Number of Families Investing in 529 Plans Reaches Record High

Forty-one percent of families have a 529 plan.

Seventy-two percent of American families are saving for their children’s higher education, a 24% increase from 58% in 2007, when Fidelity Investments’ College Savings Indicator Study was first published. 

Also encouraging, 41% of families are invested in a 529 college savings plan, a 62% increase from the 26% measured in 2007.

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The median amount saved for college this year is still a modest $3,000, but this is double the figure from 2007. Among 529 plan owners, 45% have increased their contribution rate in the past 12 months. However, 49% are not sure they will reach their college savings goal, and only 29% are actually on track to achieve that goal. Half of parents of children in 10th grade or higher say that looking back over the past 10 years, they could have saved an average of $200 more each month for their child’s college education.

Forty-one percent of parents are working with a financial professional, up from 21% in 2007. Although 70% of parents think that family contributions will be helpful for saving for college, only 28% of grandparents have asked how they can help pay for their grandchildren’s college education, and only 39% of parents have asked family and friends to contribute to their college savings account in lieu of special occasion gifts.

“For many families, finding an extra $50 or $100 per month may seem out of reach, but these extra dollars could potentially boost college savings by nearly $20,000 or even $40,000,” says Keith Bernhardt, vice president of college planning at Fidelity. “This potential could be a powerful motivator to consider strategies to carve out additional savings.”

House Republicans Propose Tax and Retirement Policy Changes

A Neuberger Berman analysis shows that House Republicans’ tax and retirement policy proposals may suggest a push toward a universal savings account and a consolidation of current tax code retirement savings provisions.

An analysis of House Republicans’ tax and retirement policy proposals by Neuberger Berman indicates fundamental tax reform is unlikely, but portends smaller changes.

Fundamental tax reform is “politically unlikely” and would largely depend on one party controlling the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the presidency, says Neuberger Berman.

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However, the firm says corporate tax reform is more likely considering “bipartisan agreement that something should be down about it.”

Republicans in the House of Representatives led by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), propose that the Committee on Ways and Means create more general savings vehicles and “consolidate and reform different retirement savings provisions …to provide effective and efficient incentives for savings and investment.”

One such vehicle, Neuberger Berman points out, may be a Universal Savings Account in which account holders could contribute cash and withdrawal contributions as well as earnings at any time without penalty, while having full control of their investments.

The House Republicans’ proposal on “Poverty, Opportunity, and Upward Mobility” includes a section on “Building Retirement Security through the Private Retirement System.” This section advocates for open Multiple Employer Plans(MEP)s to make it easier for companies to band together and offer 401(k)s, something which has wide support.  According to Neuberger Berman, “small ball” proposals, such as MEPs may also be possible granted the administration of whichever party wins in November would support them or “at least be prepared to accept them.”

House Republicans’ proposals to lower individual-level taxes on investments income would make 401(k)s marginally less attractive, the paper says. However, it also points that House Republicans’ proposal to lower the corporate tax would “increase returns for all savers, regardless if they are saving inside a plan or outside a plan.”

The proposal also calls for the protection of access to affordable retirement advice. The firm says this proposal appears to be advocating “rejection” or Congressional repeal of the Department of Labor (DOL)’s recent Conflict of Interest, or fiduciary, rule.

NEXT: The PBGC

House Republicans are also urging Congress to avoid a tax-payer bailout of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) arguing that the organization is facing “huge deficits” and that the “PBGC’s financial crisis poses a grave risk to taxpayers and undermines the retirement security of all workers and retirees enrolled in defined benefit plans.”

In recent years, Congress has increased the PBGC premiums several times in order to offset increased deficits; most recently increasing premiums through 2025 by $7.65 billion in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.

The House GOP is urging Congress to “set premium levels that reflect PBGC’s financial needs, protecting retirees and finally ending the threat of a taxpayer bailout.”

However, the firm notes that the proposal “does not draw a clear distinction between the financial condition of the single-employer and multiemployer PBGC programs.” Neuberger Berman says it’s not clear whether House Republicans are willing to raise single-employer premiums despite widespread criticism, or if they are considering using the single-employer fund to bail out the multiemployer fund.

NEXT: Consumption Tax

Moreover, the firm says the House Republicans’ proposals “broadly endorse a consumption tax concept,” in which consumption is defined as income minus savings and investments.

In broad terms, the proposals aim to lower the corporate tax to 20% based on location of consumption rather than location of production. Generally in this scenario, business imports would be taxed because they would be “consumed” in the U.S., while business exports would not be taxed because they would be consumed outside the country.

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