which 529 for VA do I pick? HELP??? no one can seem to 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]

Using the parlance of the VA519, you want 'non-evolving' and 'index'. By making this investment you are making the best guess as anyone can about best returns by matching your portfolio to the stock market. A big key it to look at the low fees. As your kid gets closer to college (entering HS) change to 'moderate' and then just before college to 'conservative.'

Buy direct, don't pay an advisor as they get a comission.

[Anonymous]

do the VEST program. It is not prepaid, just one where you control the funds, (can choose from about 10 options including and age-based fund that gets more conservative as the kids get closer to college years.) with relatively low fees.

The College America and other plans have higher expense ratios and other than that, I don't really see the value in them.

[Anonymous]

The CollegeAmerican plan allows you to take contributions as a tax deduction, that's what we use

[Anonymous]

Ok so CollegeAmerica is through an advisor, so I guess my choices would be CollegeWealth or Virginia 529 InVest?

They all 3 allow for tax deductions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:do the VEST program. It is not prepaid, just one where you control the funds, (can choose from about 10 options including and age-based fund that gets more conservative as the kids get closer to college years.) with relatively low fees.

The College America and other plans have higher expense ratios and other than that, I don't really see the value in them.

Agree. There is no comparison. College America being advisor sold is a detractor, not a plus, too expensive. College wealth too conservative, no growth. InVEST is just right. The tax deduction is offered by Virginia, so that is not a feature exclusive to college America. Then pick the appropriate age based fund and get started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do the VEST program. It is not prepaid, just one where you control the funds, (can choose from about 10 options including and age-based fund that gets more conservative as the kids get closer to college years.) with relatively low fees.

The College America and other plans have higher expense ratios and other than that, I don't really see the value in them.

Agree. There is no comparison. College America being advisor sold is a detractor, not a plus, too expensive. College wealth too conservative, no growth. InVEST is just right. The tax deduction is offered by Virginia, so that is not a feature exclusive to college America. Then pick the appropriate age based fund and get started.

The other benefit to the invest program is that it is the only one where each investment choice is treated as a separate account for the state tax deduction. So rather than being limited to 4k/parent/child you can contribute more and still get the deduction for the current year. So, in theory, you could put in 28k/kid/year and get the full deduction with invest (14/parent/kid, putting up to 4k in different fund choices, could do more but would have to deal with gift tax returns). You can't do that with any other VA plan.

[Anonymous]

^^^also, search online, there is usually a coupon code to comp the $25 account setup fee.

[Anonymous]

So ppl agree the InVest program is the best one???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:do the VEST program. It is not prepaid, just one where you control the funds, (can choose from about 10 options including and age-based fund that gets more conservative as the kids get closer to college years.) with relatively low fees.

The College America and other plans have higher expense ratios and other than that, I don't really see the value in them.

+1

VEST

[Anonymous]

another +1 for VEST. I can't remember why now (oldest is 4) but I researched them at the time.