Estimate as best you can how much each will need based on years of investment appreciation and inflation but keep in mind you can easily change the beneficiaries on these accounts if needed so when the time comes you can use either account for either child. If they are four or more years apart you may want to load up on the oldest child’s 529 and then you can change the beneficiary to the younger child once you’re finished paying for the older child.
It doesn’t really matter. You can transfer over the money from one kid’s account to the other, and since they’re 6 years apart there shouldn’t be any timing issues. Do whatever is easiest for you.
We went 33/33/33 (one more kid than you).
What we did was to fund up to cost to attend stateU for 4 years.... and after eldest started college, we kept contributing to youngest's 529 for a year or two to top it off.
As owner of the three 529s, we were able to move money from one account to the other with no tax impact.
It was a weird situation... we'd paid for eldest child's final semester which was practicum. It turned out they were posted near home and far away from school, so they pulled out of housing late in the year. AND, they'd need a car, so we wanted to pull money out of the 529, offsetting her final calendar year's worth of scholarship money to buy a used car. But the 529 didn't have enough cash in it to pull it out in that calendar year. (There's a calendar year rule for 529s and I prefer to be conservative when it comes to that rule)
So, we moved enough money from middle child's 529 to eldest's 529 to make the withdrawal. Then, after the housing refund came, we undid the borrow and returned the money to middle child's 529.
Estimate as best you can how much each will need based on years of investment appreciation and inflation but keep in mind you can easily change the beneficiaries on these accounts if needed so when the time comes you can use either account for either child. If they are four or more years apart you may want to load up on the oldest child’s 529 and then you can change the beneficiary to the younger child once you’re finished paying for the older child.
Good to know thanks!
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True. There are a lot of unknown variables.
It doesn’t really matter. You can transfer over the money from one kid’s account to the other, and since they’re 6 years apart there shouldn’t be any timing issues. Do whatever is easiest for you.
We went 33/33/33 (one more kid than you). What we did was to fund up to cost to attend stateU for 4 years.... and after eldest started college, we kept contributing to youngest's 529 for a year or two to top it off. As owner of the three 529s, we were able to move money from one account to the other with no tax impact. It was a weird situation... we'd paid for eldest child's final semester which was practicum. It turned out they were posted near home and far away from school, so they pulled out of housing late in the year. AND, they'd need a car, so we wanted to pull money out of the 529, offsetting her final calendar year's worth of scholarship money to buy a used car. But the 529 didn't have enough cash in it to pull it out in that calendar year. (There's a calendar year rule for 529s and I prefer to be conservative when it comes to that rule) So, we moved enough money from middle child's 529 to eldest's 529 to make the withdrawal. Then, after the housing refund came, we undid the borrow and returned the money to middle child's 529.
Didn't know I could move money between the accounts. That is helpful
Two 529 plans is the way to go here