Newest installment of its 529 Plan Performance Rankings show Kansas and South Carolina at the top
NEW YORK, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- According to a new study released by Savingforcollege.com, the Schwab 529 College Savings Plan, sponsored by the state of Kansas, and South Carolina's Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan came in first or second among all direct-sold 529 savings plans in three-year and five-year investment performance for the period ending June 30, 2009. The full 529 Plan Performance Rankings showing one-year, three-year, and five-year rankings for all direct-sold 529 plans can be viewed at http://www.savingforcollege.com/articles/view.php?id=330.
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The Schwab 529 College Savings Plan is distributed by discount broker Charles Schwab & Co. and by independent advisers associated with Schwab. The plan is managed by American Century Investment Management Inc., but it uses mutual funds from a wide variety of fund firms in its age-based and asset-allocation options. Kansas has another direct-sold 529 plan called Learning Quest that scored in the top 5 for three-year performance.
South Carolina's Future Scholar is available only to South Carolina residents on a direct-sold basis. (An advisor-sold plan is sold nationally.) The plan is managed by Columbia Management Distributors, Inc. and features Columbia Funds mutual funds.
Other top five direct-sold finishers in either one-, three, or five-year performance categories included two of Nevada's plans (USAA and Upromise), West Virginia's SMART529 Select plan that uses DFA funds, and plans from Iowa, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Utah.
"The second quarter of 2009 was a period of strong recovery for many 529 plans," commented Savingforcollege.com founder Joseph Hurley. "Just as with IRAs, accounts invested at least partially in stocks regained some of the value lost over the many months since 2007."
In producing its rankings, Savingforcollege.com compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. Portfolios were selected based on their mix of stocks, bonds, and money-market funds, allowing for an apples-to-apples comparison in seven different asset-allocation categories.
Savingforcollege.com also produces rankings for advisor-sold 529 plans, available through a subscription. Rankings are updated each quarter.
