Type something and hit enter

ads here
On
advertise here

First, where to open a 529. I've seen several people in this forum refer to clark.com's "dean's list" for state 529 plans. I don't live or plan to live in any of those states (currently TX). They base their list primarily on the fee schedule (looking for <0.20%) and reliability of the managers.

Of course it would be easier to manage a 529 account with an institution where I already have accounts, which currently is Merrill Lynch and Fidelity. ML is cagey about giving fees, but for their NextGen 529 they get down to 0.24% using iShares age-based funds. Fidelity meanwhile gets down to 0.15% expense ratio. Given all that, it seems like the easy choice is a Fidelity age-based index funds 529.

Am I missing something in making that choice?

As for how much: education department data puts total cost of attendance per year at $26.0k for in-state and $54.6k for out-of-state in 2020. That same data shows only 2.0% per year growth over the past 10, mostly staying flat w/ inflation. Let's say the 4 year total is $100k today, and that grows to $143k in 18 years. Supposing we can get 7% annual returns over the long-term, that means putting $340/mo into an investment account for 18 years.

Does setting aside about $340/mo for a kid's college education seem reasonable? It feels like a lot to me, but I know college costs have been soaring so maybe that really is the answer.



Submitted June 22, 2022 at 10:07PM by SoFarFromHome https://ift.tt/hudK7lJ

Click to comment