Should you worry about overfunding your 529 plan?

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4:04 PM on Monday, December 22

By MARGARET GILES of Morningstar

529 education savings plans are powerful tools to help pay for the mounting costs of an education. Yet some people hesitate to use them.

One common concern is oversaving. You can only use 529 funds can only cover qualified education expenses without incurring a tax penalty, but it can be hard to pinpoint how much money you actually need.

Many parents open 529s for their children at birth, when there’s no way to know whether their kids will earn a scholarship or go to college at all. Fortunately, parents with multiple children can change the beneficiary of a 529 plan.

But what do you do if you still have money left over after covering education expenses?

Thanks to Secure 2.0 Act, you can now roll over unused 529 fund to a Roth IRA. But the 529 rollover isn’t a loophole to save extra for retirement; rules limit the conversions.

Here’s what you should consider when converting 529 funds to a Roth IRA.

What are the rules for converting a 529 plan to a Roth IRA?

The Roth IRA receiving the funds must be in the name of the 529 plan beneficiary.

The 529 plan must be open for at least 15 years.

You cannot convert 529 contributions made within the past five years (or the earnings on those contributions).

The 529 funds you roll over count toward your IRA annual contribution limit.

You can move a maximum of $35,000 from a 529 plan to a Roth IRA during your lifetime.

529 funds must be converted by paying the amount directly to a Roth IRA—you can’t pay yourself and then deposit the money into the Roth IRA later.

You can contribute to a Roth IRA only if you have earnings from a job, so the 529 beneficiary must have eligible earnings when the 529-to-IRA conversions occur.

Roth IRA income limits do not apply to 529 rollovers.

While avoiding the Roth IRA income limits is a retirement-saving perk for those with higher income, the remaining rules around rolling over excess 529 funds are designed to ensure that people use 529 plans for education as intended. The annual contribution limits and the lifetime cap on conversions mean that you can’t double up on your retirement funding.

So, what's the bottom line?

The ability to convert unused 529 funds to a Roth IRA can ease potential concerns about oversaving for education. Still, don’t count on your 529 as a means to save for retirement. Instead, consider funding your Roth IRA separately.

529 rollovers into ABLE accounts

Families with a child with disabilities can roll their 529 account over into an ABLE account, a tax-favored way to save for the needs of a person with a disability while maintaining eligibility for government assistance. It uses the same legal framework as 529 plans, and it works similarly. Contributions are made with aftertax dollars to a plan with a set menu of investment choices. Earnings compound tax-free, and withdrawals to pay for qualified expenses are tax-free, too.

You can transfer funds from a 529 plan to an ABLE account, up to the ABLE annual contribution limit of $19,000, without incurring tax penalties. The ABLE account must have the same designated beneficiary as the 529.

ABLE account eligibility is limited to individuals with significant disabilities, the onset of which occurred before they turned 46. ABLE accounts have a broader set of qualified expenses including education, housing, health care, employment training and support, and legal fees.

Individuals’ needs and circumstances change throughout their lifetimes, often in ways we can’t anticipate. The ABLE account rollover provides families with additional flexibility if a 529 account beneficiary is diagnosed with a disability or becomes disabled because of accident or injury.

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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.

Margaret Giles is a senior editor of content development for Morningstar.