NY - low fees good returns. We aren’t in NY but our state’s plan has really bad tax benefits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just went with VA because we live here

I thought I read somewhere VA has 2. Is that right?

Maybe that is a reference to VA's prepaid tuition program?

http://www.financialadvisorforyou.com/is-the-virginia-529-prepaid-tuition-plan-worth-it/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just went with VA because we live here

I thought I read somewhere VA has 2. Is that right?

Maybe that is a reference to VA's prepaid tuition program?

You have to weigh the tax benefits of doing your in-state one against its investment options, fees and expenses. The holy grail is a good mix of tax benefits plus low fees and good investment options - both VA and MD had this in 2016 when the article below was written. DC did not, which would argue for escaping to a different plan (CA or NY are typically considered the best)

This is a bit out of date, but lays out the thinking well.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/baldwin/2016/03/03/guide-to-the-best-529-plans/#51d7c286323c

Anonymous wrote:We just went with VA because we live here

I thought I read somewhere VA has 2. Is that right?

Maryland because we lived there. Started with prepaid as we wanted to make sure we had something that could not lose if the market crashed. Got that paid off and switched to the MD 529. It was easy. The cost/benefits of other states are not that significant that it was worth the effort.

IL and NY are good. Again, go local DMV plan for tax benefit then transfer out after a year to another plan.

Anonymous wrote:We just went with VA because we live here

Same with us. I thought the fees were fairly low and while their may be a slightly lower option out there this seems to work fine for us.

We just went with VA because we live here

Anonymous wrote:How do you get the state tax return benefit if you invest in a different states 529 then you live in?

You don't. So you invest it in your state for the first year for tax benefit, then move it later.

That said, at least MD's plans are pretty good to begin with and they even lowered the mgmt fees last year. We'll just stick with them for simplicity.

How do you get the state tax return benefit if you invest in a different states 529 then you live in?

Utah--low fees and a great track history.

Utah because it has great returns and we live in a state with no income tax benefits (Texas).

Maryland. I don’t know why, except that I live in Maryland. Maybe I researched it at the time I opened it and read that the fees weren’t too high? Now I’m curious what others do!

Curious to learn more about how this all works