Last week, Momtrends hosted an event with NY’s 529 College Savings Program. The venue took place literally right next to our apartment at the Institute Of Culinary Education (ICE). I just recently discovered that you are able to go there and take a cooking class, but I didn’t know the kids were able to take classes as well. So while the kids learned and thing or two in the kitchen, the adults got schooled on NY’s 529 College Savings Program.
Saving for college education for your children is something both Jason and I truly feel strong about. When the children were all born, like most parents do, we set up bank accounts in their name, for any money they received my grandparents or relatives for birthdays and holidays, would go in their account. We thought we were doing the right thing by setting up these savings accounts for our kiddies. Right?
Well after I spoke with advisors at Vanguard, I’ve realized we needed to shift our saving plan for the kids and get their little earnings into a 529 Plan! A 529 Plan is an investment account you can use for high education savings and are usually sponsored by your state. In my case, it’s New York! What makes these plans more powerful that just your average savings account is the tax savings. Your earnings grow federally tax-deferred, and qualified withdrawals, like using this money to pay for college tuition, books or supplies, or forming are tax-free.
I learned that anyone can open these accounts for your children or grandchildren with just $25! It’s truly a brilliant way to start saving for your children and in my opinion the greatest gift you can ever give them! And another great feature is that these accounts are up to 10,000 tax deductible annually for couples or 5,000 for single tax payers. I was literally texting Jason from the event telling him he needed to switch the kids accounts immediately!
And the best part, after we learned what we can do for our children and their future, our children did something super nice for us! They cooked us a beautiful lunch that we were all able to enjoy together! It was a wonderful afternoon and I cannot tell you how much I learned!
19 thoughts on “Talking College Savings”
My husband is in charge of our investments and college funds for the kids are at the top of his list!! It’s so important.
Great tips for helping parents save money for their kids for college! Great ideas to pass along to parents with young children!
We have college funds in place for all of our kids. We’re going to need that down the line. You have to be prepared!
It is very important to say for your kiddos. It is something that my husband and I have been trying to scrape together and do something with so that he does not have the debt we did when we went to college.
Those kids are adorable! Planning early for college, especially with the price increasing every year is soooo important. It’s great to see you talking about it in an easy to understand manner that will make sense to all readers!
This looks like it was a great event. I have been saving up for my Son’s college since he was three. It is so important to be prepared.
I am saving for college with a 529 plan and I am hoping I will have enough. You are providing great advice and the event looked great.
How adorable- I had a small amount of savings when I went into college but had to rely a lot on grants and scholarships. It’s definitely something that needs to be addressed from an early age!
This looks like it was a fun event. I bet my kids would have loved it too!
It is so important to save up for college for your kids. I think this is a great program to help get kids started on the road to higher education. There is nothing like a good head start on a good education.
College savings is so important. Any way that you can save the funds is a great idea!
I love that not only are you saving for their college education, but that it is tax-free for qualified withdrawals. It’s like saving twice!
Starting to build up those savings early will help a lot. It’s great that it’s so easy to open up these accounts!
I think this is great. Saving up for college is really important. I think everyone should save up whenever they can.
This is great information. Thanks so much.
Yes! We’ve made the same decision. 529 plans are where it’s at!
This article was a great reminder to start or continue a 529 savings plan. College expenses come upon us before we know it and it is important to be prepared.
This is awesome! Such a fun event for kids with great things to learn!
This is some great information and of course a great event by Mom Trends! I will have to look into these plans for my children.