New dad here... Grandparent's gave some money for a 529 account. Do I open a Texas Tuition Promise Fund or a Texas College Savings Plan?
This.AgOutsideAustin said:
New Dad I would figure 150K for four years at tamu.
I was going to do this, but then he joined the Aggie Band!Mtn_Guide said:
Yes, it takes some money to make work but you make the down payment on a house or condo, usually under an LLC. The 529 lets you pay the rent (mortgage) and bills up to a specified amount. That amount is set by what the University says is the average cost of off-campus housing.
A&M is somewhere around ~5-6K if I remember correctly. So if done right you can make a big chunk of the 529 back. Especially if you have two kids that go to school in the same town.
I briefly dated a girl who did something similar and they bought a duplex off of Wellborne. They had two kids, 3 years apart. So paid the mortgage for 7 years off of the savings account and rented out the other half. By the time she graduated they had the place just about paid off and were going to keep renting one half and keep the other half for game weekends.
So, where do you find these no transaction fee and no maintenance expense life insurance or trust products? Sounds like you prefer paying retail + other expense loads. But, those guaranteed 20%+ returns must be nice.Strategy said:
I wouldn't do a 529 at all. Return rate way too low.
Alternative investments with an IRR of 20%+ would absolutely crush anything a 529 could do.
I put all my longer term investments in life insurance products that have ZERO correlation to the S&P or oil and gas.
Then roll the capital gains into a tax deferred trust for a ZERO capital gains tax.
You are ALWAYS paying retail when you sign up for traditional investments through a broker.
Danger, Will Robinson!Strategy said:
I wouldn't do a 529 at all. Return rate way too low.
Alternative investments with an IRR of 20%+ would absolutely crush anything a 529 could do.
I put all my longer term investments in life insurance products that have ZERO correlation to the S&P or oil and gas.
Then roll the capital gains into a tax deferred trust for a ZERO capital gains tax.
You are ALWAYS paying retail when you sign up for traditional investments through a broker.
Strategy said:
I wouldn't do a 529 at all. Return rate way too low.
Alternative investments with an IRR of 20%+ would absolutely crush anything a 529 could do.
I put all my longer term investments in life insurance products that have ZERO correlation to the S&P or oil and gas.
Then roll the capital gains into a tax deferred trust for a ZERO capital gains tax.
You are ALWAYS paying retail when you sign up for traditional investments through a broker.
A&M or somewhere else? Things that can be done will differ depending on school most likely.Aust Ag said:
Anybody have any thoughts on for the "Non 529" crowd? I've got twins starting this fall, and we were sort of banking on another "situation" that would help us pay, but that hasn't happened yet. So we're just basically going to use loans and our savings.
Aust Ag said:
we were sort of banking on another "situation" that would help us pay, but that hasn't happened yet.
Imo if we reach free college, I guarantee you the libs in charge aren't about to let you 'rich people' with 529s simply use the money for other purposes. I think There's a Better chance you get it confiscated to pay for other people's kids or counted toward your net worth and taxed at 60% to teach everyone a lesson on equality.Esteban du Plantier said:Aust Ag said:
we were sort of banking on another "situation" that would help us pay, but that hasn't happened yet.
Assuming you're talking about free college, but I could be way off. Maybe you're investing in the lotto.
But I have toddlers and really can't see any way, with current trajectory, that college isn't substantially 'free' in 15 years.
So if I end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars to be used specifically for education, do you think they'll wave penalties to use for other purposes? I'm assuming the kids aren't in private university. But even private schools would have to drop cost to compete.
No, but I also think we are about to see a fundamental change in the ways colleges are run. Thousands of kids in an online class mean much lower expenses per student. We'll see if that translates to lower costs.Esteban du Plantier said:
Ok, in your opinion, do we reach free college?
No way. They'll need to bloat their administrations with Vice President of Online Learning, etc.Mtn_Guide said:No, but I also think we are about to see a fundamental change in the ways colleges are run. Thousands of kids in an online class mean much lower expenses per student. We'll see if that translates to lower costs.Esteban du Plantier said:
Ok, in your opinion, do we reach free college?