Zach Anglin's Blog

Meta stock was going up a lot lately, and since I work for Meta and am mostly paid in stock, that means my compensation has gone up a lot as well. I don’t hold single stocks, so I always sell whenever they give me RSUs. I did that today, so I have some money to figure out what to do with.

My instinct is always to save money over spending it. I’ve gotten more liberal with this as I’ve saved more money, so I don’t stress going out to eat or buying a new gadget anymore. But I am trying to be really conscious about spending money on something like a car.

Tl;dr: 529 plans received a not-very-well-publicized buff recently that makes it far more appealing for people who 1) are uncertain about how much they will need to save for college and 2) are maxing out Roth IRAs. I am one of the people that falls into those overlapping circles, so I’m writing this post about how to use these plans to supercharge savings.

529s are well-known as a tax shelter for saving for educational purposes. They offer tax-deferred growth that is untaxed for educational purposes and frequently a state tax break. If you’re going to have to fund higher-education expenses, it’s way better to have the funds for those expenses in a 529 plan than in a taxable account.

This is my first post. There are many like it, but this one is mine.