No High-Five to the WI 529!

I (Ashley) am alone this morning. Katie is sleeping, Shadow is sleeping, and I'm nursing sore feet from last night's party. No one is around to give me a high five or thumbs-up, so I'm going to high-five myself with this post!!

Here's the story: beck in December, Bryan and I were debating whether to open a 529 or ESA for Katie's college savings. A 529 would usually be the better answer because you can deduct the contributions from your state income taxes. Both a 529 and ESA would grow Katie's money tax free.

Since I'm the researcher, I requested the manuals, booklets and prospectus for the WI 529 program, which is managed by Wells Fargo. I analyzed the different funds available, including the investments strategies, account management fees and expense ratios.

I thought the management fees were unusually high--they ran from .75 to over 1% per year! The fees would certainly cut into any anticipated growth we would earn. Sure enough, this was high, especially compared to the Vanguard S&P Index Fund, which is 0.15%.

My final recommendation to Bryan: Let's go with an ESA.

Here's the exciting part: I just learned that Consumer Reports agrees with me: they rank Wisconsin's 529 to be the WORST 529 fund in the COUNTRY!

That ESA looks better and better!