a 529 plan is an investment vehicle designed specifically to help families save for future education cost they offer the potential for higher returns and tax advantage growth compared with a low yielding bank account when you withdraw the money for qualifying higher education expenses like tuition and fees room and board or school supplies you don't have to pay any taxes on those items Martha corac mert with saving for college says it will save you more in the long run if you had that in let say a mutual fund or some other type of investment you would have to pay taxes on those earnings so now if you saved you know 50,000 or more that could actually get to be a lot several thousand dollar in in taxes that you're paying as you're making withdrawals over time that's not going directly to your child's college education there is no set amount you have to deposit into your 529 plan but the rule of thumb is to save early and often CAC Mt recommends using the oneir rule see what college is going to cost in the future and aim to save onethird of that we suggest people start as early as possible because you have a limited amount of time to save for college uh unlike retirement where you have decades you know at most you're going to have 18 years maybe a little bit more if you start before a baby is born uh so we suggest starting early 529 plans are not just for universities funds can also be used for Technical and trade schools K through 12 tuition and apprenticeship programs if your child chooses not to go to college the funds can also be transferred to a beneficiary's plan or Roth IRA or save for a grandchild reporting in The Newsroom Kamari escara 8 News Now