Don't kid yourself BTF, their recruiting coordinator heard you knew how to pick up chicks.
OT: 529s
- Thread starter NebChicago
- Start date
Thanks so much for the info re: 529 to Roth IRA. That's exactly what I need. Here's a link that explains it. BTW I'm not endorsing Schwab.
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We set up 529 as well as Uniform Gift to Minor accounts for our now 30 +year old sons. (not sure if they still have UGTM). Contributed monthly to each son's accounts.
Son #1 was honor student and salutatorian of his class. Ended up going to premier science school and used up both funds but with that and scholarships and a bit more $$ from us ended up with no debts and a BS with honors in Chem E. Followed up by getting his MS on his own dime while working full time. Now works on batteries in e cars.
Son #2 struggled in school and ended up not going to college but has a great job working as marine electrician. He used his UGTM to help buy a house but we still have his 529. Now that I know I have the ability to convert that money into a Roth IRA for him that sounds like a great thing to do.
Bottom line - I would save as much as you can towards the kids college. But be aware that they might not be able to use it as they have no desire to go to college.
Son #1 was honor student and salutatorian of his class. Ended up going to premier science school and used up both funds but with that and scholarships and a bit more $$ from us ended up with no debts and a BS with honors in Chem E. Followed up by getting his MS on his own dime while working full time. Now works on batteries in e cars.
Son #2 struggled in school and ended up not going to college but has a great job working as marine electrician. He used his UGTM to help buy a house but we still have his 529. Now that I know I have the ability to convert that money into a Roth IRA for him that sounds like a great thing to do.
Bottom line - I would save as much as you can towards the kids college. But be aware that they might not be able to use it as they have no desire to go to college.
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These are all good questions, and I'll give you honest answers.
I do NOT invest in the stock market, other than I gave my son money to purchase 750 shares each of a junior mining stock for himself, my wife and my 2 youngest grandsons. Bought it a few months ago at about .35?, and it trades at .47 now. No big deal.
Contrary to what some on here may believe, I know a lot about the stock market, bonds, mutual funds, etc. When I was young, I was a District Manager for one of the Fortune 500 Insurance companies. I had a Series 6 license to sell securities, mutual funds, interest sensitive insurance contracts, etc. I'm a firm believer in Term Insurance to protect those my wife and I love. My adult children are copies of that belief also. But, as far as the stock market, I know a person, maybe even me, could make a lot of money playing it, but I'm more about security than a huge stock market downturn every few years.
I absolutely believe in buying gold. Its the only true money, with no counterparty risk and it can never bankrupt. You can go anywhere in the world and its recognized as money. Way back in the 80's I began buying gold, 1 ounce American Eagle coins from a pretty fair sized bonus I earned. I've purchased gold multiple times a year since. In the last 10 years I've purchased 1/2 oz. gold bars, 1/4 oz gold bars, 1/10 oz. bars, and in the last 3-4 years, I've purchased karatbars. For those unfamiliar with karatbars, think of a Kit Kat or a Hershey's chocolate bar. The karatbar comes in 50/1 GRAM increments and you just break off whatever amount you need should you need to use it.
At the moment, lets say gold is $ 2,400.00 an ounce, and a karatbar has 50 of the 1 gram unit. So, each gram is worth
48.00. If a person wanted to buy something that cost 200.00 they simply snap off 4 or so and that's it. I don't hardly have to carrry a BLOCK (which is not even a block, its a brick) worth $ 750,000.00 to buy a dozen eggs from a farmer, as some smart ass alluded to earlier in a thread. I have purchased kilos of gold that run about 60K each, depending on market price.
I also have many more ounces of physical silver than I do gold. In about 1990, I started to purchase physical silver for $ 4.85 an ounce, it's now 28.00 and change, but has been much higher in 2011 or so. Silver has been great for a long time, in my opinion, and may be the best item money can buy. I explained earlier in a different thread, I believe?, that China has primary control of silver pricing, but with India beginning to produce huge amounts of solar panels, they are now buy about 50% of global production, so China has lost control of silver prices. China has a huge demand also since they produce tons of Lithium batteries that require silver.
I have a ton of what is called "junk silver". Those are nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars, and Silver dollars that are pre 1964 and contain high percentages of silver, making them much more valuable than their face amount. At melt value right now, a pre '64 dime is worth 2.05, a quarter is worth 5.13, a half dollar is worth 10.25 and a silver dollar is worth 28.33. My life has not been about experimenting with money. I like to know what I own has real, time tested value. Each denomination is worth about 20 times its face amount.
I also own Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Veritaseum, Monero and a few "dogs." Some folks like cryptos, others don't, makes little difference to me, cause I'm gonna do what I do.
I try never to tell anyone outside my inner circle what to do, I can say, "this is what I do", but with matters of money everyone should do what feels and works right for them. I apologize for my typical long, drawn out answer, but you asked legitimate questions and I answered you honestly.
Do I think anyone who purchases gold will ever regret their decisions? My answer is they will not, especially if they had a true understanding of where we are as a country in regard to the economy.
The last point I'll add is this. Because of large gold purchases by China and many, many countries, we are going to run up against a "fail to deliver" situation, then people will find out what the real value of gold is. As a result of the COMEX and the LBMA having shortages of inventory, this puts enormous pressure on banks.
The Federal Reserve and US Treasury are in a debt trap that they cannot avoid, both entities are insolvent. We are going to run into a liquidity and credit crisis. It's just a matter of time. Thanks.
**Edited to add this** I have a good friend on the site who is a very successful farmer. Over the last couple years, I've given reasons why I like gold. He has done just fine for 70 years without my advise or suggestions, so I respect him enough to not push it any farther. As I've told him many, many times, he is well positioned through his ownership of a fair amount of good farm ground. Last time I checked, they're not making anymore land.... We ALL need to do what feels right for our situation.
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This has been a great thread when some of the posters make comments that help others become more informed.
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Pretty much you get a projected value of your plan. So if your kid was born within the last year the projected cost of university is $66k. You pay $134 per month for next 18 years.
Let’s say my kid goes to central Florida and it’s only 40k. He’d get a check for $26k to spend as he sees fit. Let’s say he goes to UF and college explodes in price and it’s $100k.. doesn’t matter he’s set. Let’s say he goes out of state and college is $70k. 66k would transfer and he’d have to come up the difference. Let’s say he gets a full ride scholarship to Florida State. He can use the funds for grad school or just take the $66k.
The only way you “lose” is if your kid doesn't go to school. Then you just get you money back - about $29k
Easy - where do you get your physical gold and where do you store it? Does it matter what karat it is, 10, 12 etc? Do you have a preference?
UofI is highly rated. Most of my neighbors went. When I have gone to Champaign I’m not real impressed with the town. Plus UI got into hot water a few years ago about over accepting Chinese students for the $$$. From my recent trips there I don’t believe that has changed
Dang man! Why doesn’t every state offer something like that?
Pretty much you get a projected value of your plan. So if your kid was born within the last year the projected cost of university is $66k. You pay $134 per month for next 18 years.
Let’s say my kid goes to central Florida and it’s only 40k. He’d get a check for $26k to spend as he sees fit. Let’s say he goes to UF and college explodes in price and it’s $100k.. doesn’t matter he’s set. Let’s say he goes out of state and college is $70k. 66k would transfer and he’d have to come up the difference. Let’s say he gets a full ride scholarship to Florida State. He can use the funds for grad school or just take the $66k.
The only way you “lose” is if your kid doesn't go to school. Then you just get you money back - about $29k
Still have them and they are still a wonderful option. Some people say the downside is if the account value is big enough it can hurt the kids financial aid. I think if a 18 year old has enough in stocks to hurt financial aid then screw it, use the stocks and be happy to have such a large account.
Here's a better article that explains rolling over a 529 into a Roth IRA.
www.savingforcollege.com
Rollovers From a 529 Plan to Roth IRA: What to Know
Beginning in 2024, you can roll 529 plan funds into a Roth IRA. Learn how, along with important rules and limits, here.
www.savingforcollege.com
Oh my god...SOOOOO many kids from China at that school. You are right about that.
C-U is sort of a dumpy town too.
You're not wrong but we really need to encourage our best and brightest to stay. We export way too much talent.
RB, I don't really buy 12 carat, etc, that's mainly jewelry. In coinage, its typically .999% pure gold. The Canadian Maple Leafs are .9999% pure gold, as well as Switzerland. Then there are the South African Kruggerrands that are slightly cheaper because they are 93% gold. My opinion, based on good sources, I would buy ONLY American coinage because we never know p*litically what could happen. Over a period of time, I have swapped out my former Canadian/Swiss/South African gold coins for American Eagles. I would stay away from Chinese Pandas, etc, because there have been occassions when their "gold coins" or bars and nothing more than gold plated filled with Tungsten. So just be aware of that.
There are a TON of reputable dealers online to purchase precious metals. A Google search will take you to Apmex, Miles-Franklin, Sunshine, etc. I've dealt with almost all of them over the years and never had the slightest problem with any. In my case, it worked best to buy it online then have it shipped to a different location to my son in CA. I live in NE.
I purchased most of my precious metals from a local coin shop. If you're in a decent sized city, surely they have 1-2 or more coin shops, and I think those guys treat people pretty well. Just remember, the market price today is not what you're gonna pay. You'll have to pay a "spot price" on both gold or silver. It can range from 60.00-100.00 an ounce for gold, and gets crazy with silver spot price anywhere from 6.00-12.00 depending on circumstances dealing with availability. As a side note, I would avoid purchasing from Pawn Shops as they are never priced competitively. If you're diligent and watch the metals market, there ARE better and worse times in the business day to purchase or sell coins when you go to a coin shop.
I explained in another thread, countries around the world value and have gold valued at a much higher price than the US. So some sharp dudes in Europe or Asia, buy large quantities of precious metals here and have them shipped overseas and make a very fine profit. If a country is paying 100.00 and ounce more for gold than the US is, as well as having a much smaller spot price, the arbitrage works heavily in their favor, hence they make a lot of dough. Even Silver with the higher spot prices in the US can provide money due to the US much higher spot price of 6-12.00 an ounce, versus Europe and Asia with a spot price of 2-3.00 an ounce. That's a lot of margin they get to play with and profit from.
One thing I did a few months ago is cash 5 ounces of gold and swapped for 470 ounces of silver eagles instead. At the time the ratio was 94/1. Meaning it took 94 ounces of silver to equal 1 ounce of gold. I felt silver had a bigger upside than gold, so when, and its happening now, the ratio got lower, I could re-sell the 470 ounces of silver and get more than 5 ounces of gold in return. At the moment the ratio is 84/1, so it trending in the direction I thought it would. Historically the ratio is about 16/1. The ratio has gotten out of line due to the GLD, SLV paper ETF's which is simply 200 people who think they own the same ounce of gold or silver, despite the fact the settlement will be in cash and never be in metals anyhow. At a certain point, price discovery will occur, and both metals will be valued at their true value.
As far as where I have my precious metals, that I'm not gonna disclose. I would never use a gold site to store my metals in a location that I can't readily get to. Also, and this is good advice, NEVER put gold, silver, cash, jewelry and valuable items in a bank savings deposit box. EVER. It is absolutely true that in the event of a bank closing, or a bank holiday, you WILL NOT get into your safety deposit box without having a DHS agent standing next to you. Okay? Just so you know, they have the authority to open your safety deposit box anytime they want. So, no thank you.
It's perfectly fine to keep things like Marriage Licenses, Birth Certificates, Car Titles, etc in a bank safety deposit box, but anything of real dollar value, I would highly suggest you don't. You can buy fireproof (I think up to about 2,000 degrees) folders for 15.00 or so and keep your marriage license, etc at home and not have to use a bank. Your choice.
Its only been a few months since a bank in Beverly Hills, CA (yes, that wealthy Beverly Hills) had their bank shut down for a day and agents came in an confiscated almost everything of wealth that was in safety deposit boxes. Now, of course that is illegal, but they did it. They later lost a court case when it was determined what they did was Unconstitutional. BUT, how do YOU PROVE you had $ 20,000.0 in cash, 10 ounces of gold, some Rolex watches, etc, when the authorities say you didn't?
As always, I'm not telling or suggesting anyone do anything I said here. It's just what i do.
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Yikes
thanks, now please tell me where and how to buy it, especially karatbars and ounces. Its not clear where online can be trusted, best prices, etc. thank you.
Edit: i see you answered further down.
huskerfan, please understand you WILL have to pay a fairly large premium for the karatbars, due to their convenience.
In your case, and I think others, you would initially be better off to just buy i ounce coins. Not telling you what to do, but karatbars, comparatively, are not cheap. You can also start with 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, but the smaller the denomination, the larger the spot price is on those. When you start to divide the partial ounces, you will see what I mean.
Without looking, it will be something like this: say a 1 oz coin is 2,460.00. Maybe a 1/2 oz bar is 1,325.00, so if you double that its 2,650.00 for one ounce. It's not a great value, but people have a limited amount of money sometimes and its the best thing they can come up with.
If I were just beginning to purchase metals, and say I had 5K to work with. I would probably buy 2 oz of gold and the rest in silver. If you had 3K, probably 1 oz of gold and the rest in silver. If my budget were 1K, I would just buy silver eagles.
When one of my grandsons, or great granddaughter and ggrandson has a birthday, I don't give them presents or money, I give them Silver Eagles. They tend not to spend it and my older grandsons, 23 and 21 years old, have amassed a decent amount over the years.
If you’re just starting out, ensure you get your state tax deduction at the end of the year. Some states don’t provide a deduction but most do. And as others have said, great way to kickstart a Roth IRA for your child if they don’t end up using all the funds for schooling.
Costco has some great deals on gold and silver but they sell out pretty quickly
Don't know much about Costco and that part of their business. I guess I'd want to know where they source their product from.
Looks like they sell American eagles. Maple
Leafs and buffalos . I haven’t purchased myself but I’ve heard good things. My neighbors house getting broken into gives us pause to buy a bunch of gold to store at home. More guns might be a better move 😏
Find some talk radio. Ron Paul will sell you some. I assume whomever he is shilling for is 100% trustworthy and has your best interests at heart!
That's unfortunate for your neighbor. If, and I say if, I had some gold on my property, good luck finding it.
The first defense to not being broken into is to make sure your house is always secure. If someone wants to try to throw a brick through any of my windows, they would be well advised to duck, because that brick is coming right back at them.
We also use what is called the club which is in front of our doors. It withstands 2,500 pounds of force, so, if they want to break in, they better use their vehicle.
It's likely I have a couple of pea shooters also. LOL
I don't know if you response is being complimentary or tongue in cheek. Paul was likely the most honest Congressman in history, and yes, he is a FIRM believe in gold, and for good reason.
Not really, just made a conscious effort to make would be burglars move onto an easier target. It's not that hard to do.
Look at the criminal element that always exists, and then consider how many really bad people have walked across the border.
If I don't protect my wife and our property, then what good am I as a protector?
I'm a 70 year old man now, I'm not looking to duke it out with anybody. I wasn't very worried when I was much younger.
The precautions I have in place are exactly that, precautions. No sense inviting trouble.
lol - agreed. The Vold Desert Eagle in COD though!!!😎
A little of both, and to be honest, not about Ron Paul one way or the other - I just hear those ads a lot.
What I find humorous about the gold adverts is that they're basically like, "Hey, the economy is going to collapse and your money will be worthless! Only gold will be worth a damn!"
And I'm just thinking...so you're going to give me some of this priceless commodity in exchange for my worthless cash? Out of the goodness of your hearts?
it's not like the dollar is gonna collapse tonight. In all likelihood, a person sends 5K and purchases gold, and the seller immediately takes that 5K and buys more from the buillion bank. The turnaround is probably pretty quick.
Thanks for all your information
Thanks.
No stock market? How could one grow and compound wealth? Maybe you just had a big salary.
There’s some stipulations. Can’t remember for sure but I think the funds cannot be pulled out all at once. Money must be in for 15 years.
