Contents
The Offer
- ScholarShare is offering a matching bonus of up to $225 when you open a new 529 Plan account. You’ll receive a $25 bonus if you have an Automatic Contribution Plan (ACP) that is set up for $25 per month
Our Verdict
Previous bonuses have been as high as $100 before, standard seems to be $50. This is a bigger bonus but does require a regular contribution. I’m not the person to ask when it comes to these plans, so do your own research first. Household income must be below $75,000.
Hat tip to reader EW
The applicant’s household adjusted gross income (AGI) for the most recent calendar year must be $75,000 (seventy-five thousand dollars) or less.
Pass.
but it says Open an account for a beneficiary who will be 14 years or younger on December 31, 2020. The beneficiary cannot have an existing ScholarShare 529 account. but what if you have no kids
What if im already in college. Can i just do this to myself basically.
This didn’t used to be exclusive to California residents, but it is now. Or at least, this specific offer is. I signed up my 3 kids about 2 years ago, and with $50/mo contributions and the current market, I’m down roughly 30%. So it isn’t risk free.
But market was up 400% since last bear market (great recession). Nothing is risk free.
Yes, buy low sell high. I know ZERO investors who when all in at that point. Heard it all before.
I remember a mint deal last year that was touted as such 🙂
No one forced you to invest in risky assets.
Stocks in general might seem risky but what other investment options are there for lower middle class individuals that want to retire someday or actually pay for a meaningful part of their kids college tuition? Even conservative portfolios are down and the return on normal savings accounts isn’t going to cut it for most people.
ScholarShare’s $225 Matching Grant Program is exclusive to California residents for 3 years now. You might be confusing with their 5/29 Day $50 bonus or the holiday bonus with $50 Amazon gift card.
This is for CA residents only from what I can tell.
Nice deal, but there is a household income limit of AGI less than $75,000 and must be a California resident at the time of application.
Can a household even survive in Cali on $75K AGI?
I think that’s the idea of the promotion. Trying to entice lower income people to save for college.
Bay Area resident here,… 100k is basically min wage here… like wtf
Honestly don’t know how it’s even manageable, family of 4 here struggling on 400k. This is Silicon Valley tho so make what you will of that.
Struggling on a house hold income of 400k? You must live a luxurious life. No absolute way. Give me 400k a year salary and I can live off that by renting a room by myself for 2k a month.
It’s great if you’re single but if you are a 2 income household it’s not great.
Take home is about 18k/month after maxing out retirement accounts etc
Daycare – 6k/month (2 kids)
Mortgage plus interest- 6k/month (all 3-bedroom houses in reasonable areas are 2mil at least here).
Food, entertainment 1-1.5k/month
College savings (projected to cost 100k per year by the time my kids go)- 2k per month, per kid
Other essentials (gas, Internet etc), 0.5k per month
I didn’t even mention vacations. And both cars are paid off.
After all that, barely any discretionary income (can barely afford vacation as I mentioned). It’s far from a luxurious life. Why else do you think I trawl these boards? For some extra cash of course.
Quick question:
Im assuming your job is an engineer is you’re bringing that type of income home. Would working in a different city be better.
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