Which 529 plan do you have your kids in? How much do you contribute per year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can contibute more than 4k/year but you only get a tax deduction for 4k/yr. Contributions over 4k have an unlimited carryforward until all contributions have been deducted.

The College America plan can only be set-up through a financial advisor so you need to take into account additional fees that the advisor will charge on top of the standard 529 plan fees. You cannot set-up this type of plan on your own. The VEST or Prepaid plans you ca set-up on your own without advisors.

Is it beneficial to have a financial advisor set these up for us? Are the returns much better?

We were looking into signing up with an advisor a few months ago but he started getting aggressive and it turned me off. I vaguely remember our life insurance rep telling us to sign up directly and skip the advisor for the 529. I'm assuming he meant the VEST plan and the financial advisor was trying to set us up with College America.

God NO! Please don't do this. Sign up online. Returns are LESS. They charge extra fees if you go thru an advisor which is just ridiculous. Also use the fund in your state first so you can get the state tax deduction - do the max that state allows for tax deduction and then look at other plans to supplement. Your return elsewhere will not match the benefit of the state income tax deduction unless you are really low income.

[Anonymous]

Oh, one other hint for Virginia. If you use the promo code "VIRGINIA" you can save the $25 or so registration fee for each account you set up.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if the deduction for DC 's plan phases out based on income? If so anyone know the income level it phases out? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We have Utah and contribute $500/month.

[Anonymous]

We're in MD and enrolled in the MD 529 plan. It's fees are higher than most, but so are its returns (fees factored and all), at least when we were researching plans a year or two ago. Plus, of course, we get the tax break.

We aim for $5K a year but probably do half that.

[Anonymous]

Just saw this older thread and wondering if you get a tax deduction for the Va prepaid tuition plan as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're in MD and enrolled in the MD 529 plan. It's fees are higher than most, but so are its returns (fees factored and all), at least when we were researching plans a year or two ago. Plus, of course, we get the tax break.

We aim for $5K a year but probably do half that.

Can you clarify this statement: "so are its returns". How can they possibly know what the returns will be? Do you mean they are predicting a higher return, because those predictions are always bogus.

[Anonymous]

The deduction is over hyped. If you make $250K a year and donate $4K, you get a tax break of $154

https://vanguard.wealthmsi.com/stdc.php


Max is $14K per year per parent and you can do five years at once

[Anonymous]

We do the Virginia Prepaid. We've bought three year so far. The tax deduction carries over every year until it's used up. So you can pay an entire year and deduct the payments over several years. One of our neighbors prepaid their son as soon as he was eligible- $40k for for years of college. Smart move on their part. We've paid about $46k for three years... Still have one year left.

I know this doesn't cover housing, etc, that the regular 529 covers but it buys us peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

From the VA 529 program guide here:

http://www.virginia529.com/documents/general/vcsp_program_guide.pdf

page 4

"Virginia taxpayers with VA529 accounts may deduct up
to the lesser of $4,000 per year or the amount contributed,
for each VA529 account they own, with an unlimited
carry-forward of unused deductions."

It is definitely per account, not per parent or per child. All of the documentation I get from the VA 529 plan has a different account number for each combination of investment choice, parent, and child.

This is nutty. Not questioning you, it appears to be true. It's just a pretty crazy deduction scheme.
In a good way, if you have that much to invest. Though it seems like one more way for the wealthy to shelter a buttload of income from taxation.

[Anonymous]

i am in the MD 529 plan. fees are higher than i'd like, but ultimately i am going to contribute just enough for the tax break, then open a separate 529 with vanguard, put the rest in there.

have a 4 month old. putting 1000/mo in the account now.

[Anonymous]

$1000/month! Holy shit.

[Anonymous]

I have one Nevada 529 for my 2 year old and one New York 529 for my newborn. NY is run by Vanguard and currently has the lowest fees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$1000/month! Holy shit.

for now. i figure it makes sense to front-load large contributions then cut back in a few years. more time to grow. and if we have another kid, that is going to permanently cut the contributions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i am in the MD 529 plan. fees are higher than i'd like, but ultimately i am going to contribute just enough for the tax break, then open a separate 529 with vanguard, put the rest in there.

have a 4 month old. putting 1000/mo in the account now.

What is your HHI to be saving that much? That is awesome.