Heya. Can you guys save me some time and headache and tell me what the best 529 plan is for college savings that I want to manage myself (I want to be able to buy/sell stock/index funds like I would for any other stock account).
And while we’re at it, can anyone tell me what the advantage is of a Coverdell ESA? You can only put in $2K/yr. Hardly going to make a dent in college costs.
I have not used 529 as I did not have money at that time (when kids were young). For stocks, start with Mutual funds and ETFs, then go for stocks.
I wanted to invest in MF and ETFs, trying to watch this list. I do not know any detailed analysis on these
FOCPX
FSMEX
FNCMX
MCHI
INDY
IUSG
IJT
IVW
VIOG
IJR
Stocks are volatile and may drop in value suddenly while Mutual Funds/ETFs are gradual and almost going up with economy.
Meanwhile, read some books about long term investing so that you are comfortable in long term investing
http://www.streetofwalls.com/finance-training-courses/hedge-fund-training/hedge-fund-books/
I like these books better.
Greenblatt, Joel You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places…
Lynch, Peter One Up On Wall Street
Graham, Benjamin The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book of Value Investing
Hagstrom, Robert The Warren Buffett Way
Klarman, Seth Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor (read this last ! this is avl internet as pdf)
I have these physical books and scan them daily some pages.
The more you read, better you are
The main difference between Coverdell ESA and the 529 plan is that Coverdell allows the use of tax free dollars towards K-12 expenses, whereas 529 is strictly for college expenses.
If you knew how to play it, 529 is good, but I’ve heard it has many complications, kids may not make it into a college, parents will go instead of them, can do this, can’t do that. That money also can be lost in a crash, I may be wrong, not my field, we never suggest that product.
Best you can do, open an IUL ($1 million dollar baby) and hand them the policy at college age, you can loan $20K+ here and there at that age. Time is the essence, it should have been open long time ago.
Look at the benefit of life insurance, not the “I die my beneficiaries get $” but the ones that also allows you to pay a premium and on top you can put an extra amount of $, which can be loaned within 10 days, never to be paid (deducted from death benefit at the end) and that amount is still earning returns, about 8% in the last 20 years and you never lose that principal.
This is a conservative approach, not your addicted to stock market games personality wearing Gucci one night, asking for $ for a cup of coffee the next day at your favorite corner.
Lots of ideas, too much negativism around.
Really? So if I started investing in a Coverdell for my 7yo now, I could use it towards private high school later? That’s good… except for the income limitatations.
Agree, but I’m willing to risk it on Amazon 
They’re taking over the world.
No 529.
Put in ESA. Obviously every cents in AAPLs. Rocks.
AMZN is now trading at over $1,000. With $2,000 you can buy one share, with 900 something left in the account… 
That’s the idea, but $2K/year is definitely not enough to cover your kid’s private high school tuition…
Here is the appx cost for college
15k-18k/year for private school
15k-20k/year for CSU
30-40k/year for UC
60k-70k/year for private colleges like stanford
Friend’s daughter just went to USC. $90k/yr. Jeez
Hope is not liberal arts, hard to earn back the money.
Or biology.
People who can afford $90k/yr on liberal arts degree probably don’t have to care about job prospect any more.
Whatever I have given is appx (almost minimum), the actual amount may increase.
I paid UC 45k/year for four years. When my son completed college, I told him the amount as almost one house down payment amount, he did not believe that. Then, I asked him to go through the details, step by step, finally he agreed and said “It is too expensive !”.
After few years, inflation will catch up and colleges/universities always hike the fees.
One big mistake: I should have bought a condo for him to stay (remember it was 2011), now I can easily make it work as nice rental.
ARRRRRGHHHHH!!! It just dipped to $997. If it just goes down by ONE DOLLAR, he can buy 2 shares and cover the $7 fee!!!
DEFINITELY. College town rentals are a sure thing for the next 20 years. And after that inflation will make it still a sure thing. (Another reason I want a duplex here–if any of my kids go to Stanford, I want them getting an apartment-mate and covering MY costs, rather than me forking over $$ to you guys to house my kid.)
How much college saving are people aiming for nowadays? That 90K/yr number really scares me… 
For someone based in California/Nevada, one of the best plans is to use Vanguard 529 plan. It gives you access to all low cost ETFs from Vanguard. I put a fixed sum every month in that plan and dollar cost average VTI.
May I ask you a clarification? Everyone, including warren buffet, suggests to go S&P index funds like VTI which is growing 7%-8% year over year.
If I take past performance comparison, assuming they continue the same trend, nasdaq index (ONEQ) is far better than SPY index (VTI).
The simple reason for Nasdaq index is better over SPY index is Nasdaq industry profit margins are always higher and that reflects in index.
Why can not we go for ONEQ or Similar Market funds?
