Should I move my 529 plan to NC too? (broker, college)

[ncitgal]

I currently have 529 college savings plans for my kids that I opened in CA. We stopped contributing for a while, but now would like to start again. We have lived in NC about 2 yrs. Should we open new plans in NC, or just contribute to the ones in CA? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

[mdp_az]

I'm not sure of the advantages/disadvantages; I'd recommend you consult a financial advisor on that.

I do know that NC's 529 plans were not well-regarded for some time. I believe they recently improved their fund selection and fees, so it might be better now. FWIW, I live in NC, however my broker advised opening a Virginia 529 since their plan is so much better, and that's exactly what I did.

[SunnyKayak]

I cant deal with my money being spread around with different organizations mainly I am afriad I will forget where everything at when the age they need to be used.

I dont know if it tax deductable on the state level but you might want to check to see if their is any information on state website http://www.dornc.com/ I seem to qualify for very few state deductions so any you may find might help with in regards to that.

[J_Lurk]

I use this website for information on plans and comparisons of plans: http://www.savingforcollege.com/ It isn't really a matter of what state you are in; it is a matter of which plan has the lowest costs and best returns. You don't have to live in the state where you have a 529 plan. However, since most financial plans set costs so that they go down if you have more money in the plan, I'd probably evaluate whether it is best to roll the CA money into a different plan rather than keeping a small of money in two different plans.

The only advantage to an NC 529 unrelated to costs/returns is the tax deduction for contributions. Info is here: www.cfnc.org/site/savings/main/index.jsp (broken link)

[DawnW]

This is one of the reasons we opened a different kind of account for our kids that is nationally based.

I wouldn't stress over it, but I would look online to find out what advantage it would be to roll it over.

I still have a large retirement plan in CA and don't plan to roll it over or touch it until I am retirement age.

For us (and I don't know about your situation), we just have no idea where we will be when our kids get to be college age, we don't know where they might choose to go, and we don't know what kind of scholarships, etc...they may get, so our plan isn't really a college plan, more of an IRA thing (DH does all that, I really don't know.)

Dawn