Finance planning for college education

[Anonymous]

How did you plan finances for kids' education?
Did your kids get an education loan or did you pay in full for college?
How much are/were their fees per year and how did you plan/invest to have that money ready?
How much money did you put in 529 or any other account per year?

[Anonymous]

OP, don't you have a planner? How old are you? How old are your kids? How much do you make? What do you do for a living? Why do you want everyone else's information?

[Anonymous]

Invest up to (and maybe a bit more) the estimated cost of in-state college at say UVA/W&M/UMD for when your kid will be 18 into a 529. Pick a plan with low fees and one that is NOT a targeted fund. I like VA American Funds and their selection (you research and see which you like best).
The more you front load it, the more time for it to grow.

If you think you want to pay to send your kid to a T50/elite university, then invest more, either in the 529 or outside the 529 (where it is an investment for anything and can be used for more than school, but you miss the tax breaks of tax free growth)

So NO Targeted funds, select your own Mutual funds and keep it mostly in the full stock market until kid is 2-3 years before college, depends upon your risk assessment. Then slowly move 20-25% into Bonds/fixed income funds each year. That way you wont' take a huge hit if the market crashes (you also wont get the gains, but college is approaching and you need the money and don't have time for it to rebound)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, don't you have a planner? How old are you? How old are your kids? How much do you make? What do you do for a living? Why do you want everyone else's information?

OP here.
HHI $200+K
2 kids (10 and 8)
We don't have a finance planner
I am looking to gain insights on education related savings apart from 529. Are there any education specific savings accounts that people have tried?
I liked PP's suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Please try to plan that your kids are not strapped with debt.

[Anonymous]

NP. Does anyone have good resources for this? I'm finding this to be harder than expected to figure out. We had some hard times when the kids were young so are starting late. We have 10 years to save.

[Anonymous]

Older one will go to CC which should be covered by the $20k he has in 529. He is not a dorm kind of person and will live at home. If he chooses to continue to four year, I will pay from investments and maybe loans if the interest rates a good.
10-year old will have enough as his investments are in 6-figures already now. We invested small amounts but very aggressively outside 529.

[Anonymous]

Our stock investments have done well in the past decades and we can now sell some stocks every time we need to write a check for college.
We realized early on that MD's 529 didn't give us the flexibility of stock selection we wanted, so we didn't use those.

[Anonymous]

I just shovel in as much as I can, which is about $40k/year for three kids. If I haven't saved enough to fully cover college by the time it gets here, I intend to tighten my belt if necessary so that I can cashflow the remaining costs for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Put 10-15K per year, per kid into an all-stock 529 plan. (or, whatever you can manage). You're starting late, so put all bonus money or windfalls in there too.

There are no other tax-advantaged savings vehicles that are better for college savings than a 529 OP.

[Anonymous]

OP do you have an accountant for your taxes? They can help with this. They know your situation, and can help you with whatever you and your finances need. We don't know your situation.

[Anonymous]

What state do you live in OP? How many kids? And how far away from college for each of them?

Open 529 for each kid (maybe more if you live in VA). If your state had no state tax deduction for contributions to a 529, then pick any state with very low fee options -- Michigan, California, Illinois, Utah, Nevada, or New York are some options. Contribute as much as you can early if you are starting when kid has 10 years til college. Pick S&P or total stock market index fund. Keep it in all stocks until kid is entering sophomore year. Out in bonus $ and/or monthly set amount from pay, as you can afford. This will be more financially advantageous to you than any other savings vehicle.

[Anonymous]

To clarify above -- that should be all stock until sophomore year of high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did you plan finances for kids' education?
Did your kids get an education loan or did you pay in full for college?
How much are/were their fees per year and how did you plan/invest to have that money ready?
How much money did you put in 529 or any other account per year?

Before you have children this should be thought about not after you have them.

No loans for undergraduate degrees.

We worked dam hard to make sure they had funds.

If you are asking these questions look into community colleges.

529's are great vehicles for this. You need to do your own homework on this. This is an important part of being a parent.

Look up state university tuition in your state and figure out costs.

[Anonymous]

My ex FIL said he'd pay for the education of our kids. Each time we had a kid we confirmed with him and once they were about to start applying to schools we confirmed with him again. So far he's paid for two and a half colleges, one med school and one law school.