START account

I havent pulled anything out but have right at 25k and have been contributing small amounts each month for each kid.

All I know is you're allowed 10k per year per kid.

I have started withdrawing last couple years when my daughter started college. Pretty simple online transaction within the account. Just select a semester and amount of withdrawal. Check comes in the mail a couple weeks later. I think the only “tricky” part is, for tax purposes, the withdrawal needs to be paid in the same year as the expense was paid. So tuition for the spring semester, if paid for in December, would need to be requested in December. If that makes sense. But I might be wrong about that.

Does anyone know if you have two kids and one gets a scholarship and only uses a portion of the account balance, can you transfer the remaining portion to the second kid's account?

I opened start accounts many years ago and it performed very well.
I also had other 529 accts with brokers. They did well too.

Getting the money out of the start acct is a pain in the arse. Paperwork and it takes several days for them to send it to you. Getting it out of broker account is simple.

If I had it to do again, I’d avoid the START plan

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Getting the money out of the start acct is a pain in the arse. Paperwork and it takes several days for them to send it to you. Getting it out of broker account is simple.

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I mean, it's a tax advantaged account and they do need to verify withdrawals are for education related expenses. Not sure how that can be accomplished without some form of paperwork/proof. Any tax advantaged account is gonna require some checks and balances. The small effort to justify the withdrawals is very much worth the tax benefits.