choosing 529

[DMFA]

Fidelity's Massachusetts plan is mostly self-manageable with lower fees than Vanguard's Nevada plan. Idk why Morningstar rates the former bronze and latter gold.

[TheGipper]

Morningstar's 529 ratings (like their mutual fund ratings) are useless. Past performance data is useless. Average fee data is useless if it doesn't account for the fact that cheaper index fund options are available and active funds can be ignored.

MA Fidelity 529 is a great plan. In my opinion, the best. Only reason I may one day swap is if I need to transfer owner of the account (MA doesn't allow) or if I want a stable value fund option.

Only quibble with MA is that if you use the target date plans, they transition too quickly to a portion in safe money market funds for my taste. Sure it's not as fancy or customizable as UT, but do you really need those bells and whistles.

[ENT Doc]

I initially had similar targets, but my concern regarding education expenses alone is that $140K or so won't be enough.  If they get into a private school charging $50K+ in tuition alone (in today's dollars) that'll tear right through the savings.  I don't mind having my child take out some loans to take some personal responsibility for that decision, but if he wants to go to graduate school that's where the real pain begins.  As many of us know, someone in our line of work could easily rack up $250,000 of debt in the current environment from medical school.  Law schools and masters programs aren't much better on a per-year basis.  I dread what that will look like 5, 10 or 20 years from now - or for their children.  You can use the 529 money for grad school, and you can transfer the money to any relative up to a first cousin with no penalty.  Heck, I've even heard of people trying to buy an apartment to live in with the 529 money, calling it "room and board", only to later rent it out as an investment property.  As long as the fees are kept low it's really a great investment and money transfer vehicle.  Best of luck with your situation!

[EM_INDY]

Glad to see some of you are also using fidelitys plans. I didn't understand why I never saw them mentioned in the same breath as the other best plans out there. The New Hampshire fees for TSM and their International index fund are the same as for Massachusetts and seem competitive with anything else I've seen with ny/Utah/Nevada which always get mentioned. I do Indiana up to 5k (gets me 1,000 off my state taxes) and then anything after that planning to do in fidelity. Added bonus is I can divert our 2% rewards from our fidelity visa automatically into the 529s as well and split it up as many ways as you want for a little bit extra!