Utah 529 PlanThe Utah Educational Savings Plan offers twelve portfolios as investment choices. The program is managed by UESP and the portfolios are either certain Vanguard Mutual Funds, an FDIC-insured savings account through Zions First National Bank, Tthe Public Treasurer's Investment Fund or some combination. The Age-Based Aggressive Growth portfolio uses a mix of 50% Institutional Index, 20% Midcap Index, 20% Small-Cap Index and 10% International Index for beneficiaries up to six years old. By the time the beneficiary has reached 16 years, there will only be 20% left in these options, along with 10% in Total Bond Market Index Fund, 30% in Short-Term Investment-Grade Fund and 40% in an FDIC-Insured Savings Account. The other age-based funds operate in a similiar way. If you are not comfortable with the UESP automatically moving funds over time, you have the option of choosing one of six static portfolios. The Utah 529 Plan includes
Your investment in the Utah Educational Savings Plan grows federal and state tax-deferred. 529 owners who are Utah taxpayers can earn a 5% state income tax credit, up to $89 on $1780 per qualified beneficiary from their Utah State income tax return. Those filing jointly could earn double the credit with double the investment. . Utah 529 Plan withdrawals can pay for various educational expenses such as tuition, required fees, room and board, books, supplies and equipment. Qualified withdrawals are both Federal and Utah state tax free. Annual maintenance and administrative fees charged by UESP for the accounts are 0.18% to 0.26% annually for both the age-based and static investment options, and 0.20% to 0.59% for the any of the customized options chosen. Additionally, Vanguard charges fees for it's products, which range from .02% to .39% annually. For more information on Utah's 529 plan options, visit http://www.uesp.org/. |