529 Savings Plans vs. Prepaid Tuition Plans

Section 529 plans are popular education savings vehicles. To choose the type of 529 plan that’s right for you, it’s important to understand how 529 savings plans and 529 prepaid tuition plans work and the differences between them.

529 Lesson Plan: High Scores for 529 Plans

Looking for a tax-advantaged college savings vehicle that has no age restrictions and no income phaseout limits — and one you can use to pay for more than just tuition? Consider 529 savings plans, a popular way to save for higher-education expenses. Named after the section of the tax code that authorized them, 529 plans (also known as qualified tuition plans) are now offered in almost every state. You may find that 529 plans make saving for college easier than before.

Education Tax Credits

It’s tax time, and your kitchen table is littered with papers and forms. As if this isn’t bad enough, you recently paid your child’s college semester bill, and you don’t know where you’ll find the money to pay the taxes that you expect to owe. Well, you might finally catch a break. Now that your child is in college, you might qualify for one of two education tax credits — the American Opportunity credit and the Lifetime Learning credit. And because a tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction against taxes owed, it’s more favorable than a tax deduction, which simply reduces the total income on which your tax is based.

Estate Planning and 529 Plans

When you contribute to a 529 plan, you’ll not only help your child, grandchild, or other loved one pay for school, but you’ll also remove money from your taxable estate. This will help you minimize your tax liability and preserve more of your estate for your loved ones after you die. So, if you’re thinking about contributing money to a 529 plan, it pays to understand the gift and estate tax rules.

529 Plans: The Ins and Outs of Contributions and Withdrawals

529 plans can be powerful college savings tools, but you need to understand how your plan works before you can take full advantage of it. Among other things, this means becoming familiar with the finer points of contributions and withdrawals.

The Sandwich Generation: Juggling Family Responsibilities

At a time when your career is reaching a peak and you are looking ahead to your own retirement, you may find yourself in the position of having to help your children with college expenses while at the same time looking after the needs of your aging parents. Squeezed in the middle, you’ve joined the ranks of the “sandwich generation.”

Time Can Be a Strong Ally in Saving for Retirement

Father Time doesn’t always have a good reputation, particularly when it comes to birthdays. But when it comes to saving for retirement, time might be one of your strongest allies. Why? When time teams up with the growth potential of compounding, the results can be powerful.

Converting Your After-Tax 401(k) Dollars to a Roth IRA

Here’s the dilemma: You have a traditional 401(k) that contains both after-tax and pre-tax dollars. You’d like to receive a distribution from the plan and convert only the after-tax dollars to a Roth IRA. By rolling over/converting only the after-tax dollars to a Roth IRA, you hope to avoid paying any income tax on the conversion.

Saving for Retirement and a Child’s Education at the Same Time

You want to retire comfortably when the time comes. You also want to help your child go to college. So how do you juggle the two?

Choosing a Beneficiary for Your IRA or 401(k)

Selecting beneficiaries for retirement benefits is different from choosing beneficiaries for other assets such as life insurance. With retirement benefits, you need to know the impact of income tax and estate tax laws in order to select the right beneficiaries.