Reply to Rollover a MD 529 to a Vanguard?

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Rollover a MD 529 to a Vanguard?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Vanguard is actually available through several state plans (although their Nevada plan is what they call the "Vanguard 529").  I want to roll over from MD both to get lower fees and a better age-based portfolio* and I decided to use Utah's 529 plan which has no minimum contribution requirement.

I think other states with Vanguard 529 options include New York (very low fees, but some weird rules on transfer of ownership and state tax recapture), Iowa, Ohio, and probably some others.

*I was very surprised to learn that the age-based portfolio for MD (and there is only one vs. a lot of states offer 3-5) keeps a 20% stock allocation even while the kid is in college (and I think the year before freshman year the fund is about 1/3 stocks).  I think I am a fairly aggressive investor but I would not keep short-term money in the stock market.[/quote]

Thanks, pp.  I'm looking at the Vanguard website and it says for the UT plan that Vanguard investments are available, but not Vanguards management or services.  I assume that means I have to manage the portfolio myself and make adjustments on a regular basis?  Whereas the Vanguard 529, they do this for me?[/quote]

No.  I think the difference is that Vanguard has more administrative responsibilities for the Nevada plan (and if you have a VG account the 529 can be integrated into your existing account statement), but as far as "managing the portfolio"  meaning whether you are in stocks or bonds or cash-like investments, both plans offer that option, according to the age-based portfolios offered by each plan.

You can see that the Nevada plan offers an age-based portfolio with 5 age brackets (and three options for how aggressive/conservative to be), while Utah offers an age based portfolio with 7 age brackets (and three levels of how aggressive/conservative, or you can pick your own).  I like having more age brackets, as I think it allows for more gradual re-allocation of assets  (every 3 years vs. every 4-5 years), so I think Utah actually is better from that perspective.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics