Ham Hockers

This made me think of the conclusion of this blog post: http://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2013/10/random-thoughts-on-house-prices.html#more

Are you sure it's not the beneficiary (you) who has to die in order to get the waiver on the 10% penalty?

It's my first post! I've done this myself. I have two 529 plans: one where I'm owner and beneficiary and one where I'm owner but my infant son is the beneficiary. I'm aiming to keep myself as beneficiary on the first plan indefinitely, even if/when I have more kids in the future (I'll open new accounts for them). I figure I'll come up with something to do with the money eventually, and in the meantime I'm taking advantage of the tax benefits. I would add that you have to be careful of gift taxes, which can be triggered by changing the beneficiary on a plan. There's also a per beneficiary limit on how much can be contributed across all 529 plans, though there's no limit on gains. I think it's around $300k per beneficiary.