What would be the best account to open to save for your kid(s)?

If you are looking into a brokerage for a minor child, you'll probably get steered to a UTMA.

We created accounts as soon as our little ones had their SS#s. We put about $1k a month in each account each month and use the funds for their current tuition, and savings for college. When all is said and done, we are basically using it as a brokerage account to put tuition aside and save about $3-4k a year towards college.

Can use the funds to cover any expenses for the child
You have to start filing returns for your child on their own, as any income earned is at their tax rate.
Usually, a con for the accounts is once they hit 18 in most states, the accounts automatically transfer to them. But sounds like you're looking to do this anyway.

We have a 529 and UTMAs for our kids. 529 for college and UTMA for vehicles, weddings, etc.

Plan is to roll any unused 529 funds into a ROTH after college to hopefully get them started for retirement.

I was told UTMAs are considered an asset of the child and when it comes time to apply for college aid (grants and loans), it hurts them pretty bad showing as their assets. 529 is the parent's asset. Kids assets are weighted much more heavily than parent's assets and hurt them more when trying to get aid, so we were told.

Can anyone confirm this, or have direct experience with this? Are UTMAs also subject to kiddie tax?

We opened up a Vanguard age-based direct portfolio 529 last week for our 4-month old son that they offer for Colorado residents/taxpayers and is Colorado tax exempt, through collegeinvest dot org.

Sounds like a solid plan. We may eventually add another account of some sort in our name to grow over the years for future expenses of his that aren’t 529 eligible.

We’re going to stick with just the 529 for now and the monthly auto-contributions we set from our checking account. We haven't yet looked at how another account and its contributions would factor into our budget and if/how much the 529 contributions would need to be adjusted.

I did the 529 for my 2 year old when she was born. I live in a state that offered no tax benefit. Went through Fidelity because that is where my 401k, IRA, and brokerage. They recommended a New Hampshire 529 plan and I chose the age based funds for the simplicity.

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Utah’s 529 plan was the standard 20 years ago.

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Wouldn’t you only get the state income tax deduction if you use the LA start program?