Featured Articles

Explore the benefits of SECURE 2.0's 529 account to Roth IRA transfer provision, and understand eligibility and optimal approaches.

We know about the importance of choosing a college our clients can afford – but what happens when the most affordable path doesn't align with your client’s goals?

With Secure 2.0, the federal government has changed some important rules, including the ability to rollover a 529 plan to a Roth IRA. Here's what to know.

Financial advisors who help clients decipher financial aid award letters need to understand how they work and how to appeal effectively.

Financial advisors can guide clients through the scholarship application process by setting clear expectations and leveraging technology.

Many borrowers are turning to a financial advisor for help with managing their student loan debt. Learn how you can add value to your clients.

Life insurance is sometimes recommended as way to plan and pay for college. Learn about why a 529 plan may be a smarter alternative.

Federal tax benefits of 529 plans include tax-deferred investment growth, tax-free distributions for qualified education expenses and tax-free 529 plan rollovers. However, some states do not fully conform with the federal laws regarding qualified tuition programs.

FINRA’s new 529 Plan Share Class Initiative allows firms to self-report any issues with 529 plan share class recommendations and supervision by April 1 to avoid fines. FINRA hopes the initiative will help to remedy potential violations and return money to affected investors as quickly and effectively as possible.

Now in its 12th edition, “Savingforcollege.com's Complete Guide to 529 Plans” has been expanded to include information on the recent expansion of 529 plans. Updates have made to include K-12 tuition as a qualified 529 plan expense and a new chapter covering 529 ABLE plans for individuals with disabilities has been added.

According to a new study from Fidelity, 64 percent of families said their financial advisor keeps them on track to meet college savings goals. Families who have a financial advisor are also more confident about their plan to save for college.

Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for investment performance. These rankings include direct-sold and advisor-sold plans.

If your clients' children are heading to college soon, it's time to start considering 529 withdrawal strategies. Here are some important tips to make sure your distribution is tax-free and penalty-free.

If you don’t use the money in a 529 college savings plan to pay for college, you’ll have to pay a penalty. Should the prospect of paying a penalty dissuade you from using a 529 plan?

The highly-anticipated Savingforcollege.com 529 plan rankings are here! This slideshow provides information on the top 10 direct-sold 529 plans, including performance score, program manager and how to enroll. *Three-year performance rankings as of 03/31/2018

With an age-based 529 plan, risk is automatically reduced at specific age or years-until-enrollment intervals, from equities to fixed income securities to money market type portfolios. But some clients aren't satisfied with the amount of equity exposure in age-based portfolios. Here's what you can recommend.

Is your client's home state's 529 plan always the best option? It depends, since each state has different 529 program parameters relative to potential state tax deductions or credits offered, if one is offered at all. Learn how to evaluate the options to find the best 529 for your clients.

The Kiddie Tax applies to income a child ear. 529 savings plans have been replacing UGMA/UTMA accounts, because savings grow tax-deferred, and can be withdrawn tax-free when to pay for qualified education expenses, avoiding the Kiddie Tax entirely.

When asked why they aren't saving for college in a 529 plan, clients will typically give one of these 10 excuses. Here are some ways financial advisors can address their concerns and stress the importance of planning for future education costs.

529 plan expert Vince Sullivan explains how a 529 plan can present a tax-deferred opportunity for clients, even if they aren't planning on using it for qualified education expenses. Find out if a state tax deduction could offset the costs of taxes and penalties owed after a non-qualified withdrawal.

A family’s Expected Family Contribution is based on information a family reports on the FAFSA, and determines financial aid eligibility. Here’s why it’s important for financial advisors to understand EFC.

The final version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act includes a provision to allow families to save for K-12 expenses with 529 plans. Here’s who would see the biggest impact.

The concept of Superfunding refers to using the 5-year election to frontload a 529 plan gift. Learn how this strategy can help grandparents reduce their estate tax exposure.

Helping clients prepare for future college costs has become an integral part of holistic financial planning. Here are four opportunities to grow your practice by helping Gen X clients plan for college.

We rank plans that consumers can enroll in directly, as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners for the second quarter 2017.

Families in MN are eligible for a tax deduction or credit for their 529 plan contributions. Learn how to choose the right option for your client's college savings strategy.

The IRS permits only two investment changes within a beneficiary's 529 account in any calendar year. Here are some answers to frequently-asked questions regarding this limitation.

Make sure your asking these questions in your annual review with your clients regarding their college savings.

Every year the National Association of State Treasurers hosts its own 529-focused conference. Here are some of the outcomes - in brief - from that event.

We rank plans that consumers can enroll in directly, as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners) for the first quarter 2017.

C to A Convertibles are better than either of their predecessors, despite minor drawbacks. Find out why.

Shares that convert automatically are becoming increasingly popular, but are they really the miracle cure-all 529 providers claim?

With some 529 plans over 20 years old, more account owners are taking withdrawals. But there are some important things you need to know before requesting that check.

In the arms race for the lowest-cost plan, 529s have fast started to become a commoditized product. Is there room left for innovation?

Private College 529 is a unique animal in the college savings space, and their strategy reflects their novel position. Here we provide insight into how they approach college savers.

There are some people that are thoroughly convinced 529s are a bad bet. Here we explore why.

We rank plans that consumers can enroll in directly, as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners) for the fourth quarter 2016.

New legislation might make 529 plans more alluring, but will it actually pass?

The appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education has raised many eyebrows, and deservedly so.

Investors are increasingly turning to their financial advisors for help with college planning. Here's what you need to know about the CSS Profile.

You can plug the numbers into our State Tax Calculator, but how do we arrive at those numbers? Here we dig into the weeds.

This was the year of the Fiduciary Rule, roboadvisors, and money markets. What will be the big topics among 529 plans in the year ahead?

Sometimes, even professionals can be fooled by complex tax code language. In fact, some of it reads like 529s might not actually be tax-free!

There are a few states that allow account owners to make a large contribution and claim their tax benefit in future years.

Can we reimburse ourselves out of our child's 529 plan without be subject to taxes or penalty?

Virginia529 prePAID may consider changing its structure to limit new participants to in-state schools. So are prepaid tuition plans still viable?

One of the most common questions from advisors is, "How can I justify my fee?" But it shouldn't be a question at all.

We rank plans that consumers can enroll in directly, as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners) for the third quarter 2016.

Robo-advisor Wealthfront launched its first 529 college savings plan at the beginning of November. But how does the Plan stack up? And what does this mean for traditional advisor channels?

Sometimes a non-qualified withdrawal is unavoidable, but there are some situations where your client may be able to avoid the 10% penalty.

There are many situations where an account owner can accidentally withdraw too much money. Here’s what you can do

Only two states have passed a tax parity law since 2008. So does it still matter?

What to do when a client takes a distribution when they didn't mean to, or forgot to file the 5-year election

This article explains a scholarship tax strategy you may not have thought about.

Omnibus accounting in the retail space is widely accepted as standard for most asset management products, and will be critical to most large and mid-sized broker-dealers as it is slowly implemented with 529 plans. But what about everyone else?

We rank plans that consumers can enroll in directly, as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners) for the second quarter 2016.

Advice on helping families meet the financial challenges associated with living with a disability, and how to maximize the benefits of 529 ABLE accounts.

Financial advisors are increasingly viewed by clients as their guide to achieving their college savings goals. Financial advisors, however, are challenged by the paperwork-intensive, and - sometimes - low asset size of 529 plans. To make their lives easier, some advisors have found it simpler to forego the commissions on the asset base of 529 plans and refer their client to a direct-sold plan. However, this can be outright dangerous for both the advisor and client: Here's why.

The Kiddie Tax is one of the most overlooked pieces of tax code until it hits your high-net worth client. Prepare them before they are impacted.

Let’s face it. Nearly all of your clients with school-aged children are concerned about college financial-aid eligibility, whether or not they should be. By that I mean many of your clients will never qualify for needs-based financial aid, simply because their income is too high. Yet they may still turn to you, their financial advisor, for guidance. Here's how to quickly gain financial-aid expertise.

Omnibus accounting is widely accepted as standard operating procedure for most retail asset management products. Yet many 529 Savings plans remain, for the most part, staunch hold-outs: Here's why.

We rank plans that consumers can enroll in directly, as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners).

Changing the beneficiary of a 529 plan in conjunction with an investment change or rollover is very useful in getting around the limitations placed on these types of account changes.

Additional rules were released in 2014, and will be enforced later this year.

Wealthfront has partnered with Ascensus College Savings to pursue a private labeled product.

Omnibus is a word a lot of people in the asset management industry toss around, but not a lot of people understand.

The U.S. DOL (Department of Labor) unveiled new rules that are, in aggregate, widely-referred to as "The Fiduciary Rule."

Industry experts share their advice on how to handle clients who have stock market jitters.

The fourth quarter of the year is the most important time to review your clients' 529 plans.

Morningstar and Savingforcollege.com offer helpful tools that can help you sift through the hundreds of 529 plan options available to help find the most suitable investment for your clients’ needs.

It’s time to clear up the confusion about the most common misconceptions and see how 529 plans can benefit your clients.

One idea for advisors looking to deepen client trust and relationship levels is identify so-called 'lazy money' sitting in parent or grandparent accounts, and recommend repositioning those resources to shore up a college savings gap.

The president has recently made changes to the FAFSA which could make saving for college easier for some families. Here are four common examples of how assets used to save for college can affect financial aid.

When it comes to selecting investment options, many clients would benefit from the guidance of a financial advisor, read more:

How can I make sure that my client get the most financial aid possible?

How can you as an advisor help your clients achieve the education goals they have for their children? Here are a few things to think about.

Have you been giving millienials enough attention? Here are a few tips on how you can tailor your approach when working with this younger generation and their college savings needs.

You may meet resistance when recommending 529 plans to your clients stemming from certain fears and misconceptions about how these college savings programs work.

All the details are laid out in the official program descriptions, but wading through those details when each 529 plan presents them differently in their materials is a difficult and time-consuming task.

If you have clients with children under the age of 18, you need to be thinking about college. Learn more about the recent Gallup poll.

New research has revealed just how much of an effect saving for college has on reducing the likelihood that a student will incur student debt. So why are Americans continuing to rely so heavily on student loans? Here are three factors that may be to blame.

Parents will do almost anything to keep their children from having to borrow to pay for college, even if it means sacrificing their own retirement savings.

President Obama's proposal to streamline education tax incentives calls for a rollback of the tax-free qualified withdrawals from 529 education savings plans that were enacted in 2001. Here are ten reasons why it's most likely that this proposal will not be enacted into law.

When Congress in 2001 transformed 529 plans from being tax-deferred vehicles into being tax-free vehicles, I'm not sure they contemplated an environment in which investment returns might regularly outpace increases in college costs.

Here are several strategies grandparents with 529 plans can utilize in order to contribute to their grandchildren's college fund without negatively impacting their financial aid eligibility.

The IRS permits 529 plans to establish very high contribution limits--currently the highest is $452,210 in Pennsylvania. The reason for such generosity is because Congress in developing Section 529 did not want to prevent families with sufficient financial resources from saving for the FULL cost of postsecondary education, including both undergraduate and graduate school expenses.

Did you know that 501(c)(3) charitable organizations can open accounts in a 529 plan? Not many people do. Yet this possibility presents an intriguing opportunity for both charities and forward-thinking financial advisors.

Explains the 529 Superfunding Calculator—that can help you guide your client in making the most effective use of the 5-year election.

Ideas aimed at the goal of getting your clients to ask you about education savings instead of you having to initiate the discussion.

Investors, advisors, and the financial media all want to know how well 529 plans, as a group, are performing. In other words, are 529 plans delivering solid investment returns?

A bill introduced into Congress last week would have families scrambling to open 529 accounts—not necessarily for college.

Here are the biggest college savings misconceptions that parents and grandparents have.

Joe shares his thoughts on the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's recently-proposed comprehensive tax reform package and its effect on tax incentives for education.

Savingforcollege.com recently conducted its first annual College Savings Survey, an online survey of our website visitors designed to investigate families' beliefs, goals, and actions when it comes to saving for college in America.

I am offering up 6 resolutions for 2014 directed to financial planners. These suggestions will not only help your clients, but most likely will help you attract new clients.

Take this three-question test—the first of an occasional series—and find out if you know the ins and outs of 529 plans.

The College Board this week released its annual report "Trends in College Pricing" containing data that suggests college tuition inflation may be slowing. This is good news for your clients concerned about funding future college costs for their children and grandchildren.

The ABLE Act would permit states to establish 529-ABLE programs to accept and invest contributions for individuals with disabilities, and to make federally tax-free distributions when used for a broad category of expenses incurred by an eligible beneficiary.

Guidelines and examples consider the "kiddie tax" when determining whether to convert an existing UGMA/UTMA custodial account to a 529 plan.

A Pennsylvania financial planner increases tax savings for a client by directing funds to 529 plans for nieces and nephews.

Sallie Mae and Ispsos Public Affairs' annual survey "How America Pays for College 2013" revealed encouraging news in regards to 529 plans, including a dramatic increase in 529 plan use over the past year.

In light of the recent student loan interest rate hike, here are some things to know when talking to your clients about how the change will affect them and what they can do to minimize taking on massive debt.

Joe Hurley offers thoughts on federal legislative developments that may, or may not, impact 529 plans.

Many investment professionals were surprised last week by the Obama administration’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal to place a cap on balances in tax-advantaged retirement accounts.

Some parents will choose to fund their children's college accounts even when they are not making full use of 401(k) plans and IRAs, and for these parents that decision may be the right one.

How does taking a distribution from a 529 plan affect a client's ability to claim a child as a dependent? No one really knows the answer to that question, at least not with any certainty. A tax preparer's stance could determine whether the client is able to take advantage of the dependency exemption, the American Opportunity credit, the Lifetime Learning credit, and the tuition and fees deduction.

I appreciate a good survey as much as anyone. The results can provide useful insights and uncover trends, either positive or negative. However, there is usually much more to be found in the survey details than the headlines and executive summaries might suggest.

President Obama has just signed the 2012 American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA), saving many of the education tax incentives scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012, and even resuscitating incentives that had expired at the end of 2011.

Are you really worth your commissions? Do you provide enough extra value to your clients to justify the sales load of an advisor-sold 529 plan?

23 is the square root of 529. Depending on your predilection to numerology, something known as "the 23 enigma" could be a big deal.

Financial advisers who do not like 529 plans may have their reasons, and I respect their opinions, but I suspect that many of their anti-529 comments come more from a lack of knowledge and experience than from objective data.