(MONEY Magazine) – Q. I established a Uniform Gifts to Minors Account (UGMA) at a mutual fund for college savings for my daughter. Now my wife and I just had twin boys, and I want to start saving for them too. But instead of setting up two more accounts, I thought I'd create a single trust with all the kids as equal beneficiaries and roll in my daughter's UGMA money. Does a trust make sense? Bruce Hartman PICKERINGTON, OHIO

A. Before I tell you what I think, let's back up a second for some explanations. The big advantage of a trust over an UGMA is control. A trust lets you dictate precisely when and how much money will become available to your kids--and for what purposes. By contrast, once you put money into an UGMA, the cash belongs to your kids and you can spend it only for the child's benefit. As a result, you can't roll it over into a trust, either; the money belongs to the child. When your daughter turns 21, she can spend the UGMA money any way she wants--though I believe most parents bulldoze their kids into making the correct choices. Depending on how much money is in the account, trusts may also offer a tiny bit more federal income tax savings than UGMAs. The first $1,600 of trust income is taxed at 15%, and then rates rise to 39.6% on income over $7,900 a year. By contrast, a kid under 14 pays no taxes on the first $650 of UGMA income and then 15% on the next $650; any amount over that is taxed at your top rate.

Before you rush out to Trusts R Us, let me suggest that you may be better off saving for your children through an ordinary mutual fund set up in your name. True, you wouldn't get any tax benefits; the income would be taxed at your rate. On the other hand, you wouldn't have to pay as much as $1,500 in legal fees to set up the trust. More important, by keeping the money in your own name, you may net your kid more financial aid when college rolls around. To calculate aid, colleges count 35% of assets in a child's name as being available to pay for her education and reduce any aid they might give by that much. But they count only 5.7% of your dough. That means if you saved $50,000 in your kid's name, the college would slice any aid by $17,500; the same $50,000 in your name would result in a reduction of only $2,850.

Q. I am 26, and my wife is 23. My employer recently offered me a group long-term-care insurance policy through CNA. The plan I am considering pays $160 a day for a nursing-home stay after you have been in care for 90 days. The benefits rise with inflation and also include some provision for home care. Premiums for both of us total $300 a year. Should we buy this coverage at our age? Ted Batey LAKE WORTH, FLA.

A. Absolutely not. Some eventualities are just too remote to insure. The likelihood of someone your age needing a prolonged stay in a nursing home soon is right up there with being abducted by little green men in flying saucers. Assuming you are in good health, you should not even consider buying long-term-care insurance until you are in your fifties.

When insurance agents peddle these policies, they argue that buying them as you emerge from braces and training bras will save you money because your premiums will be lower than they would be if you waited until you were 55. But long-term-care insurance is like health insurance. You must pay each year to keep it in force. And at your ages, that's likely to be at least the next 40 years. Let the policy lapse at any time, and you'll get nothing unless it has a nonforfeiture or vested benefit, which promises some portion of the coverage when you need long-term care. The CNA group policy your employer is offering does have this benefit, provided the policy has been in force for three years.

Here's a better idea. Michael Dwyer, a Fairfield, N.J. insurance agent and financial planner, has calculated that if you invested the $300 annual long-term-care payment in aggressive mutual funds that earn an average of 12% annually for the next 42 years--until your wife reaches the age of 65--you would end up with $324,000. Then, if you never need a nursing home, you could blow the entire wad on some truly fabulous cruise and still have cash to spare.

Q. Recently I was contacted by Schmidlin Tracer Service of Riverdale, Md., which informed me that I was entitled to $1,382.84 from the U.S. Government. This money is supposedly connected to a townhouse I owned in Raleigh, N.C. Schmidlin will charge me 20% for getting my refund. Neither my accountant nor I can imagine any reason why I am owed this money. And if there is money, can't I contact the government and get it myself? Susan R. Matlock CLERMONT, FLA.

A. Sure you can. Uncle Sam owes about $3 billion (not just to you) in tax refunds, Social Security checks, veterans benefits, U.S. Housing and Urban Development mortgage insurance refunds and other miscellaneous payments. The government tries to track down the thousands of Americans it owes money to, but few agencies have the time or resources to locate people who have moved seven times, changed their names or otherwise vanished. Since there is no centralized registry of lost claims, anyone who wants to find out if thar's gold in them thar file cabinets will have to get out the Washington, D.C. phone book and start dialing government agencies.

Tracer companies obtain lists of the lucky citizens from various departments under the Freedom of Information Act. For a commission that ranges from 15% to 50% of the bounty, they hunt down the would-be payees and file their claims. Sharks abound, so rule out any outfit that demands a large fee up front and refuses to divulge which government agency owes you money.

Schmidlin appears to be on the up-and-up. Its president, Steve Schmidlin, says he gets paid only if and when you do. In fact, he relies on customers to send him the 20% voluntarily after they get their money--and he claims that in the past year only three or four have failed to do so. He readily told us that your refund comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. You are owed the unused portion of an insurance premium paid by participants in HUD's first-time home buyer's program. (The records are filed under your maiden name.) There's no reason you can't go directly to HUD yourself if you want to hassle with the bureaucrats. But would you know about this money at all if Schmidlin hadn't gotten in touch with you? True, 20% is a little stiff; so you might call him and try to negotiate a lower fee.

Q. I have a collection of Topps baseball cards in exceptional condition from the 1955 to 1960 seasons. I want to sell, but local dealers are more interested in current memorabilia, and the ones who advertise nationally say that I must send the cards to them for examination. I am leery of doing that since we are talking about a value of as much as $70,000. What are your suggestions? Jeff Rayburn SPOKANE

A. It's true that a single pristine 1955 Roberto Clemente card, for instance, could sell for as much as $2,200. But card values vary widely depending on the condition of your holdings. I know all this because my 10-year-old son tipped me off to Beckett Baseball Card Monthly ($3.50 an issue), the bible of the money-minded sports-card collector. Cards with bent or curled edges may fetch 80% less than those that never left the package. In any event, a dealer will generally pay you 30% to 60% of the values that Beckett cites.

You are correct to be concerned about mailing your cards to a dealer you've never met. To protect yourself against the unscrupulous, photocopy the front and back of each card and make a note of any defects like a big, greasy thumbprint on a player's face. Then send the photocopies to four or five dealers who specialize in vintage cards. You can find them in Sports Cards magazine, available on many newsstands.

If a dealer thinks your collection is hot stuff, he might come to see it or meet with you at a trade show. But if he wants you to send him the cards, do so by registered mail. The post office will insure a package for up to $25,000; so if you are right about your collection's $70,000 value, divide it into smaller lots. Give the dealer a week to call back with a bid. If you think it sounds reasonable, you'll be ready to play ball.