Love the Onion. They always have the true pulse of the nation covered.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article is so dumb...They didn't say how much went into it. They didn't say how much the school was. This was a waste of my time!

That's because it was a JOKE. The Onion is satire. Point is college is freaking expensive!

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure PP was also joking.

Anonymous wrote:This article is so dumb...They didn't say how much went into it. They didn't say how much the school was. This was a waste of my time!

That's because it was a JOKE. The Onion is satire. Point is college is freaking expensive!

This article is so dumb...They didn't say how much went into it. They didn't say how much the school was. This was a waste of my time!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15:26, you'd be surprised what 18 years of compound interest could do to that $5K if you take it out from under your mattress.

Ha! With interest rates for savings accounts at 1% or less, after 18 years 5,000 dollars compounded annually wouldn't even earn 1,000 dollars in interest so you wouldn't even have 6,000 dollars.

I'm the OP, and I didn't write the above. Anyhow, we opened a 529 about a year ago partially because we live in VA (tax benefits) and because along with the Utah plans, it was recommended performance wise. But the return was only around 6% during the 12 months. Sure it's better than a savings account, but S&P500 did so much better. But oh well, we're in it for the long haul and 529s have benefits at time of withdrawal, so we'll keep on putting it here.

Can you roll it over into Utah's plan? I do this with MD's plan.

Change the investment choice. They have many (18) choices - blended, life cycle, or pure stock index (VTIAX - which returned 33% in 2013). See which fund or allocation fits your time line and risk profile and select accordingly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15:26, you'd be surprised what 18 years of compound interest could do to that $5K if you take it out from under your mattress.

Ha! With interest rates for savings accounts at 1% or less, after 18 years 5,000 dollars compounded annually wouldn't even earn 1,000 dollars in interest so you wouldn't even have 6,000 dollars.

I'm the OP, and I didn't write the above. Anyhow, we opened a 529 about a year ago partially because we live in VA (tax benefits) and because along with the Utah plans, it was recommended performance wise. But the return was only around 6% during the 12 months. Sure it's better than a savings account, but S&P500 did so much better. But oh well, we're in it for the long haul and 529s have benefits at time of withdrawal, so we'll keep on putting it here.

Can you roll it over into Utah's plan? I do this with MD's plan.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15:26, you'd be surprised what 18 years of compound interest could do to that $5K if you take it out from under your mattress.

Ha! With interest rates for savings accounts at 1% or less, after 18 years 5,000 dollars compounded annually wouldn't even earn 1,000 dollars in interest so you wouldn't even have 6,000 dollars.

I'm the OP, and I didn't write the above. Anyhow, we opened a 529 about a year ago partially because we live in VA (tax benefits) and because along with the Utah plans, it was recommended performance wise. But the return was only around 6% during the 12 months. Sure it's better than a savings account, but S&P500 did so much better. But oh well, we're in it for the long haul and 529s have benefits at time of withdrawal, so we'll keep on putting it here.

Er, put the $5,000 in whatever vehicle you're using for college savings and get more than 1%....

Anonymous wrote:15:26, you'd be surprised what 18 years of compound interest could do to that $5K if you take it out from under your mattress.

Ha! With interest rates for savings accounts at 1% or less, after 18 years 5,000 dollars compounded annually wouldn't even earn 1,000 dollars in interest so you wouldn't even have 6,000 dollars.

Anonymous wrote:15:26, you'd be surprised what 18 years of compound interest could do to that $5K if you take it out from under your mattress.

You have to assume that the return on your investment is in excess of the increasing cost of college. Which is a dicey assumption, although I think the rate of increase in college costs has slowed.

15:26, you'd be surprised what 18 years of compound interest could do to that $5K if you take it out from under your mattress.

PP, if you're inlaws are in their 70s and millionaires, isn't it possible you would inherit some of that by the time baby goes to college? Not saying that's a primary college savings plan, just saying...

haha, awesome. Love it!

I for one am finding it hard to budget for the roughly $600 per kid per month that www.savingforcollege.com says we need to be saving, so this is so true.

My inlaws in their 70s gifted our baby 5k and told me to safeguard it for 20 years, to spend it for college. He was so pleased and proud to contribute. He's a millionaire and has said he wants to pay for his six grandkids' education, not to worry. But I think he has no idea of tuition rates these days. 5k might not even fund one 3 credit course?
It's such a shame tuition increased so much. College is expected to cost almost 500k by the time my baby goes to college. With even public colleges like Berkeley costing more than 50k in today's dollars, idk how we could even fund half for our child. We have a 529 that we contribute to every month, but it's so depressing. This is one of the biggest concern we are having only one. We earn 150k combined but in this area it doesn't go that far.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-parents-wisely-start-college-fund-that-will-pa,35329/

Initially I laughed, but then I started to cry...