, and strive to overcome the inevitable obstacles that crop up. As an investor, you, too, need to be consistent in your habits, which means you should keep investing in all types of markets. If you take a "time out" every time the market drops, you might end up missing opportunities when the next rally begins.

•Be flexible. When good workers see that something is not going well, they change what they're doing. And when you invest, you also may need to make adjustments.

If an investment has consistently underperformed, or if you have too many others very similar to it, or if it just doesn't meet your needs anymore, you may be better off selling it and using the proceeds to invest elsewhere. This doesn't mean you should constantly be buying and selling. In fact, you'll likely be better off by purchasing quality investments and holding them for the long term. But you need to be flexible enough to make the appropriate moves at the appropriate times.

•Be informed. The best workers are those who regularly update their skills and acquire knowledge that helps them do their jobs better. As an investor, you should also keep learning about the investment world in general and about new opportunities for you to explore. And you should always understand what you are investing in and why. Even if you work with a financial professional, you need to inform yourself about every aspect of your investment portfolio. After all, it's your money and your future.

•Be farsighted. Good workers not only know what they're doing, but they also can visualize the desired outcome of each task.

And, of course, people who are in charge of a particular endeavor, or who are responsible for the fortunes of a business, have a clear view of what they want to accomplish, even if the achievement of that goal is many years in the future.

When you invest, you also need to see where you want to go. If you can constantly keep in mind your long-term goals, such as the type of retirement lifestyle you desire, you will likely find it easier to stick with an investment strategy that's appropriate for your needs and risk tolerance. Conversely, if you lose sight of your destination, you might be more prone to taking short-term detours, which could work against you.

Labor Day reminds us to appreciate the skills and dedication of all workers, and as an investor, you can put these same attributes to good use.

This article was written by Edward Jones on behalf of your Edward Jones financial adviser.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Are you a "hardworking" investor?

I love trees. They are aesthetically pleasing, they provide shade, they give the birds a place to live, the squirrels a place to nest, they keep water from running off into a storm drain, they help stop wind damage and clean the air. Another fun thing about trees, one that I can no longer do, is climb them.

I found this 1993 Mike McAliney quote from about the benefit of trees to be significant: "A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 lbs./year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings." (Source: Arguments for Land Conservation: Documentation and Information Sources for Land Resources Protection, Trust for Public Land, Sacramento, CA, December 1993.

At https://www.arborday.org/trees/benefits.cfm, I found this U.s. Department of Agriculture quote. "One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people." Another benefit of trees stated on the website is, "Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and can save 20–50 percent in energy used for heating."

Trees, as well as being beautiful, are good for our health, since we need oxygen to live. How interesting that the trees that beautify our yards have such an effect on the temperatures in our homes. It is certainly a benefit in Crestview and Northwest Florida. We all may need to plant more trees to shade our homes.

It frustrates me greatly when I see trees cut down for shopping centers and new homes. I realize that we need progress and growth, but must they cut down the majority of the trees? It is nice to park in the shade when one is shopping, as it helps keep the car cool during the summer.

Why can't developers do some strategic planning and keep many of the trees and work around them? It seems they want to do it the easy way and not be bothered with the planning it would take to keep the trees. My mother refuses to shop at Lowe's in her hometown as they cut down all the trees in the parking lot.

Please developers, keep more trees in shopping centers. We need them to park under, and we need them to clean the air of pollutants.

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: The benefits of trees

During times that I am tired or having an "Eeyore Day," I sometimes have a brief, negative outlook for our nation.

I sometimes ponder what is going on around the world with people engaged in war, genocide, human trafficking, or drug trafficking, and wonder why people treat others the way they do.

This causes me to stop and lift prayers to God for healing: for the ills of society, for the hatred and cruelty people express toward others, and for those who are beaten down by a sense of failure.

My time of pessimism is short-lived. Strength is renewed through prayer, and life comes back into focus once again. This happens because of the hope I place in God. It is a hope that continuously puts matters into proper perspective.

The kind of hope I am referring to is not the hope some have about winning the lottery, or gaining more power, or for their favorite team to make it all the way to the championships. I am referring to the kind of hope that is connected, not to worldly matters, but to God.

Hope has been defined as an optimistic attitude of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes related to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.

Placing hope in our living God and in Jesus Christ provides the kind of perspective that makes life worth living. It enables us to look toward the future — not with dread, but with joyful anticipation.

We are called to put our hope in God. Psalm 37:7 says, "And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you."

Our true yearning in life is deeply spiritual. When we trust and hope in God, we find happiness, as in Psalm 146:5: "Joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God."

As Christians, our hope in God's activity, justice, grace, and love comes from our belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

We are called to look at life differently; not through eyes that dread tomorrow or fear what lies ahead. We are to place our trust in the Lord because he said he is with us, "even to the close of the age."

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: How I renew my hope