529 College Savings Plan Assets Blooming

This total was up 40.6% from the third quarter 2004 total of $45.1 billion and up 7.4% from an estimated $59.0 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2005, according to a CSF news release.

Estimated net sales, or net new contributions, of 529 savings plans for the third quarter were $3.2 billion, compared with $3.4 billion in the second quarter and $2.2 billion in 2004’s third quarter, according to FRC.

CSF also released its third quarter 2005 report on asset types in Section 529 college savings plans. According to the release, highlights of the report include:

• Age-based portfolios represented 69.9% of the $20.3 billion total assets of CSF members responding to its survey, followed by static, or fixed, portfolios, at 23.4%.
• Of the $20.3 billion in assets represented in the survey, more than 40% was held in no-load portfolios. The remaining broker-sold shares accounted for approximately 60% of assets, with front- and level-load shares accounting for 46% of total assets under management.
• In a smaller sample representing about $11.6 billion in assets, 21.6% had an investment mix of 80% equity/20% fixed income. Almost 18% was invested 100% in equity, and 17.3% had a 60/40 equity/fixed income investment mix.

The College Savings Foundation’s Web site is www.collegesavingsfoundation.org .