Which state's 529 is the best? Heard Nevada (Vanguard), NY and Utah are good, Any suggestions?
I am in Washington, so savings on state tax is not applicable
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What are you looking for? Lowest fees? Most investing options? Specific funds (eg you prefer Vanguard or Fildelity or DFA)? Best glide from stocks to bonds as your child is ready for college?
Each question has a different answer. What are your criteria for “best”?
CA 529 is the lowest fees, but it uses TIAA-CREF funds.
NV 529 is the lowest fee plan with Vanguard funds, but does not offer glide path funds (ie you’ll need to automatically rebalance). Also, it integrates with your Vanguard dashboard (if you have other Vanguard accounts as well, this is convenient).
NY 529 is another low cost Vanguard option. Haven’t looked at it much, but if you’re in NY then it gives you tax benefits, so it’s definitely the plan to select.
UT has both Vanguard and DFA funds, as well as plans with glide paths, but has higher fees.
There are the 4 plans that show up in most discussions. The more options they provide you, the higher the fees. So it’s up to you, if you’re a DIY person or if you want to automate it all.
Also, if you prefer to use Fidelity funds (instead of Vanguard funds), then good options are Arizona, Delaware, New Hampshire, Massachusetts. Haven’t looked at their offerings much, but they have similar fees.
You can also look at multiple reports, eg https://www.morningstar.com/articles/1006084/the-top-529-college-savings-plans-of-2020 but remember that they also rank the plans based on their criteria, which might be different than yours.
529s are specific to education related expenses and can be passed to some subset of allowed relatives without tax consequences (eg. children, grandchildren, some others).
Roth IRAs are intended for retirement and a few other allowed uses.
If you're planning to invest for someone's education in 5+ years, a 529 is great. If it's for your retirement or to pass on after you die, retirement accounts like IRAs are perfect. If you've maxed out everything and plan to use the money sometime before or during retirement, nothing wrong with taxable accounts.
It looks like others may have lower account fees, so it be worth checking out others if your invest elsewhere anyway or don't mind having a 529 at a different investment company from your other accounts.
https://money.usnews.com/529s/washington shows as being updated in 2019 but may be a good starting point to check out a few plans. Look for a combination of low fees and investment options that meet your needs.