T. Rowe Price Among Best Performers in Savingforcollege.com Q1 529 Plan Rankings
Pittsford, NY (PRWEB) June 04, 2014 -- The 529 college-savings plans with the best investment performance through March 31, 2014 belong to New Jersey, District of Columbia, Nevada, and Alaska, according to Savingforcollege.com's newly-released Composite Performance Rankings for direct-sold 529 plans.
The NJBest 529 College Savings Program garnered top honors for one-year investment performance. Investments in the plan, which is open only to state residents, are managed for the State of New Jersey by Franklin Templeton.
The District of Columbia’s 529 plan, which scored best for three-year performance, also has residency requirements for no-load purchases. Most nonresidents would have to purchase the plan through a financial advisor at higher cost. The DC 529 College Savings Program features mutual funds from Calvert Investments.
Nevada’s USAA 529 College Savings Program, which invests in USAA funds, finished first for five-year performance while Alaska’s T. Rowe Price College Savings program won the top spot for ten-year performance. T. Rowe Price also saw its 529 plans place third and second for three-year and five-year performance, respectively.
In producing its quarterly rankings, Savingforcollege.com compares the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from 529 savings plans in every state. Portfolios are selected based on their mix of stocks, bonds, and money-market funds, aiming for an apples-to-apples comparison in seven different asset-allocation categories.
“With tuition and other college costs continuing to rise, your 529 plan needs to perform well in order to keep up with those costs,” remarked Joe Hurley, founder of Savingforcollege.com.
Hurley cautions, however, that past performance does not guarantee future returns, and that a plan currently ranking high will not necessarily outperform its peers in the future. "We see some movement in the rankings every quarter, most particularly in one-year performance," he said.
The full reports showing rankings for all direct-sold 529 plans can be viewed at http://www.savingforcollege.com/articles/2014-plan-performance-rankings-q1 . Savingforcollege.com also produces, for its premium subscribers, separate rankings for advisor-sold 529 plans and for RIA-channel 529 plans, along with the investment data and scoring used in all ranking reports. Rankings are updated each quarter.
One-year Composite Performance Rankings (55 plans ranked)
1. New Jersey: NJBEST 529 College Savings Program (mostly Franklin Templeton funds)
2. District of Columbia: DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) (Calvert funds)
3. California: The ScholarShare College Savings Plan (multiple fund families)
4. Florida: Florida 529 Savings Plan (multiple money managers)
5. Maine: NextGenCollege Investing Plan - Client Direct Series (multiple fund families)
6. Alaska: University of Alaska College Savings Plan (T. Rowe Price funds)
7. West Virginia: SMART529 WV Direct (mostly Hartford Funds)
8. New York: New York’s 529 College Savings Program – Direct Plan (Vanguard funds)
9. Alaska: T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan (T. Rowe Price funds)
10. Utah: Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) Trust (mostly Vanguard funds)
Three-year Composite Performance Rankings (48 plans ranked)
1. District of Columbia: DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) (Calvert funds)
2. New York: New York’s 529 College Savings Program – Direct Plan (Vanguard funds)
3. Alaska: University of Alaska College Savings Plan (T. Rowe Price funds)
4. Utah: Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) Trust (mostly Vanguard funds)
5. Illinois: BrightStart College Savings Program – Direct-sold Plan (multiple fund families)
6. Maine: NextGenCollege Investing Plan - Client Direct Series (multiple fund families)
7. Florida: Florida 529 Savings Plan (multiple money managers)
8. New Mexico: The Education Plan’s College Savings Program (mostly OppenheimerFunds)
9. Alaska: T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan (T. Rowe Price funds)
10. Oklahoma: Oklahoma College Savings Plan (TIAA-CREF funds)
Five-year Composite Performance Rankings (43 plans ranked)
1. Nevada: USAA 529 College Savings Plan (USAA funds)
2. Alaska: T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan (T. Rowe Price funds)
3. Alaska: University of Alaska College Savings Plan (T. Rowe Price funds)
4. Maine: NextGenCollege Investing Plan - Client Direct Series (multiple fund families)
5. Maryland: College Savings Plans of Maryland – College Investment Plan (T. Rowe Price funds)
6. New York: New York’s 529 College Savings Program – Direct Plan (Vanguard funds)
7. District of Columbia: DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) (Calvert funds)
8. South Carolina: Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) (multiple fund families)
9. Utah: Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) Trust (mostly Vanguard funds)
10. Virginia: Virginia529 inVEST (multiple managers and fund families)
Ten-year Composite Performance Rankings (24 plans ranked)
1. Alaska: T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan (T. Rowe Price funds)
2. Alaska: University of Alaska College Savings Plan (T. Rowe Price funds)
3. Utah: Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) Trust (mostly Vanguard funds)
4. Kansas: Schwab 529 College Savings Plan (multiple fund families)
5. New York: New York’s 529 College Savings Program – Direct Plan (Vanguard funds)
6. Nevada: USAA 529 College Savings Plan (USAA funds)
7. Louisiana: START Saving Program (mostly Vanguard funds)
8. Maryland: College Savings Plans of Maryland – College Investment Plan (T. Rowe Price funds)
9. Virginia: Virginia529 inVEST (multiple managers and fund families)
10. Nevada: The Vanguard 529 Savings Plan (Vanguard funds)
Marie Osypian, Saving For College LLC, http://www.savingforcollege.com, +1 (585) 286-5426 Ext: 114, [email protected]
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