529 for Niece/Nephew

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GridironGems
Posts: 166
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:50 pm

529 for Niece/Nephew

Post by GridironGems »

I am thinking about opening up a 529 Plan for my niece and nephew for Christmas but have a few questions first. I live in Kansas and they live in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma 529 plan is average with expenses around .4 for the age based plans. Would it be better if my brother (the dad) opened up the plan instead of me? Since 529 plans can be passed down to the next child, should I just have the niece whom is 4, be the beneficiary and not include my nephew whom is 2 on the plan? Or open up an account for both of them?
mhalley
Posts: 10424
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:02 am

Re: 529 for Niece/Nephew

Post by mhalley »

It doesn’t matter which state plan you use, just pick the best one. Look at the deans list list with high honors. I would do seperate plans for each child.
http://clark.com/education/clarks-529-plan-guide/
There are advantages of the parent owning the plan. If the child’s parents have opened one, then you can get the information and contribute to it directly. Or plan to use your 529 after the first two years of college.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colu ... LZ20130429
Topic Author
GridironGems
Posts: 166
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:50 pm

Re: 529 for Niece/Nephew

Post by GridironGems »

mhalley wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 5:39 pm It doesn’t matter which state plan you use, just pick the best one. Look at the deans list list with high honors. I would do seperate plans for each child.
http://clark.com/education/clarks-529-plan-guide/
There are advantages of the parent owning the plan. If the child’s parents have opened one, then you can get the information and contribute to it directly. Or plan to use your 529 after the first two years of college.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colu ... LZ20130429
I listen to Clark Howard so I've heard him talk about 529's quite a bit and have seen his list that you posted. It seems like it'd be best for my brother to open up the 529 so withdrawals would be counted as assets instead of income (if I read that article correctly). Oklahoma is not on the Dean's list, but it is on the Honor roll, and it'd be beneficial to my brother so he could deduct on his state taxes. I guess unless the fees are low enough to overcome the tax savings for him
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