Money Matters
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
College savings question
If you ladies are contributing to a college savings account for your kid(s), what type of account are you using? I went to my bank today to get some specifics and find out what options they offer and it's pretty much just a 529- which she said can have some major fees to withdraw the money if your kid doesn't go to college.
So what is everybody using? Is the risk of the fees on a 529 worth the benefits of the account?
Thanks!
Re: College savings question
529s do have to be used for education, but they can be transferable between people. So if one child does not attend college, you can still use the money for another child who does. Or, an adult can use the funds for going back to school. Also, you have to check, but many trade schools can be paid for with 529s also.
The big benefit to 529s is that the contributions are tax deductible in the year they are made.
General savings accounts or CDs outside of the 529 umbrella do not have this benefit.
The thing with this is that I believe they are not tax deductible on a federal level - only by the state and only in some states. Also, you can get 529s through states other than your home state, but then they are usually not tax deductible. This is often a good option because some states' plans are MUCH better than others, in terms of fees.
We've done quite a bit of research into this and have found NV and UT to some of the best in the country. We live in MA, but will still use an out-of-state one, even though it will not be tax-deductible, because it will still be worth it.
Also, even if they are not tax-deductible, the earnings are not taxed.
I hope nobody else reads this, as I believe this is some of the worst advice ever. Whole life insurance is one of the worst ways to 'save' money in the world- example. My husband's parents took one out 38 years ago on him, his cash value when we cashed it in last week- 7k. Yeah, so not going to pay for college that way!