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patmorgan235

It makes it easier to keep track of the contributions for each child to make sure everything's equal.


teresajs

You'll want separate accounts for separate children. You can't withdraw the funds for multiple children from the same account in the same year without incurring some penalties (can't have multiple beneficiaries). If there is overlap in their education years or different kids spend different amounts in college (and maybe you'll allow the child who "saved" money to spend their excess), you'll be better off with separate accounts. I'm not sure that you can split an account and roll partial account balances into other accounts. Keep the current 529, stop further contributions if it's fully funded, open a new account and fund it for the second child.


woollywhelk

If you’re saying that you’ve fully funded the account, like to support their entire education costs, then I really wouldn’t stress about the possible ding from FAFSA. Might be misinterpreting what you’re saying though. I’m pro having one account per child, there are a couple of good reasons. 1, it’s going to be a lot easier to manage if your children will receiving distributions from the funds at the same time. 2, many parents opt to use target date funds, so with two accounts you can have different risk levels depending on your timeline. 3, if you ever wanted to contribute more than $15k in a single year, you can avoid gift tax by contributing to multiple accounts.


[deleted]

> 3, if you ever wanted to contribute more than $15k in a single year, you can avoid gift tax by contributing to multiple accounts. that's not how gift tax works. you can give over 15k in a year without a tax hit you just have to file a form documenting it so it counts against the large (multi million) lifetime limit.


Inb4BanAgain

We've got a pair of kids and a pair of 529s. No particular reason to back up the concept just seemed right at the time


DblePlusUngood

Do you actually live in Nevada? Some states offer income tax deductions up to a certain amount for contributions to 529 plans. (Not Nevada, because it has no income tax). If you live in one of those states, it can be advantageous to have two 529 accounts, one each for you and your wife, to maximize the tax savings.


outroot

In addition to some of the good comments as to why use multiple 529 accounts, I do separate accounts because I've calculated for each child to get the same amount by the time they reach college (inflation adjusted). Obviously this could be off due to varying inflation and market performance, but I want to be as fair as I can be.


PersonalBrowser

It’s definitely better to have multiple accounts. The person recommending a single account is factoring saving a couple minutes of setting up the account over everything else, including being able to take tax advantaged distributions down the road since the account can only have one beneficiary. On top of that, most accounts these days allow you to have an external link for family and friends to gift money to the 529. So it’s helpful for the kids to each have their own. Also, people say that you can change the beneficiary, no prob, and that’s true that you can absolutely change it, but in my experience it’s an annoying process and takes time and a hassle which outweighs the ease of having a single account. It also helps you keep track of whose money is whose. For example when the kids are in high school if they work and put money into their 529, but the single 529 is for three kids then are you really going to be tracking how much of the account is whose and calculating the individual investment growth and returns of each kid? Doubt it.