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Posted on 07/26/2025 10:32:42 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Generations of parents have opened 529 plans to save for their children’s educations. Now some are reconsidering the value of college and looking into other options.
Before starting a family, Asha Bailey and her husband were already looking for the best ways to plan for their future children’s financial security. In their community in San Diego, 529 college savings plans often came up in conversation.
Wanting to learn more, Ms. Bailey and her husband visited their credit union to explore opening a 529 account. But when they learned that the plan could be used only for educational purposes, which their children might not require, they weren’t thrilled.
“As much as I would love and want to encourage my kids to go to college and further their education, it just might not be what they end up doing,” said Ms. Bailey, 29, who works as a wedding photographer. “I have no idea the kind of people that they’re going to grow up to be. So, for me, I want to have the most flexibility with that money.”
Instead, Ms. Bailey and her husband opened a brokerage account after her financial adviser recommended it to them. They liked the idea of withdrawing money in case of emergencies or other expenses not related to just education.
For generations, 529 college savings plans were a no-brainer for most parents wanting to start a college fund. They are tax-advantaged and primarily used to pay for higher education expenses. The accounts can be used for a range of education-related expenses, not just college tuition, like books, private K-12 tuition and more. If funds go unused, the account can be transferred to another beneficiary, like a sibling or a grandchild.
But now, some parents are pumping the brakes on the accounts and rethinking how they plan to save for their children’s...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Some school will figure out how to take a cut of the 529 plans to launder the money for the account holders.
The whole idea of the 529 was to “prevent” what these folks see as a benefit to a brokerage account. It sounds like these folks don’t differentiate between “college fund” and “emergency fund.”
Every parent will deal with this stuff the way they can. People need to find what works for them.
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill set up something for newborns which allows a savings account that isn’t tied to college, right?
Where is the rule of completing in 4 years or less. Some folks work for the money to go. Weird right?
529 plans can also be used for technical and vocational schools.
A ridiculous example of the government getting “the people” into the market. A market most don’t understand. They abdicate any responsibility to a mutual fund that pays them the most money. Those funds press their holdings for unrealistic returns.
I’ve seen those funds ruin good companies. I’ve been in those analyst meetings.
The 401(k) was the worst thing to happen to the US business world since the Great Depression. This lousy account will be another example of a stupid idea.
A Roth IRA is more flexible for college savings.
529 plans have been around for “generations”? I don’t remember that...
I invested profits from real estate sales in 2009 into 529 plans and it worked well.....in order to screw the state of NY, which still allows state deductions for contributions to 529 plans, when our 529 plan was low i liquidated other savings then made contributions to the 529 in order to get the tax deduction and mitigate any taxation on the liquidated investment as well as pay less state tax to NY...
My daughter graduated from the OSU this past May, and the total cost was about $250,000 over four years...a lot of bread but she graduated with honors and enjoyed it- so it was money well spent.
I took out one loan for $20,000....not because i needed it but because of biden’s student loan forgiveness plans...if they stayed in effect i was NOT going to pay it back or pay it back at $25 a month....now that they have been reversed i will pay the loan back in full very soon...
“The accounts can be used for a range of education-related expenses, not just college tuition, like books, private K-12 tuition and more.”
Ted Cruz was in large part responsible for this...
Way back in the early 80s, it looked like saving money for college penalized you from getting a better financial aid package. I don’t know if that is still the case.
**The 401(k) was the worst thing to happen to the US business world since the Great Depression.**
Come on!
**A Roth IRA is more flexible for college savings.**
All IRA’s should be Roth, especially those thousand $ ones given at birth.
SHE CAN SAVE WHATEVER SHE CAN AFFORD-—IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE IN ANY KIND OF PLAN.
I WOULD TELL HER TO LOOK HARD AT VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS.
ELECTRICIAN IS NEVER OUT OF STYLE
These days too many young people go off to college a patriotic Christian and come home a woke anti-American atheist.
They need to change these grant, loan, savings, etc. policies to at least also include vocational / trade schools, etc. and not just colleges and universities.
I had to pay for my own school. My kids can do the same.
Smart choice - why send people you love to corrupt indoctrination centers? This way if the schools are better in the future use the money for education - if they're not, help the kids with a down payment on a home.
Honestly, walk through any company and ask the employees where their 401k has invested funds and how they get those great 10% returns every year.
To the vast majority, it is akin to magic.
They have no idea how those fund managers literally destroy companies to achieve that next quarter’s number.
Billions of dollars are just handed over to those people every week. Without question and without a whole bunch of accountability.
It’s a scam of industrial proportions.
Generations of parents? 529s started in the late 80s in a few states
That’s why trade schools are far better options than college.
www.wgu.edu is a great way to get a college degree.
www.gcu.edu. - Grand Canyon University in Phoenix is a very large Bibically based Christian Univarsity. Many of the graduates of a local Christian High School are attending there.
I have a granddaughter who will be starting there this fall.
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