DC 529 - separate account for each child?

[Anonymous]

I am SO behind the ball on this one, just now coming up for air and realizing all three of our kids will be headed to college (the first in 8 years, then two years after that) and on my husband's government worker's salary only there is no way we will be able to swing it. I don't want to saddle them with loans, yada, yada. Anyway, I see the DC 529 program looks great, and we are residents, so planning to sign up for an account online which looks super easy. My question: do I need three accounts? I plan to make recurring monthly installments from my checking account, if that matters.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we did 549 for each child.

[Anonymous]

529

[Anonymous]

You can transfer 529 plans to siblings …

But here's a link on the topic: http://www.savingforcollege.com/questions-answers/article.php?article_id=4

My kids are only 3 years a part and we only have one 529 plan and I think we'll keep it that way.

[Anonymous]

The way DC's system is set up, you have a personal log in but you create a separate account for each beneficiary. But you can transfer between the accounts.

[Anonymous]

Separate accounts for my two kids.

[Anonymous]

OP here / many thanks!

[Anonymous]

We have 1 account for 3 children. They (used to) charge you set up fee for each account. Since you can transfer beneficiary, why pay money for that?

[Anonymous]

Better to do separate accounts, then you can get minimal credit on your taxes. We did the prepaid. We will set up a 529 soon. Love the prepaid and knowing at least 4 years tuition is now paid for.

[Anonymous]

I did separate accounts for my kids (in Utah 529) because I pick age based funds and the investment mix would be slightly different for each kid. They are 3 years apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have 1 account for 3 children. They (used to) charge you set up fee for each account. Since you can transfer beneficiary, why pay money for that?

I just set up a DC 529 and they neither charged a set-up fee nor gave me the option of using a single account for multiple beneficiaries (although I suppose you could get around the later restriction by changing the beneficiary before each disbursement).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Better to do separate accounts, then you can get minimal credit on your taxes. We did the prepaid. We will set up a 529 soon. Love the prepaid and knowing at least 4 years tuition is now paid for.

+1. Doesn't DC give any tax credits for 529?
VA does, so we've opened multiple accts.
I've heard of ppl even opening multiple accts per kid to maximize the benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I've heard of ppl even opening multiple accts per kid to maximize the benefit.

I looked into this when I set up 529s for my kids and concluded that for VA state tax purposes each spouse could deduct up to state cap for each beneficiary. Therefore, each of our kids has one account owned by me and another owned by my wife. I don't know if this is still the case.

[Anonymous]

to maximize benefit you can have each parent open and contribute to an account for each child -- 2 x 3 = 6 accounts

only if you're trying to maximize tax benefits - at least that's how it is in VA, not sure about DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:to maximize benefit you can have each parent open and contribute to an account for each child -- 2 x 3 = 6 accounts

only if you're trying to maximize tax benefits - at least that's how it is in VA, not sure about DC

As I read the rule, in DC, if each parent opens one or more account, each can deduct up to $4,000 total. So there's a tax reason to have at least one account in each parent's name, but not in each child's name.