I have 2 kids, a 4yo Girl and a 2yo (we will round up 3 weeks) Boy. As soon as I got their SSN's (which takes a surprising amount of time, weeks to months after you file the initial Birth Certificate) my kids were the proud owners of a bank account and a 529 plan (they also have an investment account... I like to keep the money they get as gifts in their cash/investment accounts).
So then I came up with the 529 Plan Plan -- how to, with our own money (avoiding any presumption of windfalls/etc) to fund their college education. My parents paid for mine and I want to pay it forward as much as feasible (we are already funding ~25% of our net into our retirement accounts(plus another 8-9% to taxable accounts), so we already are paying ourselves first). Not seen on here is that thanks to a trip to Afghanistan I was able to sign my Post-9/11 GI Bill to my kids, so each gets 2 years of 50% college costs + books + a housing stipend. And who knows what college is going to look like in 14 years, I cannot see the current trend continuing.... But at least I am making the effort to cover them. And since my state plan (Virginia) allows me to deduct contributions from my State taxes it at least reduces the burden on us.
The plan is simple, 100 dollars a month, increasing that amount by 10 dollars every birthday. One catch to the plan in that there a 130 dollar a month jump on their 5/6th birthday. That is the celebration of them not being in daycare anymore, it represents less than 10% of the monthly cost.... (side note, there is a plan for at least some of that money as well... while post-daycare the kids costs will seem light as feather, it is better to save and bank that money (50%) to cover things like camp, after-school, etc). I also programmed in conservative returns for the duration.
Below is a screenshot of my google sheets that contains the original plan, combined with the actual's (since I like seeing how the battle plan matches up with reality).
So then I came up with the 529 Plan Plan -- how to, with our own money (avoiding any presumption of windfalls/etc) to fund their college education. My parents paid for mine and I want to pay it forward as much as feasible (we are already funding ~25% of our net into our retirement accounts(plus another 8-9% to taxable accounts), so we already are paying ourselves first). Not seen on here is that thanks to a trip to Afghanistan I was able to sign my Post-9/11 GI Bill to my kids, so each gets 2 years of 50% college costs + books + a housing stipend. And who knows what college is going to look like in 14 years, I cannot see the current trend continuing.... But at least I am making the effort to cover them. And since my state plan (Virginia) allows me to deduct contributions from my State taxes it at least reduces the burden on us.
The plan is simple, 100 dollars a month, increasing that amount by 10 dollars every birthday. One catch to the plan in that there a 130 dollar a month jump on their 5/6th birthday. That is the celebration of them not being in daycare anymore, it represents less than 10% of the monthly cost.... (side note, there is a plan for at least some of that money as well... while post-daycare the kids costs will seem light as feather, it is better to save and bank that money (50%) to cover things like camp, after-school, etc). I also programmed in conservative returns for the duration.
Below is a screenshot of my google sheets that contains the original plan, combined with the actual's (since I like seeing how the battle plan matches up with reality).
