Comments on: How Much Should You Have In A 529 Plan By Age

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 19:12:58 +0000

In reply to Valerie. We have a 529 in Oregon, but live in AZ, and our daughter plans to go to school in the Northeast. The 529 plan works everywhere.

By: Allison

Allison — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 19:39:42 +0000

In reply to James. Did anyone consider sending their children for college to Germany? It is free tuition for Americans and Canadiens.

By: Robert Farrington

Robert Farrington — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 15:01:15 +0000

In reply to Mary. Hi Mary, the 529 plan is considered a parent asset (remember, a parent owns the 529 plan, and the student is just the beneficiary). As such, for a student who reports both student and parent assets on the FAFSA, the 529 plan falls under the parent's assets. So, from that perspective, it doesn't matter whether you have 529 plan funds or regular investments. Where a 529 plan is much better is taking money out. It's tax-free for qualified education expenses! See this here. So, when it comes to actually paying for college, we usually recommend depleting a 529 plan first.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 14:56:11 +0000

I agree with some of the other commenters that it’s helpful to save through a 529 plan. We have saved for our retirement first, contributed to our child’s education (entering college in a month), and then saving for our rainy days. With having 1 child and both of us working, saving, and living within our means, FAFSA puts a very different # than we feel comfortable. The FAFSA # also makes our child ineligible for a lot of scholarships. My question is how much to withdraw from 529 vs using our savings. I believe the assets of the 529 count at a higher rate for our child on FAFSA, vs assets we have counting less. That calculation makes me want to pay as much as I can out of the 529 account, so the child has less assets. Am I missing something else?

By: Sujan

Sujan — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 01:25:12 +0000

In reply to Trish.

No we don’t make tons of money a year. We do well, but we do well saving and managing our money. Sticking to a budget. Not over spending when it’s not in our budget. Don’t eat out much, cook at home, pack our own lunch when going skiing etc. and really just watch our budget.

This is the most important part of your message.