So say you have two 529 funds and you have two kids. One of those 529s is now depleted and gone. Can I continue put money in the other 529 and pay education costs for both kids from one account?
And while I’m asking questions. Say that I have a $5000 check from a home insurance reimbursement and that money will be going to a tuition payment in January. Should I just put that check into savings and pay then? Or are there any benefits to putting it into the 529 instead and paying from there?
529s can have only one beneficiary per account. But, you could open a new 529 for child 1 and transfer money from acct 2 into that. Sibling to sibling transfer. How does that affect the money you expect to use for child 2?
We kept things pretty equal for our three kids for college. However, D2s acct made a lot of money because we were able to fund it starting at birth and invested it in 100% equities. I moved some of it to D1s account and it’s being used for dental school.
RE the insurance payment. The benefit of the 529 is that income earned is tax free if you use it for QEE. You won’t earn much in a few months, but if your state allows a 529 deduction on your taxes, you could get a small benefit that way. Depends on your state and the plan you are in.
^^^ This
If you still have the 529 account for D1, I.e. not closed, then you can continue to add funds to it. You cannot pay for both kids from same account simultaneously.
To your second question, unless you get a state tax deduction, it’s not worth it to add to 529 but pay directly from your savings.
We don’t have a state tax deduction so after depleting DS account, haven’t added any more funds.