What other options are you looking at to save for college?

HAH – There you go!

The baby doesn’t have to be a genius. It can earn income being a baby model for your business. :)

http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/drt/archive/2008/dt080130.html

“..it’s worth emphasizing that in order to open a Roth the critical factor is earnings: A child can have a Roth IRA as long as he or she has earned income from a job. Birthday gifts from grandparents or interest on a savings account don’t count, nor does an allowance for doing general household chores. A W-2 form is the most straightforward proof of earned income. But earnings from a job such as mowing lawns or baby-sitting qualify, too.”

So, short answer: Yes, but only if they make money. For babies though? NO. Unless they’re geniuses ;)

Another con of 529 is that many are operated by the states and with states going in debt, I expect fees to rise. I want more control of investments, so I stick with ESA—sadly Vanguard has stopped their ESA program, but I got in under the wire.

@The Financial Blogger – Good point ;) Only the *best* survives sometimes! If my kid doesn’t become a soccer pro, I hope at least he can kick for the Redskins, haha… Or even be a bench warmer for that matter – it would be amazing ot play in the NFL for a living!
@Lance @ Money Life and More – See above :)
@jp – Yeah, that “financial aid” part is still foreign to me – not sure what’s true or not there as everyone says something differently… I do like the idea of having a separate account ste up though which you have 100% full acess to. Just not sure if the loss of tax benefits make it worth it *that* much or not?
@Brian – A 20% tax credit??? Nice!! That would surely help me to decide quicker, haha… good call :)
@Stephanie – All good things to think about for sure :) I still worked my ass off in high school and Summers too, even though my ride was fully taken care of, but I can see how others may not fully understand the amazing college gift like that. It also helps when your parents don’t give you any money whatsoever outside of their financial aid, so if you want to do ANYTHING fun or extra at all, it’s all on you. Which is probably what we’ll end up doing too.
@Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies – Ouch! I didn’t really think about the investments going down majorly like that, that’s a great point too – thx!
@IV – Yes! Very good to think about too, thank you! I did forget about that :)
@Em – Wow really? You don’t think you got *anything* out of college? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before… I hear people say they don’t thin they missed anything by not going, but not from someone who’s gone. That makes me sad :(
@Frank Salvato – Wowwww… yeah, I did forget about that – thx!
@Ed – Huh… very good to hear – I like that so many people are against them actually, I need this! :)
@Kandace – “It is nice for grandparents to give some money for holidays/birthdays instead of unneeded toys. ” YES! I like that a lot!! :)
@Joe @ Retire By 40 – I did know that actually, and like it a lot :) Especially if we have multiple kids because we can spread it around to all of them!
@Edward Antrobus – Hah! I haven’t bowled in forever. I miss it actually.
@Mark – GREAT POINT! I always forget you can usually invest in safer alternatives than stocks/funds/etc. Just like with Roths and 401ks and other retirement-like vehicles :)
@Babs – Love that!! And welcome back to the site – I’ve missed your parental guidance :) Thank you so much for sharing this with everyone!
@LB – I’d actually never considered Roth IRAs in my kids name before (if that’s what you mean?) so that’s def. a route to look into… gonna add it to my list for when I call up USAA – thanks!
@DC @ Young Adult Money – I’m hoping the bubble breaks at some point, but I’m not counting on it ;)
@Kevin @ Thousandaire.com – HAH! Someone who’s not a fan of college that much, I see ;)
@Chris – Good for you!! Starting out right, I like that. Thanks for sharing today :)
@Angella – Another idea is invsting in CDS or other safer alternatives too that don’t take out much management fees (if any) – something I had also forgotten about until a commenter here mentioned it :) 529s don’t always have to be about stocks/funds.
@MB @ 12 Year Career – Oh, so YOUR Roth IRAs then? Not one for the kids? I’m gonna look into maybe doing that too if possible… we already max out our own Roths so that wouldn’t help us much for our kids, but having one in their names may be a great alternative.
@Jacob @ iheartbudgets – I’m still not sold all the way in that it restricts scholarships/etc. I know plenty of people who got scholarships and have wealthy parents, but I’m sure it plays *some* type of role… guess I just need to research more there.
@Jenna, Adaptu Community Manager – No, you xfer it to someone else in your family or just take it out and pay the penalties. Or that would be REAL messed up! :)
@SMB – I don’t personally know anything about that yet, but I’d be glad to hear what others say more.
@Chris – Thanks!
@Devan – Good information!! Thank you!! I’m a fan of Vanguard too :)
@Nicole C. – I had not actually until a reader emailed me saying he did something similar :) Haven’t looked into it myself yet, but it’s a good time to do so – so thanks for the info!
@Christa – Haha, yup! Let me know what you guys end up deciding too – I’m curious :)
@ckphoto – The prepaid stuff scares me the most! Haha… but for certain circumstances (like you guys) I can def. see the advantages. I’ll let you know what we end up deciding :)
@Jen2 – THANK YOU!!! I think that’s a great question for me to ask right away – would I get any other tax benefits from the state with our 529 if we open it? I have a list of like 10 questions for them when I call, haha… and you guys have filled up 5 of them for me! Thanks! :)