That was the reason for the column. In early 2007, BrightStart fees will become
the lowest in the nation -- with index fund alternatives at .17 basis points,
and nothing higher than .65 all-in. Of course if purchased through a broker
there is at least a 3.5% load, so my new column recommends going directly to the
website at www.brightstartsavings.com to get the very lowest prices. The funds
will now be managed by Oppenheimer (again this switchover in early Jan,with the
option to moving into age-based index portfolios) and there will be a wider
choice, and all funds are at least 4-5 start Morningstar funds. So I highly
recommend this program, especially for Il residents who get a tax break. Terry

Terry Savage

www.TerrySavage.com -- Read my latest columns, answers to readers, recommended
websites, and order an autographed copy of The Savage Number: How Much Money Do
You Need to Retire?
-

"P.Schuman" <pschuman_NO_SPAM_ME[at]interserv.com> wrote in message
news:33flh.3985$x67.222[at]newssvr17.news.prodigy.net...
- quote -

Sounds like the fee is 0.99% now but will drop to much much lower
starting 2007. In all likelihood, they won't update the website until
early 2007 so check back in January. If the fees match what is stated
in the article, then the IL plan becomes definitely your best choice as
IL residents.

P.Schuman wrote:
- quote -

I had run across this article while doing a search for the plan info -
http://www.suntimes.com/business/sav...erry21.article
not sure what it will look like,
or how it will relate to the current .99% management fee.
I did have to pull up and read thru their "doc" to find the fee info
as the doc is dated June 2006,
https://www.brightstartsavings.com/p...scstat_il3.pdf
as the fee info was not posted as a general tab on the website.


<wyu[at]talisys.com> wrote in message
news:1167415575.230325.269480[at]48g2000cwx.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

The fees are pretty high -- 0.99% with another +0.35% possible if the
portfolio manager decides to invest in funds they don't have official
relationships with. By comparison, the lowest fee charged is OH's plan
at 0.25%-0.35%. On the otherhand, you get a IL income tax deduction. I
see IL has a flat 3% tax.

What makes a bigger difference? Running numbers...[crunch crunch
crunch]...my spreadsheet says assuming both plans return an average of
10% before expenses, the IL tax deduction will make a bigger difference
if your timeframe is 10 years or less. 11+ years, the expense ratio
becomes a larger impact on return. The IL plan starts at a 2.36%
advantage at year 1 and slowly decreases to 0 over ten years. At that
point, the OH plan goes up pretty fast -- up to +14% at year 18.




P.Schuman wrote:
- quote -

We are in Illinois,
and were just reading about the Illinois Brightstart 529 plan.
https://www.brightstartsavings.com
Wonder if there are any contriobutors of this plan,
and why you might have chose it over other plans...