Friday, November 5, 2010

The Misguided Promise of 529 Plans...

by Robert Huebscher

Paying for college is one of the most important responsibilities parents have to their children. When Congress passed legislation creating 529 savings plans in 1996, it took an important step toward making that task easier.

It hasn’t worked out that way, though. Along with the overall market, 529 plans – specifically, the funds in which they were invested – suffered disastrous returns in 2008, leaving many families with insufficient funds to pay their tuition costs.

The real problem, though, is not with the past performance of 529s.

A misguided promise
underlies the vast majority of 529 plans – that their heavy allocation to equities will provide acceptable risk-adjusted returns for the time horizons over which most parents invest.

Read more here....


The Misguided Promise of 529 Plans

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