SACRAMENTO, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 20, 2016) - A new year is the perfect opportunity to start a college fund or contribute to an existing 529 plan, and ScholarShare, the California 529 College Savings Plan, makes it easy to start small and pave a path to higher education learning for a beloved child. You can easily open an account in just 15 minutes, and easily manage the account online or by mail. Whether your loved one attends a community college, 4-year university or trade school, parents can start small and children can dream big with as little as $25 to open a college savings account.
Multiple ScholarShare resources are available to help develop clear college savings goals, identify the best college savings plan portfolio, and make continued savings simple. Automatic contribution plans can help keep you on track toward achieving your goals with as little as $15 per pay period using automatic payroll deduction. Friends and family members who wish to help alleviate the costs of a child's future college education can open a new account or make an eGift contribution to an existing account, as long as they have a valid Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number.
You can feel confident in your decision with easy-to-understand reasons to save with the California college savings plan, one of the top-rated 529 college savings plans in the country by Morningstar, an independent investment research firm. ScholarShare has no annual account maintenance fee and is considered one of the most competitively priced 529 plans in the country.
About the ScholarShare 529 College Savings Plan:
To sign up for an account or for more information about the plan, visit www.scholarshare.com. For information about the ScholarShare Investment Board (SIB), visit www.treasurer.ca.gov/scholarshare. Like ScholarShare on Facebook at www.facebook.com/scholarshare529 and follow us on Twitter at @ScholarShare529.
Named for the section of the IRS code under which they were created, 529 plans offer valuable tax advantages. Contributions are made with money that has already been taxed. Once funds are placed in the account, investment earnings, if any, are not federally or state taxed, if withdrawn to pay for qualified higher education expenses.
The ScholarShare 529 College Savings Plan Twitter and Facebook pages are managed by the State of California.
For more news, please follow the Treasurer on Twitter at @CalTreasurer, and on Facebook at California State Treasurer's Office.