Question for those with 529's.

[Deleted]

You can transfer the money to another individual and/or use it yourself. You can also use it for another sibling. Chances are at least one of our kids will go to college.

This is why we aren't putting massive amounts of money in ours, though. We have other savings vehicles that do not tie into education.

[Deleted]

This may sound bad, but there is no way DD isn't going to college.

[Deleted]

If DD does not go to college, we plan on leaving her as the beneficiary. Who knows, she may decide later to go to college. If not, we can always change it to the grand kids (if we'll have any, lol). No grand kids? I'm sure we'll find a family member that will need it.

ETA: OR, we'll use it on awesome vacations. I won't mind paying tax on the gains.

[Deleted]

We started one a long time ago and decided if we didn't have kids or had kids that couldn't use it we could go back to school ourselves. DH and I both want phds. We would probably stop contributing once we decided college wasn't on the agenda. You can get the contributions back so it's not like you lose the money.

[6fsn]

We won't have their college 100% funded through a 529. I guess I figure worst case we'll take the penalty.

[dragonfly08]

Yep, you can transfer it to someone else. Or, worst case scenario, it's not completely "use it or lose it"...you can get the money back. You'll just have to pay interest plus a 10% penalty on investment earnings. Better than losing it entirely if nobody ends up needing it. That penalty is waived in certain instances (the child becomes disabled or dies, or wins a scholarship, so you can withdraw an amount equal to the scholarship with only the taxes and no additional penalty due).

[karinothing]

You can use it for vocational like schools too right? Or no? I can't remember.

[discombobulated]

If for whatever reason we can't use it for our kids we will use it on ourselves or our nephews. I plan to save in and out of 529s.

[dochas]

From savingforcollege.com

Myth 1: If my child doesn't go to college, I lose all the money in my account.

Reality: A 529 plan has more flexibility than you might imagine, says Russell Dunkin, certified financial planner at McKinley Carter Wealth Services in Wheeling, W.V.

"First, 529 plans can be used for almost any post-high school education, like trade or technical schools -- even PGA golf professional schools. Don't get trapped into thinking it's only for the traditional undergraduate experience," he says.

"Furthermore, you can transfer the assets to a sibling or even yourself," Dunkin says. If you don't like either of those options, you can pull out the money with a nonqualified withdrawal, but you will have to pay taxes on the earnings as well as a 10 percent penalty.

[h]

I assume that all our kids will do some kind of post-high school education. We will strongly encourage four-year college (and I will be surprised if they don't go that route), but if that is not workable for some reason, I assume there will be some sort of trade or technical school instead. I think it is unlikely that they will have learning disabilities so severe that no form of post-high school education makes sense for them. Plenty of people with learning disabilities go to college--my SIL is dyslexic and has an undergrad degree from Duke and an Ivy League masters.

If, God forbid, death, a terrible accident of some sort, unforseen and severe learning disabilities, or something along those lines rendered one of our kids unable to pursue any sort of education, then we would make the money available to our other boys.

We do not, however, save all the money we anticipate spending on college in 529s, in part because we like the idea of some of the money being availale to us for retirement in the event that we wind up needing it, in part in case one of our kids ends up not going to college for some reason, in part because we don't want to save 4 years worth of expensive private college tuition in a 529 in case they end up going to a state school, getting scholarship money, etc. We save the non-529 college money in target funds with target dates around when our kids should be going to college.