Saving With Benefits
A 529 plan is a college savings plan that offers tax and financial aid benefits which help everyday families save for education costs. The plan invests in mutual funds that grow in value over time, and if the funds are used for qualified education expenses, you don’t have to pay taxes on the investment gains. A 529 plan may also be used to save and invest for K-12 tuition. Much like a Roth IRA, contributions to a 529 plan are post-tax and are not deductible from federal income taxes. The 529 program was created in 1996 as part of the Small Business Job Protection Act. The numbers ‘529’ come from section 529 in the IRS tax code, which was created to incentivize taxpayers to save for college by allowing their earnings to accumulate tax-free.
Want To Learn More?
How 529 Employer Contributions Can Improve Retention and Recruiting
More than ever, the ability to attract and retain top talent is critical to the success of businesses of all sizes, making it vitally important that organizations offer competitive benefits.
List of Qualified 529 Expenses
One of the major friction points for parents when deciding to enroll in a 529 college savings plan is the potential consequences of not using
Filice: The Powerful Benefit You May Be Overlooking – College Savings & Loan Repayment
(Published by Filice.) At a time when talent is tough to attract and retain, HR managers are pulling out all the stops with benefits and perks. But if you’re not leveraging the lure of college savings and loan repayments, you’re missing a competitive edge.
Case Study: SavvyFi Scores Highest Employee Adoption Rate with Blue Earth Diagnostics
When a company offers any benefit to its employees, there’s a fast way to gauge whether the effort was a hit or a flop: adoption rates. Some benefits take off like rocketships, with employees racing to onboard; others languish on the sidelines. Blue Earth Diagnostics’ Human Resources Manager saw this surprising disparity in real time when the company introduced four new benefits at the same time and discovered that employees were overwhelmingly most interested in the college savings and student loan benefits of SavvyFi.
Yahoo! Finance: SavvyFi Announces Completion of $4.9M Series A Funding Round
(Published by Yahoo! Finance.) Amidst the uproar around the college debt crisis, SavvyFi is riding a wave of interest in college savings and student loan benefits from investors, benefit consultants, and corporations. The Nashville-based fintech solution for college savings and student loans brings accessibility and crowdfunding to employee benefits.
529 College Savings: The Cost Of Waiting
Student debt struggles in their own pasts are probably the main reason why parents are starting their college funds earlier than previous generations. Starting early is important, but just how important?
To answer this question, SavvyFi ran the numbers to show a hypothetical “cost of waiting” and the importance of funding a 529 college savings plan as soon as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
SavvyFi is a digital web application that allows you to save for a loved one’s education with a 529 plan and/or pay off current student loans. SavvyFi has direct integrations into a 529 plan and over 90% of student loan servicers, which allows your employer to offer this new benefit in a frictionless and paperless way on any device.
Many people want to save for college or pay off their student loans but don’t know where to start. With SavvyFi, all you need to do is provide some basic information about yourself and your future grad to open a 529 college savings account. Our unique features like gifting and cashback rewards help you look forward to a future without educational debt.
A 529 plan is an investment account that allows savings to grow tax-free if the funds are used for qualified expenses at eligible higher education institutions. This includes expenses such as tuition, room and board, and books. Tax-free growth means you get a boost on your investment earnings that wouldn't be available otherwise.
Eligible institutions include four-year universities, community colleges, trade schools, and private K-12 schools. Qualified expenses typically cover most costs associated with attending school. Learn more at: https://savvyfi.co/what-is-a-529/
Anyone! You can open an account for your child, grandchild, niece, nephew, and even the neighbor’s kid – as long as you have their social security number. If you’re looking for a head start on your savings, you can even open an account for yourself and transfer it to your child at a later date.
You simply shop online, make purchases in-store or book travel through SavvyFi’s cashback rewards program and earn up to 30% of your purchase in cashback to your 529 account.
The SavvyFi cashback program covers 10,000+ merchants including major brands such as Target, Home Depot and Walmart. You can also earn with local merchants such as the neighborhood pizza shop.
All contributions will be invested in an enrollment-date option provided by Vanguard. An enrollment-date investment automatically selects and manages investments based on the age of your beneficiary (the person you are saving for).
If your child does not attend college, there are many options. You can transfer the 529 account to another family member, use the funds for your own education, or withdraw the funds with only a 10% penalty on the earnings to give your child a head start on other important financial goals.
If you leave your company, your student loans and 529 accounts continue to exist and belong to you. You have the option to continue using the SavvyFi gifting and cashback features by assuming the monthly cost or discontinue using SavvyFi and access your loans and 529 accounts directly.