easier than you think: setting up a college savings account

Pretty much from the moment I found out I was pregnant, setting up a college savings account for our son has been on my mind.

And I don’t mean “on my mind” in a productive, I got this kind of way.

It was more “on my mind” as in: ohmygod there’s this thing I should be doing for him and I’m not doing it and I’m pretty sure I’m ruining our kid’s life by not doing it but I have zero time to figure out how to do it and so it’s never, ever, ever going to get done and he’s going to wind up flipping burgers and it’s all my fault…

…yeah.

See, I knew we wanted set up a place where we could contribute towards our son’s college education expenses.

I just had no idea how to do it.

College is expensive, and more so today than ever before. I hope to be able to pay our son’s tuition someday, but that means that Chad and I have to start saving now. (Ok, we probably should have started saving yesterday, but at least we’re doing it now!)

I know that saving money now to hand over to a university in eighteen years isn’t the most fun thing to think about. But, with saving, the earlier you do it, the better.

So this week, I created a college savings account for our son. I funded it with $1,000 to start and set up a monthly contribution of $100 a month. On months that we can do more, we’ll do more. It might not pay for everything, but it’s a start.

And, you know what? It was easy. Like, way easy. It took ten minutes and I did the whole thing online.

Nearly every state has some sort of “529 Plan” available for college savings. In general, these plans offer some tax benefits and are a pretty flexible, low maintenance way to set aside money for your child’s education.

And even better? Grandparents and other family members can contribute too. So think about getting this set up as the holidays are approaching!

If you’re in Texas, the one that I did is offered by the State of Texas here: https://www.texascollegesavings.com/ In other states, check out this link for your state’s options.

So, that’s my little parenting tidbit for the day. Most days, I have no idea what I’m doing, and I’m pretty much the last person who feels qualified to offer parenting advice.

But this one? It seemed overwhelming to me, until I did it. And it turned out, it was easy. And now I’m really glad I did. So I figured I’d pass it on.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!