529 plans, negative experiences? Alternatives?

[Taco]

Go to Clark Howard's web page, read the 529 plan guide, get yourself a Utah or Arizona plan... We have no income tax, so no need to worry about the potential for credits if you go in your own state plan.

I have no idea who Clark Howard is but I went to his site and checked the 509 page https://clark.com/education/clarks-529-plan-guide/
The first of the plans he considers best of breed is the Fidelity Arizona 509 https://www.fidelity.com/529-plans/arizona
Their financial report can be found here https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060 ... Report.pdf

I know nobody ever reads those but I do. A quick look reveals a return of 3.1% for 2019 and an average return of 3.09% for the past 5 years.

First- Who is Clark, he does a syndicated radio show. But before you grown too much, he doesn't do indorcements and he has nothing to sell. He started and owned a travel agency he sold for a bazillion dollars in the 80s and retired... He is a bored millionaire who decided to learn and share what he knows. He's not perfect, but is the best financial radio guy I know. He's a bit less financially conservative than Suze Orman (8 month cash emergency fund), and he's nothing like the nonsensical David Ramsy (live in your car, cut up your credit cards, carry a Bible, and buy my system).

Now to the heart of the matter... For someone who claims to be comfortable with a prospectus, you didn't read it very well. Much like a target retirement fund the range of investments starts out less conservative in the accumulation phase and becomes more conservative as you age and the target comes closer. So yes, when you are in college, your funds should be relatively safe and stable, yielding a tiny return. The up side is when a pandemic hits you didn't take a 50% haircut and have to sell into a down market.

[dammitgriff]

have any of you funded a 529 plan and either regretted it in favor of an alternative vessel? What other way in hind sight would have been just as good or more flexible?

Buy gold and stack it deep. Dollar-denominated financial instruments are for suckers.

[ABOC]

Now to the heart of the matter... For someone who claims to be comfortable with a prospectus, you didn't read it very well. Much like a target retirement fund the range of investments starts out less conservative in the accumulation phase and becomes more conservative as you age and the target comes closer. So yes, when you are in college, your funds should be relatively safe and stable, yielding a tiny return. The up side is when a pandemic hits you didn't take a 50% haircut and have to sell into a down market.

That performance I quoted to is actually in the middle of the pack and quite representative of the average performance of the mix. There is a plethora of other supports with the vast majority of them yielding a paltry 2% to 4% [one outlier did 5%, another posted a negative 4% return]. There is more variation for the 5 year averages depending on the target date.

What I find the most shocking is that when looking at the graph that accompanies all of these investments, every single one of them still fluctuates and correlates up and down with the market, even the safest ones. How exactly is it possible to have so much risk when CDs opened early 2019 before the Fed started cutting rates yielded about 3.5% with no risk? This just blows my mind.

Regardless, the only high performance fund in the whole mix is less than 5 years old (so no 5 year history) and basically replicates the performance of the S&P 500 which has been lagging both the Dow and the Nasdaq for quite some time now. So if you go all in that is the absolute best you can hope for return wise. Not great when you know that the S&P went up 24% in 2019 while the Nasdaq did 38% (the Dow did 30%). I won't even go into specialized investments that can yield even greater potential returns like the one posted above by dammitgriff.

But hey, in the end it's your money, use it whichever way you like.
For me that is just way too much risk for way too little return

[Taco]

have any of you funded a 529 plan and either regretted it in favor of an alternative vessel? What other way in hind sight would have been just as good or more flexible?

Buy gold and stack it deep. Dollar-denominated financial instruments are for suckers.

No growth between 1975-2000 and cut in half between 2008 and 2016... Not exactly El Dorado...

[dammitgriff]

The price of gold inversely reflects the purchasing power of the USD.
Inflation eats away the purchasing power of the dollar. The Federal Reserve just pumped 7 trillion dollars’ worth of inflation into the financial markets, guaranteeing price increases. On everything. The Federal Reserve has reported to Congress that our economy can handle up to 80 trillion dollars in debt purchases added onto their balance sheet. They are either incompetent or evil—a “here’s your sign” moment. Time to choose which.
Many Americans will be singing the ‘All My Dollars Are Worthless’ blues in the very near future. So what if your 401K or 529 doubles in value, when the purchasing power of those gains is cut in half?
Don’t be a sucker for Uncle Sam...convert those worthless bucks while you still can and buy some real money: gold and silver. Preserving wealth for over 5,000 years and counting.
R/Griff
ETA: Mining stocks are another option if you’re looking to go long on growth.

[dammitgriff]

have any of you funded a 529 plan and either regretted it in favor of an alternative vessel? What other way in hind sight would have been just as good or more flexible?

Buy gold and stack it deep. Dollar-denominated financial instruments are for suckers.

No growth between 1975-2000 and cut in half between 2008 and 2016... Not exactly El Dorado...

Remember the market crashes of 1987 and 1999? Those were asset bubbles that the fed helped inflate, wiping out the wealth of many investors. Investors who, upon reflection, regrettably had no or too little physical gold in their portfolios.
Gold peaked at $1900/ounce in 2011...care to guess why? Those highs WILL be surpassed, with prejudice, soon.
Gold is the ultimate safe-haven asset. There is ZERO counter-party risk with physical gold held in your own possession.
R/Griff

[pharmer]

I did a 4 year Florida Prepaid with a single bonus check I got for selling the crap out of Protonix when it launched in 2001. My son didn't go so my wife's boy got a full ride at UCF, free to him. It was a much better deal than getting the original $6,400 back (note: refund is just what you put in to start). Joe