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2008 Plan Performance Rankings Q2
How to Rank 529 Plan Performance
Ranking over 3000 investment options is no easy task, considering the wide variety of options found in 529 savings plans, and it requires a special methodology.
Step one: We select specific portfolios from each 529 plan that can be compared on an apples-to-apples basis to portfolios in other 529 plans based on their allocation among stocks, bonds, and short-term instruments (money market and guaranteed investments). We've set up seven different asset-allocation categories ranging from 100% equity to 100% short-term.
Step two: Within each of the seven categories, we compare historical performance of the selected portfolios and assign each plan a percentile ranking between 1 (best) and 100 (worst). Separate rankings are developed for 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year performance.
Step three: We take the average of each 529 plan's percentile rankings in the seven asset-allocation categories to produce a combined or "composite" percentile ranking. We then produce reports showing how the 529 plans rank against each other in their composite percentile rankings. Note: we currently produce these composite rankings for 1-year and 3-year performance. There are not yet enough 529 plans with a 5-year performance history to make a 5-year ranking report meaningful.
For a more in-depth explanation of our methodology, please read our white paper.
See the 1-year direct sold and 3-year direct sold rankings.
More Information
Links to our full report on the composite rankings for Q2 2008 are provided below for the direct-sold 529 plans. Only our Premium subscribers have access to composite rankings for adviser-sold 529 plans, to the underlying data supporting the rankings, and to separate 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year rankings for each of the seven different asset-allocation categories. In addition, subscribers can easily look up the historical performance for every 529 portfolio in every available share class by using our Fee and Performance Lookup Tool.
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