Anyone a 529 millionaire?
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Anonymous
| With the recent run up in the market our Virginia 529s for our two children have now surpassed $1M. Anyone else in this situation? We superfunded the 529s not long after birth and after 5 years started adding to the 529 to continue the Virginia state tax deduction. Oldest child starts college in 3 years. Nothing fancy….just put the funds into the Total Stock Index Fund. |
Anonymous
| I think it’s safe to say you won’t be getting any needs-based scholarships or grants. |
Anonymous
Wow. Did you invest in individual stocks? |
Anonymous
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No. It sounds to me like you overfunded. If you are very high net worth it doesn’t matter. But unless they go to the most expensive schools for undergrad and grad school I am not sure you will be able to spend this.
We had about $250k each, and my kids are now going to undergrads where they get almost free rides, so I wish we had saved less… |
Anonymous
| Why? I see superfunding the account at birth if you can afford it or funding it annually up to the state tax deduction amount, but why $1 mil for just two kids. I've got nearly half that amount and I'm kicking myself for investing too much, they're going to have to go to school for 5-6 years each to spend most of it. |
Anonymous
| OP here - just to clarify that’s $1M total in the two 529s. We just put the money in the total stock market index. |
Anonymous
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No. We went with the VA prepaid tuition plan that is no longer offered. We’re on the hook for room & board, but tuition and fees are covered.
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Anonymous
What happens to any excess? |
Anonymous
| OP here — obviously we put too much money in these for our kids and their investment growth far exceeded are expectations but the rules for what you can use the money for are broad. We can always change the beneficiary with any leftover money to our grandchildren. I was also thinking of getting my private pilot license and instrument rating land could use these 529 funds to pay for it just by changing the beneficiary. |
Anonymous
| OP here - we also greatly benefited from great timing opening these accounts and superfunding them near the market bottom after 2009 market downturn. |
Anonymous
People who have the ability to fund a 529 like that never had the ability to get "need based" aid of any type. That is why they choose to fully fund it |
Anonymous
Reading comprehension---it literally stated "just put the funds into the Total Stock Index Fund" |
Anonymous
It took us three months to get money transferred from one account to another. Endless phone calls, e-mails, and paperwork all for $10k. I'm putting zero into it going forward. I think the person trying to transfer even had to go to court second time. If you are up to the challenge and figure it out, all good. |
Anonymous
Thanks for the feedback. Just signed up for an online reading comprehension class. You're a life saver. |
Anonymous
But if they do go to a Top school, those are $85K+ currently. My kid is at one. It's 5K+ more each year. So it will be $100K/year by the time his first kid enters college and at least $110K+ by their senior year. They could easily use $400K+ for just undergrad. Or they are well funded for a lower cost undergrad and all of PT/Med/Dental/Law/Professional Grad school. But the time the younger goes to college (guessing at least 5+ years before starting), they could use up $450K+ for just undergrad. Fact is, if you are targeting Top schools, very few give full rides. Also, if you can fund them like this, they are likely High Income/higher net worth. So anything left can just be passed to the grandkids. |