Starting next year you can pretend to save for college, pocket the tax deductions, and then roll it over into a Roth IRA.

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In my state I get 20% back up to $1500 for money put into a 529. Guaranteed 20% return every year. Then dump up 35k into an IRA.

via schwab:

The SECURE 2.0 Act allows savers to roll unused 529 funds into the beneficiary’s Roth IRA without a tax penalty. But that’s probably not a reason to overfund 529s.

529 accounts are an established way to help kids and other family members save for college. And now it turns out you might be able to use leftover 529 funds to help them save for retirement as well.

At least, that’s the idea behind a new provision included in the SECURE 2.0 Act. It works like this: Starting in 2024, you can roll unused 529 assets—up to a lifetime limit of $35,000—into the account beneficiary’s Roth IRA, without incurring the usual 10% penalty for nonqualified withdrawals or generating any taxable income.

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This might come as a relief to anyone worried about having excess funds stuck in a 529 should the intended beneficiary not need them (say, if they opted not to attend college or chose a lower-cost school).

But could this provision prove to be something more? Could a savvy investor consider intentionally overfunding a 529 with an eye toward eventually building up tax-free Roth savings, either for themselves or members of their family?

h/t nedfromcal

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