I need to start saving for my kid's college -- help me!?!?

[Anonymous]

College America?
College Wealth?
or
Virginia 529 InVest?

I don't want the prepaid plans that limit us to Virginia schools.

I posted this under College Discussion and got NO RESPONSES. Someone must have an opinion on these b/c on DCUM's website EVERYONE has an opinion!

[Anonymous]

until you get it figured out, start putting 400/month into a savings account.

have you really looked at the options? no one can tell you what is best for you - you have to pick. in MD the prepaid doesn't limit us to MD schools (not sure about VA) but people do think it does.

I like the idea of locking in a price.

[Anonymous]

I am you, only in DC. Everyone's advice has been to figure out the plan with the lowest fees that still gives you the ability claim it on your taxes. (So, a VA plan, then figure out which plan has low fees.)

[Anonymous]

How old is your child?

[Anonymous]

We put $300/month into a 529. The DC one had pretty high fees, so we forewent that tax benefit (it's not that high, and the account still grows tax-free) and chose Utah's, which is consistently rated very high by Morningstar and has really low fees. The 529 isn't our only vehicle for college savings, but it's an easy way to start socking it away.

[Anonymous]

Post on money and finances. You'll get a lot more helpful responses. You could probably search that forum too.

[Anonymous]

We went with the 529 inVest.

Since then, I've been given advice to just start a brokerage account in their name instead. That provides the flexibility to use the money for anything, if for some reason your DC does not go to college. Of course, you would then miss out on the tax break.

[Anonymous]

My family uses the Virginia invest plans - we auto debit money each month and have save a pretty good amount over 10 years. We like the tax savings (as a Virginia state residents) and low fees. You should note that there are funny rules about tax deductions (per kid, per person yearly caps), so it is often better to put money into multiple accounts (one from you for each kid and another one from your spouse for each kid).

[Anonymous]

First of all, have you maxed out your Roth IRA if you are eligible? I would start there, because:

1) you can deduct from it without penalty even under age 59 to pay for college-related expenses, but it also is a retirement vehicle as well.
2) retirement funds are not used in the FAFSA income calculation, whereas 529 funds are.

THEN do the Va 529 plan.

[Anonymous]

We do the InVest and fund on account to the tax limit for one parent. So $4k a year. It is not our only college savings, we don't want to tie all the money up in a 529 in case our child doesn't go to college.

One of the other ones you listed, I can't remember which, is just a regular savings account with a poor interest rate. I did make the mistake of opening one of those the first year and funded it to the tune of $4k because I misread the rules and thought you could only have one of each type of account for each child and we were originally planning to save more through 529s than we are now. I really need to figure out how to transfer that to a different option.