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#43258 - 05/07/08 04:36 PM How to close or transfer WEST VA Harford 529 plan?
marigil22
Registered: 05/07/08
Posts: 1
hi,
I live in California.
Over a year ago I went into my local bank, and opened two accounts for my two daughters(2&5). The broker/investor advisor recommended the West Virginia Hartford 529 plan aged based investments. And recommended monthly auto. deposits of at least $50 to avoid out of state fees. But I am upset at the 5% fee per automatic monthly contribution. This fee is eating up all the earnings. What are my options? I don't mine keeping this plan since my state (CA) doesn't offer any state tax debefits. But I hate paying the 5% fee for each contribution. Can I transfer these accounts into direct sold accounts without having a broker? What are my options?
thanks.

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#43267 - 05/08/08 02:52 PM Re: How to close or transfer WEST VA Harford 529 plan? [Re: marigil22]
X terminator
Registered: 03/08/07
Posts: 55
you did not know about the 5% fee when you opened the account???
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#43272 - 05/08/08 05:46 PM Re: How to close or transfer WEST VA Harford 529 plan? [Re: X terminator]
Dopps
Registered: 01/23/02
Posts: 1187
Sounds like you have a 529 in A shares that have a 5% sales charge per deposit--nothing unusual about that. What is unusual, though, is your apparent surprise over this. As X said, did the bank's advisor inform you of this? Did the advisor provide you with a prospectus that would have outlined this? Did you sign any forms, presumably with the bank's broker/dealer, at the time of the application that disclosed this? If not, then you may want to complain to the advisor's supervisor or to the bank's broker/dealer that this key information was not properly disclosed prior to the sale. You may even want to take it to the regulatory agencies (SEC, NASD) if you really feel you were wronged and misled.

Otherwise, as I told another poster regarding American Funds, you need to adopt a long-range view of sales charges by spreading them out, in your mind, over the life of the investment. For example, if you will invest for 20 years, then the first year's deposits are really only costing you .25% per year on average (5% load /20 years). The complaint that the load is "eating up" your earnings is really not appropriate, as you are applying a very short time frame to what should be a long-term investment.

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#43279 - 05/08/08 06:21 PM Re: How to close or transfer WEST VA Harford 529 plan? [Re: Dopps]
TexasCFP
Registered: 08/23/01
Posts: 748
Bottom line is if you don't feel that you're getting any benefit from your engagement with the bank securities salesman, then no time period justifies paying a fee.

You should reflect on why the WV plan was recommended originally, compare that plan to other options, review the performance of your investment selection against appropriate benchmarks, then go have a chat with the person that sold it to you. They should be able to support their recommendation, answer your questions, update the education saving calculations they hopefully did for you so you can see if you're making progress towards your goal, which they also should have helped you develop. If you're not interested in seeking that rep's help then stop sending in money and find an option that you like better using research tools available on this site.

Good luck!
_________________________
David Hollands, CFP

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