Stock Market Thread

[WRXtranceformed]

Anyone looked at specific investment options for saving for childrens' college funds? Wifey and I want to start trying here this year and I would love to get way out ahead of the financial planning for their future. I met with Ben yesterday and he gave me some really good options with the pros / cons....UTMAs, 529 plans or just setting up a separate mutual fund that I can spend on whatever if we got scholarships.

I researched some 529 plans. Gotta be real careful. Since bonds are so low, it seems to be killing the "buy in" for prepaid 529 plans.

We are on hold putting anything into a college plan till we decide what we are doing this summer in terms of where we live. Since I don't see large gains to be made in the next 6 months, we are finishing paying off our last car/home reno loan in the next couple months, and then dumping money into a "college fund" once I see a correction come through.

Nice yeah, I have pretty much ruled out UTMAs. The 529 definitely has some notable pros and cons, although what's great about SC is that contributions to 529s are tax deductible, that is definitely not true in every state. It's also tax free money if you spend it on education stuff, which they have a pretty broad definition for. The big hurdle for me is that you have a pretty hefty penalty (10%) plus you have to pay capital gains if you don't use the money for education related expenses (ie in the case of a scholarship), but you can always change the beneficiary in case your next kid isn't as smart or good at golf/soccer/softball/whatever :lol:

Setting up a separate investment account has the most flexibility for the future and although I would have to pay cap gains no matter what when I want to access those funds I believe it would be significantly less of a penalty than "breaking the rules" on a 529