529 Plans Advice (Maryland: buy, college, income)

[FireJackie]

Can anyone give advice on starting a 529 plan. The information looks involved. I'm not interested in stocks or placing $$ in stocks that could be lost like was has just happened around the country. I want a safe place to save for my childrens college. Any suggestions?

Many Thanks!

[HappySpring]

I started investing in a 529 plan for my son about 6 years ago.
It took a hit when the market crashed. Depending on the age of the child, they offer different options. The younger they are, they put them in an aggressive fund. As they get older, they get put in a less aggressive fund, but all has risks. You can pick and choose what you want to do.

All I wanted was a way for my money to be taken out of my account monthly so it could grew into something secure for college. This seemed like the thing to do. But I did use a financial advisor and I do pay a yearly maintance fee. Not costly, something like $25.00. Check with your bank and see if there is someone on hand that you can discuss this with.

If there are better plans or ideas out there, I would love to know as well.

[fopt65]

The Direct 529 Plan does not require a broker. You can invest by age or just go with fixed income plans

www.nysaves.org

[sirtiger]

Ideally you want to put in a NY plan to get the nys tax ded.

I put mines here. If you are super conservative, put in a all ST cash port.
https://uii.nysaves.s.upromise.com/

[FuriousD]

FYI, you can deduct up to $10000/year total (regardless of number of children) for your state taxes.

I also use https://uii.nysaves.s.upromise.com/

There are no fees and setting up accounts is very easy.

[jahirulh]

529B plans offer bond and interest funds - nysaves.org (the site some mentioned above) is run by Vanguard - great low cost funds. They offer short term reserve and bond funds - so you don't have to put a dime into stocks.

Of course, the age old saying is buy when it's going down, sell when it's going up. You could go with a conservative portfolio which invests 75% into bonds and 25% into stocks - or you could allocated however you want - 5% to stocks, 95% to bonds or interest only.

Point, there is something for everyone, you can open the account with the minimum, which I think is $25, and check it out yourself.

[Moth]

My advice:

1. Firstly, congrats for getting started early. Way to go.

2. Check out if NY state offers a tax deduction, but...

3. Also check out the Fees that will be charged. They may very well moot the tax advantage. You can open ones in other states or have more than 1 in different states.

I recently opened one for my boy. We live in Maryland but I went with Utah as the fees were so much less and Maryland's so much higher that any tax advantage was useless.

No 529 plan, to my knowlege, directly invests in stocks. They use mutual funds. While volatility is just that, over a 10 year or more period, you should come out more than ahead. And as someone else said, they often adjust as the kid gets older and your time horizon shrinks.

Utah and Iowa are good ones.