PRISM: Prioritizing Your Goals

This would be a good time to make "nice" with the grandparents. In 2001 we were blessed with a first grandchild, we agreed to match our daughter's and husband's contributions to the state 529 program. Hint: thanks to AAII, Boomers got da bucks and all kinds of revenue streams -- retirement, SSI, and IRA withdrawals. All we asked was results. Together, we got both through college -- one summa, one magna. Does AAII have a one-page plan for finding husbands?

I've never been a fan of 529 plans. They do not fit with my simple investment goal of maximizing long-term accumulation of wealth. All of the 529 plans I've seen have too many restrictions that hamper long-term growth. By maintaining my focus on long-term growth, the amounts I've spent on my children's education have fallen within my regular annual expense budgets. EVERYTHING comes out of my annual expense budgets---vacations, gifts, medical, transportation, education, donations---EVERYTHING. By separating spending goals from investment goals, I'm free from worry about "sequence risk." 

Last month, I paid my youngest child's bill for her final semester of college, finishing the year with total spending below 72% of my absolute maximum (which is 4% of the previous year's total ending non-retirement liquid equity). That leaves a lot more budgetary room for FUN this year!

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Rob Adams
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I've never been a fan of 529 plans. They do not fit with my simple investment goal of maximizing long-term accumulation of wealth. All of the 529 plans I've seen have too many restrictions that hamper long-term growth. By maintaining my focus on long-term growth, the amounts I've spent on my children's education have fallen within my regular annual expense budgets. EVERYTHING comes out of my annual expense budgets---vacations, gifts, medical, transportation, education, donations---EVERYTHING. By separating spending goals from investment goals, I'm free from worry about "sequence risk." 

Last month, I paid my youngest child's bill for her final semester of college, finishing the year with total spending below 72% of my absolute maximum (which is 4% of the previous year's total ending non-retirement liquid equity). That leaves a lot more budgetary room for FUN this year!

------------------------------
Rob Adams
------------------------------

I've never been a fan of 529 plans. They do not fit with my simple investment goal of maximizing long-term accumulation of wealth. All of the 529 plans I've seen have too many restrictions that hamper long-term growth. By maintaining my focus on long-term growth, the amounts I've spent on my children's education have fallen within my regular annual expense budgets. EVERYTHING comes out of my annual expense budgets---vacations, gifts, medical, transportation, education, donations---EVERYTHING. By separating spending goals from investment goals, I'm free from worry about "sequence risk." 

Last month, I paid my youngest child's bill for her final semester of college, finishing the year with total spending below 72% of my absolute maximum (which is 4% of the previous year's total ending non-retirement liquid equity). That leaves a lot more budgetary room for FUN this year!

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Rob Adams
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without kids so haven't paid close attention to 529 plans. I wonder what restrictions Rob is referring to?  Limited choice of investments?

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Hugh POLING
amateur radio station KC7HP
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-30-2025 17:37
From: ROBERT ADAMS
Subject: College Costs Got You Sweating? Let's Talk About Your Investment Strategy!

I've never been a fan of 529 plans. They do not fit with my simple investment goal of maximizing long-term accumulation of wealth. All of the 529 plans I've seen have too many restrictions that hamper long-term growth. By maintaining my focus on long-term growth, the amounts I've spent on my children's education have fallen within my regular annual expense budgets. EVERYTHING comes out of my annual expense budgets---vacations, gifts, medical, transportation, education, donations---EVERYTHING. By separating spending goals from investment goals, I'm free from worry about "sequence risk." 

Last month, I paid my youngest child's bill for her final semester of college, finishing the year with total spending below 72% of my absolute maximum (which is 4% of the previous year's total ending non-retirement liquid equity). That leaves a lot more budgetary room for FUN this year!

------------------------------
Rob Adams

Hugh, yes, when I was considering a 529, limited investment choices was a big factor, along with the fact that the fees related to most of them were way too high. Also, there were too many unanswered questions. What if I wanted to change states? What if none of my children decided to go to college? What if they all went into the military (like my oldest son) and had the GI Bill to pay for their college? What would constitute "qualified education expenses" in the future, when and if my children decided to go to college?

I'm generally opposed to participating in plans with a lot of hoops to jump through and future unknowns to have to consider. I'm a fan of Roth accounts (401k and IRA) and Health Savings Accounts, because they are good deals. But 529s, not so much.

It's my understanding that 529s have improved a lot in the past decade or so, but unless they offered the same breadth of investment options as a Roth IRA, and unless I had a good crystal ball that would tell me what my children were going to want to do with their lives a decade or more in the future, I would still pass them by. 

I wanted to go into the Army after high school, but I faced enormous parental pressure to go to college instead--and I yielded to it. If I had my life to do over again, I would choose the other option, with college after a few years in uniform. Thus, based on my experience, I never wanted to push my children toward or away from college. I wanted them to decide for themselves what they wanted to do and how to get there, and I would simply help them in any way I could. I've done that (and am continuing to do it), and each of my children has grown up to be far more mature than I was at their ages. 

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Rob Adams
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-31-2025 10:58
From: Hugh POLING
Subject: College Costs Got You Sweating? Let's Talk About Your Investment Strategy!

without kids so haven't paid close attention to 529 plans. I wonder what restrictions Rob is referring to?  Limited choice of investments?

------------------------------
Hugh POLING
amateur radio station KC7HP


Original Message:
Sent: 01-30-2025 17:37
From: ROBERT ADAMS
Subject: College Costs Got You Sweating? Let's Talk About Your Investment Strategy!

I've never been a fan of 529 plans. They do not fit with my simple investment goal of maximizing long-term accumulation of wealth. All of the 529 plans I've seen have too many restrictions that hamper long-term growth. By maintaining my focus on long-term growth, the amounts I've spent on my children's education have fallen within my regular annual expense budgets. EVERYTHING comes out of my annual expense budgets---vacations, gifts, medical, transportation, education, donations---EVERYTHING. By separating spending goals from investment goals, I'm free from worry about "sequence risk." 

Last month, I paid my youngest child's bill for her final semester of college, finishing the year with total spending below 72% of my absolute maximum (which is 4% of the previous year's total ending non-retirement liquid equity). That leaves a lot more budgetary room for FUN this year!

------------------------------
Rob Adams