Buying gifts for kids is fun and easy — who doesn't love sorting through all of the cool toys and adorable books geared toward lil ones? If there's a child in your life who will be getting gifts from you often, like a niece or nephew, you may consider giving a gift that takes into account the child's future.
State-sponsored 529 plans are a great way to save for college because they are tax-deferred accounts, and only the interest earned in the account is taxed once the funds are withdrawn and put toward educational expenses. Traditionally, gifting contributions to an account that doesn't belong to your own child have been paperwork ridden and a hassle.
Freshman Fund has developed a system that allows contributions to be made online — no paperwork required — and lets account owners (usually parents) invite others to contribute to a 529 plan. After you've completed your information online, you simply mail in a check to complete your gift.
What do you think of giving college fund contributions as gifts?
i learned about upromise in Florida when i saw that they had it and i'm really open to things like that. if you can unintentionally contribute to a college fund then that's one of the best things since we all know that the cost of tuition is just going to rise at an insane rate over the next few years. i have this fear that my kids are going to want to go to school and it'll be close to $100k for a year of room and board along w/ tuition and expenses.
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