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College Savings 529 Plans?

appleciderapplecider member
in Washington Babies

Whoa.  Choice overload.  I think I need to narrow it down to 3 or so choices and go from there.  California doesn't offer any tax benefits for using their plan so I'm free to choose any other state.

Anyone have any leads for me?

Alternatively, does anyone know how the Ameritrade/Nebraska plan stacks up?  We use Ameritrade for our retirement investments and it would be nice to not have to open an entirely new account.

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Re: College Savings 529 Plans?

  • preston18preston18

    Utah gets high ratings form the MM ladies and several RL friends of mine.  My dad opened a Missouri (they're not residents) 529 for N. Both use Vaanguard funds.

    I just looked at the NE details and the underlying fund families look good and if it will show up in your portfolio when you log in to ameritrade, that's awesome.  Utah and missouri have slightly lower fess, but I hate having to go to multiple sites for different accounts so to me that's worth it.

    We do an ESA for N  which I prefer because I get to pick the funds we invest in and it shows up in my Schwab account online.

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  • preston18preston18

    Utah gets high ratings form the MM ladies and several RL friends of mine.  My dad opened a Missouri (they're not residents) 529 for N. Both use Vaanguard funds.

    I just looked at the NE details and the underlying fund families look good and if it will show up in your portfolio when you log in to ameritrade, that's awesome.  Utah and missouri have slightly lower fess, but I hate having to go to multiple sites for different accounts so to me that's worth it.

    We do an ESA for N  which I prefer because I get to pick the funds we invest in and it shows up in my Schwab account online.

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  • EllaB_04EllaB_04
    We opened our 529 through Vanguard, which uses the Iowa plan. As with all direct-sold Vanguard investments, it has very low expenses and fees. It was extremely easy to open an account online and set up automatic monthly investments. For the 529 plan you can choose from a range of age-based funds that change aggressiveness automatically over time (like those target retirement date funds), or you can set up your own portfolio from a large number of their funds. We're very happy with the fund's performance so far, although it's only been a year since we opened it!
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  • stacylustacylu
    We went through Utah for bothkids. Low fees, easy access.
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  • ATT&BTTATT&BTT
    All I know is Suze Orman says never to put away thing in your child's name.  If they don't have and money tied to their name they can get financial aid.
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  • Seattle_JiLLnSeattle_JiLLn

    imageATT&BTT:
    All I know is Suze Orman says never to put away thing in your child's name.  If they don't have and money tied to their name they can get financial aid.

    Not true.  If you're under 24 everything your parents have counts against what your financial need is.  

    image
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  • Seattle_JiLLnSeattle_JiLLn

    https://www.suzeorman.com/igsbase/igstemplate.cfm?SRC=MD012&SRCN=aoedetails&GnavID=20&SnavID=101&TnavID=&AreasofExpertiseID=167

     

    Here she says "529 plan is the best for those who will need financial aid in the future. Savings is treated as an asset of the parent so it will not have as great a negative impact on financial aid. "

    She also says:

    SUZE SAYS:

    • Assets outside of retirement accounts that you have in your name and the assets that your child has in his/her individual name are factored into financial aid.
    • Assets in your name count 5.6% against what is needed. Assets in your child's name count 35% against what is needed.
    • Your 401(k) and Roth IRA are not a factor in determining financial aid.
    So that means that money in your child's name does count more "against" financial aid, but 529 plans count as a parent asset, so are not in that category as being in the child's name.  

    She does also say - and this is a really good point - that you should fund your own retirement first.  You can not get financial aid for retirement.   

     

    image
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  • ATT&BTTATT&BTT
    imageSeattle_JiLLn:

    https://www.suzeorman.com/igsbase/igstemplate.cfm?SRC=MD012&SRCN=aoedetails&GnavID=20&SnavID=101&TnavID=&AreasofExpertiseID=167

     

    Here she says "529 plan is the best for those who will need financial aid in the future. Savings is treated as an asset of the parent so it will not have as great a negative impact on financial aid. "

    She also says:

    SUZE SAYS:

    • Assets outside of retirement accounts that you have in your name and the assets that your child has in his/her individual name are factored into financial aid.
    • Assets in your name count 5.6% against what is needed. Assets in your child's name count 35% against what is needed.
    • Your 401(k) and Roth IRA are not a factor in determining financial aid.
    So that means that money in your child's name does count more "against" financial aid, but 529 plans count as a parent asset, so are not in that category as being in the child's name.  

     

    She does also say - and this is a really good point - that you should fund your own retirement first.  You can not get financial aid for retirement.   

     

     

    Oh, Thanks for clearing that up! :-)

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