VA529 gift of non public company shares?

[Anonymous]

One of our friends wants to give our kids some shares in their VA529 account. Any thing we should be aware of for such a gift? It will be about $5k per kid. Also it will be shares of company that is not public. Not sure how that works. Any advise would be welcome!

[Anonymous]

I don't think that is how 529s work. They are all state-sponsored mutual funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think that is how 529s work. They are all state-sponsored mutual funds.

You're probably right. Maybe I need to start an IRA or roth IRA for each kid to receive it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think that is how 529s work. They are all state-sponsored mutual funds.

You're probably right. Maybe I need to start an IRA or roth IRA for each kid to receive it?

You can only contribute to a Roth IRA for a kid if they have earned income. Not sure about traditional IRA, but if you can contribute you probably can't use for college without penalty.