Related Posts
Is VWINX a good fund to buy ?
Anyone else into Bank Bonus churning?
Finally, eligible to buy T$LA 😁
Conversation Starter
More Posts
Any Boston AE/SAE jobs available?
Hi fishes,
I am planning a switch so was going through some salary data for a software engineer. My ex-senior manager recommended me a website: Growceed.com which helped me a lot in getting clarification about a lot of things but I am in doubt whether the average salaries of software engineer mentioned on Growceed.com really that much in top MNC companies.
Off Topic : 1) When Does a software engineer start financial planning for retirement since the our Career span is only 15-20 years on average.
2) How much and which schemes to invest to mitigate the risk?
3) How much do we need for retirement? Tata Consultancy Infosys Mindtree IBM Wipro Capgemini Cognizant HCL Technologies
Rising Star
New to Fishbowl?
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Consider starting a whole life insurance policy on them. (Not term life insurance). It'll be cheap while they are young and once fully funded the cash value can be withdrawn to pay for things like college living expenses for example.
You can pull out scholarship dollars with no penalty so don’t let that scare you off.
I went with Brightstart Illinois because of the state tax deduction and have been very happy with the returns the last seven years
You have limits on 401k withdrawals for education expenses that don’t exist with a 529.
529 is post tax dollars so when used for college you get to use all of the money for school and no tax obligations.
Did NY as I’ve got that state income to deduct. Went with an aggressive fund...
Did PA for same reason as P1. Also invested in an aggressive growth fund
Was looking at Vanguard, as the MN plan ranks near the bottom in terms of performance. Haven't pulled the trigger yet.
Agree with the scholarship point - you never know if they'll need it but there's another benefit to it as well: you can change beneficiary at any time, including yourself. And some schools, especially top 20, offer alumnni tours that count as classes (I.e. Already getting the emails from mine, week of wine tasting in France, etc...). So if we end up not needing the money for tuition, we'll just end up using money with tax free gains on what is essentially a nice vacation...
The plans are flexible these days. If scholarship is awarded you can transfer to another beneficiary or withdraw the money. You have to pay taxes on the gains but there is no penalty
My FA tells me not to put anything in a 529 until you're ready to use it. A 529 ties you down into very specific uses... And you can put as much as you want into it at any time (I.e. Right before you use it) . Use another method for savings (remember, 401k can be used for education). Your kids may end up on scholarship, not go to school, etc... And your options may be limited if tied up in 529
Interesting.. that's a good point. My parents had set aside some cash for my son, and I was going to throw it in a 529, as it hasn't been doing anything in the account they have it in.. but that's definitely food for thought; thank you!
What's the benefit of 529 over 401k?
529 is for education. 401k is for retirement
I understand what the uses are. But you can use money from a 401k for education. Are there benefits to the 529 from an investment standpoint over 401k?
We do NY. You can also use for K-12 tuition if you desire.