Bob

Nope.

529 plan is pissing money in the toilet if kid wants to study aboard or not go to uni, signs up for the forces etc.

Also reduces what they might be eligible for in federal funding as well as scholarships, more so if they go for private uni.

jeffreyhy

CB,

First things first - what's the status of your retirement fund?

Regards, JEff

SpoogleDrummer

My wife said that a lot of people are just letting their kids take out loans for uni then paying them for them. I'm not massively keen on that idea as I reckon it'd be a bit of a pisser for my kids if they finished uni with a huge loan thinking I'd pay for it then I dropped down dead the next day so I've opened a savings account for my 1 year old. If he gets to 18 and decides he doesn't fancy uni then I guess he can use the money for something else, either that or I can transfer it to his sister's account as she's due to be born in January and I don't fancy having 2 kids at uni at the same time

Michael

The $35K per annum is the figure that people throw around as either tuition costs at a private school or the high end estimated total costs including living expenses at a top end state school. Of course if the child lives at home, the costs should be greatly reduced. The following are the approximate annual fess charged at a California colleges.

• Community colleges - About $1,000 per annum
• CSU (San Jose State, San Diego State, SF State, etc.) - About $4,000 per annum
• UC (UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, etc.) - About $8,000 per annum
• Private colleges (Stanford, USC, etc.) - About $36,000 per annum.

You will also have to add the costs of books to the above costs.

Most other states should have similar costs.

lansbury

Very true and why we haven't put our grandsons college money into that sort of fund.

He is 5 and starts kindergarten next month. His 4 grandparents have his college money all put away for him. Hopefully will earn enough interest to keep pace with the raising cost.

Bob

the other thing about the 529 being shite....well your going to hopefully be retired a lot longer than kids are in college, so much more sensible to stick the money in a retirement fund...let the kids fend for themselves and help out if/when you can.

ChocolateBabz

OK so hubby has company pension (still in the UK) to which his company are making employers & employee contributions (part of relo pkg). It was a good scheme 1/55th but got reduced to 1/80th a year or so ago (not so good but still OK). Company is still also paying full NI contributions on his behalf. If we make permanent move here he will have to transfer to US Company scheme and start paying Social Security/Medicare - we think @ $1000 per month but at that point he will be expecting a pay rise to compensate.

He also has a Free Standing AVC which presently is not worth the paper it is written on so we stopped contributing before we left the UK.

I will have to start making voluntary contributions this year to my state pension in UK (if it's actually worth it ?). My company pensions (from when I actually worked) are all frozen.

TBH finances terrify and bore me to death (even though I know its important) and this despite being Asst Manager of a Building Society before I became a mommy & desperate housewife Sometimes feel like we are flying by the seat of our pants with our fingers crossed

Most of our cash is tied up in the house but we can afford to make extra payments into a college fund monthly or put all of hubby's bonus in there each year.

Of course bonus is not guaranteed but then neither is the fact that either the company or state pension will be there when we retire.

Jerseygirl

I was talking to someone last Christmas who has a son just about college age. They'd set up a college fund for his education and thought they had enough...until the bottom dropped out of the stock market.

dbj1000

Perfect timing for this topic - I had just decided to put some money into some sort of college fund for my twin 10-year-old daughters (damn, that's going to be expensive!).

I guess I don't understand why a 529 is "pissing money in the toilet" if they want to study abroad. Can you explain, please?

Bob

Tax break for most of them is for the college money to be spent in the US and you'll back owe the tax that you saved on salary if they study aboard, like wise if you pull the savings because they can't be arsed with college, get creamed by a bus or any manner of things.

They really are shit value for money, much better going for a retirement fund and perhaps setting up a few CD's or IRA's for the little buggers to have spending money to cover accommodation and books because you'll be hammered on the level of federal loans and any grants/scholarships you'd be able to get having 529 student money set aside which negates any tax saving of sticking the money in one....hence they're a bit shit really but bank finance people love flogging them for the %%% but if they're honest even they'll tell you they're shit.

bevinva

One of the reasons American parents push their kids into sports is so they can get a scholarship to pay for college. Another thing I was told is that you stand more of a chance if to get a full scholarship if you go to a school that traditionally serves another ethnic group than yours.

jeffreyhy

CB,

It was a rhetorical question. Bob was direct to the point in his post #21 replying to lansbury - take care of your retirement first and the kid's education second.

There are many more sources of money that can be tapped for a college education than are available to you for your retirement. Be certain that you've got retirement covered before you tackle the education fund.

Regards, JEff

big_fish

I agree you need to balance out different savings requirements including college & retirement but don't forget most people are going to be paying for college well before they able to retire & a lot of retirement savings plans have penalties for early withdrawals.

fatbrit

I'm with Bob here. Save for it by putting the money in something more flexible than a college plan. A Roth IRA should be the first consideration..

ChocolateBabz

And here was me thinking you might be a financial guru sent from above with all the answers