I have been looking in opening a UPromise account for my son, but really confused about the whole thing! I would love to hear from other moms that use the program. I want to know the good and the bad and the ugly. You are all the best women to turn to for advise and I know that I will get some great info!! Thanks a bunch
Just thought I would add that it would be in additon to a different method that we already have set up for his college savings.
My financial advisor suggested not doing a 529 plan, but rather do a Roth IRA. The reason he suggested that is because the 529 can only be used for education. If for some reason your child doesn't go to college someone else will have to use the money for education. With a Roth IRA the money can be used for things other than education if need be. Some 529 can only be used in the state there were started in so you need to watch that too.
I have a Upromise Account. You don't have to use their credit card, but of course you get a better deal if you do. You can shop at grocery stores depending where you are and companies will contribute a % to your account. The big thing is to shop online through their website and that is how you get the kickback. You can also have family and friends contribute when they shop. You can enter any credit or debit cards you want on the site. They also have 529 plans you can enroll in if you wish. You can also withdraw the money once a quarter if needed. I have been a member for a long time and have had no issues with it. They also have some other perks to earn more during the year.
I started the sign up process yesterday with U Promise. But when I realized it was nothing more than another credit card, I decided to not follow through. I like getting Amazon dollars with the credit card I use for house bills, so I can buy the kids books and things. I'm just going to keep increasing our 529 contributions every year.
I started one for my son about 2 years ago. I do a lot of online shopping so I thought it would be a good idea. In two years I have saved $60. Not the big payoff I was hoping for, but I figure as long as I'm shopping online anyway why not reap this benefit. I don't do anything different than I would usually do, I just shop online and find the best deals and if a % goes into an account for my kids college that's a great bonus. I have also signed up grandparents, but they don't do a lot of online shopping so they haven't contributed much.
U promise is set up so that you can take the money you earn and then deposit it into a 529. We have one started for our kids that we contribute to intermittently, the money we get from u promise will just go into that same account.
I wouldn't use it as the only way you save for college, but a little is better than nothing. And it's free and nearly effortless. So why not....
I would suggest opening a 529 plan.
I have a friend you opened one of these for her kid. As long as you're comfortable with buying the products offered and the companies that participate, you'll quickly build up money, abeit very slowly (5, 10 cents at a time; it's quite small).
Since we eat organic/fresh/non-processed food and none of our companies are in the U-promise chain, it wouldn't work for us. I'm also not interested in helping big corporations get even bigger, or allowing them to know my buying habits. That is something else you'll want to consider.
I believe you can make some money doing it, but I think saving money in a special college account and investing wisely will get you to where you want to go even faster. We have a college fund set up for my daughter through Thrivent, and she has more in there from just putting $50/month into her account than my friend has in her son's U-Promise account that she's been using for 10 years.
Just depends on how you want to accumulate money/college funds.
