– 529 Insiders Article of the Week
– News & Research
– Data
– ABLE Act Column
– Events

529 Dash, Required Reading for Your 529 Education: The goal of the 529 Dash is to address the specific needs and concerns of advisers, accountants and estate planners who sell and service families and institutions in the college financial planning process by providing industry relevant news, product training and best practices.

Please Read, Engage and Share.

Paul Curley, CFA
Editor-in-Chief of 529 Dash
Director of College Savings Research
paul.curley@strategic-i.com
Twitter: @PaulCurleyBC

Growth in College Savings Outside of 529s

• Families continue to have opportunities to save and save more efficiently for higher education with 529s as college financial planning continues to incorporate bank products, retirement accounts and other investment vehicles.

Here is what you need to know from stories, research and data released this week:

• 529 Insiders, “Status board: K-12 state updates.” Editor's Take: Colorado has been updated on the status board from “Not Clear or Decision Pending” to “Not Allow K-12 Withdrawals State Tax Free” based on information in plan disclosure amendments. Strategic Insight will continue to monitor the industry landscape, make updates to the status board in the 529 Insiders and report the updates in the 529 Dash.
• Boston College Center for Retirement Research, “Video: How to talk about college costs.” Editor's Take: Timely video about the difficulty of parents having the hard conversation with their children on college affordability and college financial planning. The video also provides a great example of the value of advisors in having the difficult conversation with and for their clients. Click the article to review today.
• T.Rowe Price, “Tenth annual T. Rowe Price parents, kids & money survey.” Editor's Take: The survey includes a number of interesting stats that can be used for your client meetings and presentations. For example, 74% of parents report a higher level of prioritization for saving for their kids' college education, compared to 26% reporting a higher level for retirement. Ensure that you are taking care of your current and target client's largest need by having the college financial planning discussion today.
• The Morning Pulse, “The Weekly Pulse for Sunday, October 21, 2018.” Editor's Take: This weekly podcast by Jeff Snyder starts out with an overview of top trends on LinkedIn, which includes an update on college tuition trends by College Board. Broadly speaking, the trend of tuition inflation and net prices has not been the friend of your clients, and so the need to save and save efficiently for higher education has never been higher.
• ThinkAdvisor, “College costs are rising, along with student grants.” Editor's Take: Thank you ThinkAdvisor for raising the awareness and priority of college financial planning by covering this topic.

Here is the latest 529 and ABLE market data by Strategic Insight that can be used by the media and other organizations.

ABLE accounts are tax-advantaged savings accounts for certain individuals with disabilities and their families.

News, Research, Data & Resources:

• 529 Insiders, “Reader’s perspective: Question and answer with Minoti Rajput, founder and principal advisor of Secure Planning Strategies and author of “Beyond a Parent’s Love.” Editor's Take: Thank you Minoti for your time and insight in working with me on the article, and much appreciated.
• Accessible Stall Podcast, “Episode 62: ABLEnow.” Editor's Take: This podcast provides insight into the accountholder's perspective on ABLE accounts.
• 529 Insiders, “2Q 2018 Strategic Insight 529 and ABLE Data Highlights”

Events: Strategic Insight ABLE Summit 2019 will be held on September 25, 2019, at the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, to deliver training, insight and networking opportunities to support the successful implementation and growth of ABLE accounts. Please save the date.

Save the Date: Strategic Insight 529 Conference 2019 will be held from September 23-25, 2019, at the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island.
Sessions:

• 529 Conference: A highly interactive and educational industry gathering with the entire college financial planning ecosystem.
• 529 Essentials: A pre-conference session to train professionals on 529 plans and college financial planning in a constantly evolving market.
• ABLE Summit: A post-conference session to deliver training, insight and networking opportunities to support the successful implementation and growth of ABLE accounts.

Please email Paul Curley at paul.curley@strategic-i.com to inquire about having him provide a 529 or ABLE continuing education or industry landscape update presentation, or to participate in an event or podcast.

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