Wisconsin Beth
Distinguished Associate
No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run.
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 11:59:36 GMT -5
Posts: 30,626 
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Dec 30, 2010 12:22:11 GMT -5
Quick question here - if you have 2 or more kids, do you set up a separate account for college for each of them or just 1 account/fund?
DD is 2.5+ and DS is 14 months. I really want to set up college account/funds for them with monthly deposits. Does it make more send to do 2 accounts or just 1? Can you do 2 names on 1 account?
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thyme4change
Community Leader
Joined: Dec 26, 2010 13:54:08 GMT -5
Posts: 40,884
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Post by thyme4change on Dec 30, 2010 12:26:46 GMT -5
I have the same question. Originally my thought was that I would just name one kid, because apparantly it is very easy to move the money from one beneficiary to another. I'm sure if the unnamed child ever found out there would be some bellyaching about how I loved one child more because I set up a fund in their name, blah, blah, blah. To which the appropriate answer is always "Yup. I definately love them more - they whine less."
(My kids are going to need counseling.)
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Wisconsin Beth
Distinguished Associate
No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run.
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 11:59:36 GMT -5
Posts: 30,626
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Dec 30, 2010 12:43:11 GMT -5
I have the same question. Originally my thought was that I would just name one kid, because apparantly it is very easy to move the money from one beneficiary to another. I'm sure if the unnamed child ever found out there would be some bellyaching about how I loved one child more because I set up a fund in their name, blah, blah, blah. To which the appropriate answer is always "Yup. I definately love them more - they whine less." Mine will probably need counseling too. Normal is what we're used to. (My kids are going to need counseling.) |
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Post by moneywhisperer on Dec 30, 2010 21:19:20 GMT -5
2 separate accounts because you will name separate beneficiaries for each account.
With my state plan it was easy to move money between them.
If you have enough dough to fund a 529, then you have enough to do it correctly and fund the accounts for the intended beneficiary.
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Post by coloradoea on Dec 31, 2010 21:13:23 GMT -5
depending on your available funds and the accouynt you want to use there may be ninimums involved. In which case you might consider setting up an account for the older child one year and the younger child the next and alternate contributions. We just opened a Scholars Choice account with $500 for our infant grandson. It wasn't hard, we just told our financial advisors that we wanted to do it and they sent us the forms to sign. All we had to do was add his name, SSN, birthdate and address and write the check.
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motherto2
Well-Known Member
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 15:42:27 GMT -5
Posts: 1,719
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Post by motherto2 on Dec 31, 2010 23:28:25 GMT -5
I would definitely set up 2 accts. If something happened to you and spouse before the kids are ald enough to use them, they might not get disbursed the way you had planned. I tried to get my ex to sign up for one at least when they were younger, but he wouldn't see it at all. DD (oldest) at the time was really struggling with learning disabilities, so weren't sure about her future at all. Then if she didn't use it, it could be passed onto DS. And then we would also do some stocks. Hopefully to somewhat cover one or both. Ended up doing just the stocks, and our crappy financial group didn't do much with the money. i think we came out slightly ahead than if we had just stuck the monthly payments into a savings account
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