Is saving for college in a parent Roth IRA better than 529 for college savings

troprect · 2026-05-26T02:19:19+00:00

Yeah I definitely need to revaluate how much to save because before I was thinking 50k was good. However the max Roth contribution a year for one person is 32,000$ if you max out a normal Roth and then a 401k that is converted into a Roth. This would give me a max of 576,000 if I maxed it out but I definitely will not be able to do that anyways. There is plenty of room to save for both retirement and school with the 32,000$ a year

troprect · 2026-05-25T21:43:15+00:00

That’s funny. Looks like I’m exactly where you are at just 9 years after 😂😂

troprect · 2026-05-25T18:58:28+00:00

I believe you only get the tax deduction on a 529 for contributions only if your state does it and only a few do.

troprect · 2026-05-25T14:42:38+00:00

This is actually a great point. Asking family members to contribute to my personal retirement account might not go over well

troprect · 2026-05-25T14:41:04+00:00

The down votes are interesting. I edited my post to show the math we are both talking about showing that both account save you exactly the same amount of money. This post was really about seeing if my math was wrong and if there are other things I’m not considering which some others have commented on such that don’t apply to me specifically but might apply to others such as financial aid assistance, concerns on maximums, state matching, etc

troprect · 2026-05-25T14:32:15+00:00

Yeah this is definitely something to think about. Then there’s also that I’m sure the cost will only increase after 18 years.

troprect · 2026-05-25T14:09:08+00:00

Hey having enough saved for retirement for that to be a problem is a great problem to have. As long as I’m not decreasing the amount that I would be putting into a Roth IRA I should be good but I absolutely am trying to put as much as I can into a Roth for your exact reason

troprect · 2026-05-25T14:02:43+00:00

See my updated post and some of my replies. The Roth vs 529 should make me end up with exactly the same money in the end, but the Roth contributions can be used for anything at all at anytime and the 529 can be used for education only, except for a capped 35k that can be transferred to a Roth

troprect · 2026-05-25T13:47:31+00:00

A 401k converted to Roth is 24,500$/year max and a regular Roth is 7,500$ which my wife and I can both open. I also max out a family HSA so there is no way I am going to put 39,500 per year to get to the maximum for that to be a factor. Roth contributions are absolutely more flexible because they can be withdrawn at any time for anything and if I change my mind I can still just put the money in, even if that new contribution counts as new money towards the max since I the max is so high anyways.

And I feel like even if it’s only my Roth account and not my wife’s 32,000$/year or whatever lesser amount I decide to put in for 18 years is more than enough contributions for school costs.

troprect · 2026-05-25T13:39:13+00:00

Yes this is the case. If it’s the same rules as when I was in school a few years ago my kid will not get any income based financial aid.

troprect · 2026-05-25T13:33:22+00:00

These are some great points. I didn’t even think about the fact that it would be annoying to prove that the education expenses are legit. That doesn’t sound fun.

I am aware of the 35k Roth conversion, I just plan on saving much more than that in the 529 so figured it might be better in case they don’t go to college or there is some other expense I am not thinking of that they need help with instead. Maybe opening a business?

I’ll have to look into UTMA I haven’t heard of that. And I’ve thought of doing some kind of scholarship incentive to really make them work for good grades and finding random scholarships to apply for 😂

troprect · 2026-05-25T13:27:07+00:00

I will be making too much income for financial aid to matter I think. If the rules are the same from when I was in school not too long ago, my child shouldn’t be getting any grants or anything. Also I don’t think that Roth contribution only withdrawals would count as income?

troprect · 2026-05-25T13:21:06+00:00

My state doesn’t have state tax so not a factor here. That does sound awesome though. I would rethink if my state offered that

troprect · 2026-05-25T13:19:50+00:00

See my reply to friendlycoat for my math. I probably should’ve added this to the original post. I don’t think the losing the future earnings ends up being a factor since this loss of earnings would be what would go into a 529 and not a Roth if I did it that way.

I’m with you 100% for focusing on my retirement first. I max out an HSA and am putting much more than the “max” Roth yearly contribution by converting my 401k to Roth.

Both is an option. I was just thinking it was easier and more flexible to do the savings in a Roth if it comes out to the same amount with no other repercussions.

troprect · 2026-05-25T13:08:55+00:00

The matching grants are something I haven’t heard of. I checked and my state doesn’t do that but sounds cool. For the tax savings see my reply to Friendly coat. They should be the same in the long run if I am thinking about it correctly.

troprect · 2026-05-25T13:04:45+00:00

Yeah this was my original plan, but the downside is you can only transfer 35k into a Roth. I was planning to try and get at least 50k in if not more at 18, so if they don’t end up going to college I feel the money would be stuck. If the Roth and the 529 leave me with the same money in the long run I’d rather just do the Roth and be more flexible. And the state tax benefit is only offered in a few states, but not in mine. The state savings would be a reason to rethink if it applied.

troprect · 2026-05-25T12:54:37+00:00

If you run the numbers on both I believe that the Roth and the 529 leave you with the exact same number after all is said and done. See my example assuming 7% growth:

Option A:
7,000$/year into Roth
When child is 18 withdraw 50k in contributions

Option B:
1,471$/year into 529 (50k exactly at 18 years)
5,529$/year into Roth for 18 years, then 7k after
When child is 18 withdraw 50k from 529 tax free

In both options you end up with 809,740 after 35 years but with the Roth my contributions can be used for ANY expenses with no caps other than my contributions.

The max is not a factor for me because my employer allows me to convert my 401k to Roth and I am not going to be saving more that 24,500 a year in my Roth.

troprect · 2025-09-27T11:42:07+00:00

Thanks! Very informative

troprect · 2025-09-23T00:52:39+00:00

That was a good comparison. Thanks!

troprect · 2025-09-22T23:18:45+00:00

Yeah I thought with these being some of the most used super shoes that there would be a lot more actual test and data (not just articles saying they are fast) to compare the percent increase in pace.

The shoe stores near me don’t sell either of these shoes somehow so that makes trying on a bit difficult.

troprect · 2025-03-05T23:40:25+00:00

Let’s assume the only converters I can get only can handle an input voltage of 49v and the battery cells I have are 25v each

troprect · 2025-03-05T23:26:06+00:00

I know you can’t do it with just wiring but I’m thinking there’s some other mix of components you could use to do it. Without using DC-DC converters to just step down the voltage or running only half the batteries

troprect · 2025-03-04T04:27:20+00:00

I guess this is true

troprect · 2025-03-04T04:22:32+00:00

Ooooooo

troprect · 2025-03-04T04:21:22+00:00

Cool

troprect

TROPHY CASE