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Old 03-03-2009, 10:26 PM
 
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Anyone have any info on this plan. Fees / how well you like it etc.... Just looking fr anyone who has personal experience with it.
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Old 03-04-2009, 06:17 AM
 
Location: East Cobb
2,206 posts, read 6,866,861 times
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Fees are low and, until the stock market collapse of recent months, returns were excellent for the 6+ years I've had an account. It's managed by well-respected TIAA-CREF.
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Old 08-17-2020, 07:58 PM
 
Location: Upper Westside
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Can anybody else comment on this? I'm thinking about starting it for my 8 month old. Is this the best plan to go with?
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Old 08-17-2020, 08:11 PM
 
356 posts, read 314,003 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by atlHawks View Post
Can anybody else comment on this? I'm thinking about starting it for my 8 month old. Is this the best plan to go with?
Yes, I think Path2College is the best way to go. I’ve had 2 accounts for maybe 4 years now. Low fees, tax credit (Georgia income tax), good website. They make it easy.

They have target date funds if you prefer set it and forget it approach too.

I did my research back when I opened first account.
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Old 08-17-2020, 08:17 PM
 
3,710 posts, read 3,625,798 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by atlHawks View Post
Can anybody else comment on this? I'm thinking about starting it for my 8 month old. Is this the best plan to go with?
There's nothing gimmicky about 529 plans. However I would only personally invest in one after I had maxed out my Roth IRA. The reason being that both have tax advantage, however you can only use the 529 for education, whereas you can use the principal of the Roth IRA for ANY reason. So if you got in a bind, the Roth will benefit you, but the 529 will not.
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Old 08-17-2020, 09:00 PM
 
Location: Upper Westside
821 posts, read 718,835 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by back2atl View Post
Yes, I think Path2College is the best way to go. I’ve had 2 accounts for maybe 4 years now. Low fees, tax credit (Georgia income tax), good website. They make it easy.

They have target date funds if you prefer set it and forget it approach too.

I did my research back when I opened first account.
I usually go with index funds, so I most likely will take a look at the target date funds.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Citykid3785 View Post
There's nothing gimmicky about 529 plans. However I would only personally invest in one after I had maxed out my Roth IRA. The reason being that both have tax advantage, however you can only use the 529 for education, whereas you can use the principal of the Roth IRA for ANY reason. So if you got in a bind, the Roth will benefit you, but the 529 will not.
Maxed out my Roth IRA in February, just in time for the dip.

My only concern is how college will look like in 18 years or if my kid gets scholarships. Will I have to pay taxes on it, if its not used towards tuition? I did see that there is a 10% fee, if not used on tuition or other things related to college, but it can be waived under certain circumstances.
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Old 08-17-2020, 09:34 PM
 
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I *think*, in the event your child gets a scholarship, you still pay taxes on investment gains, but not the 10% additional tax. Unless you have a different beneficiary to transfer the balance to, etc. Remember too in that scenario you can still use the money tax free toward education expenses like housing and computers. They have detailed FAQs on their website.

Also I’ve seen good arguments for 529 plan vs Roth. If you use Roth for education, you pay tax on the gains (income tax mind you, not capital gains). Could easily decrease money for your kid by $20K (example based on 18 years, $5k contribution per year, 7% annual growth, 25% marginal tax rate).

Personally, I figure, if my kids get a scholarship or take a different path, well, this money will be icing on the cake! If they could graduate college debt free, I wouldn’t care that some of the their 529 money was taxed. Heck might buy them a car!
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Old 08-18-2020, 07:06 AM
 
1,145 posts, read 4,190,933 times
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Georgia 529 plan is getting better. Back when I started a 529 in 2014, I wasn't very impressed by the Georgia plan in regards to fees, investment customization, and website usability. So I contributed enough to get the tax deduction, but put overage into Utah's plan (which is considered one of the nation's best).

But in recent years, the GA plan has improved its fee structure and investments. If I were starting over today, I would consider putting all of it in there.
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Old 08-18-2020, 02:32 PM
 
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You get to deduct $4000 ($8000 for a joint return) from your Georgia state income return. That's an immediate 5% to 6% (the most common GA state income tax marginal bracket) return. Based on this alone, if you are a GA resident, the GA plan is preferred (at least for the state tax deductible amount) over plans from other states.
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Old 08-25-2020, 03:15 PM
 
9,617 posts, read 6,022,897 times
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They are a good performing plans with age-band investing as an option; more aggressive when kid is younger, then progressively more conservative as they near college age. Like much of the rest of the market, the funds dipped in the mid-March to mod-April timeframe. Since then the investments have bounced back.

Have 6 grandchildren that I fund for. Will transfer ownership to parents as the grands approach college age, as the accounts are then considered parental assets, thus not interfering with student loans if those are necessary. Hope not.

I graduated debt free, having worked my way through. Took longer, but what a sense of accomplishment without the obese overhang of student debt. Unnecessary, but now I'm speechifying.
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