Planning for college....Where to Begin???

So My baby is only 7 months old but I've already started thinking about how expensive college is going to be when it is time for him to go. I have started saving for him, which is the obvious first thing to do. I have a savings account for him that I transfer a little bit of money into each week. But I knew there was other ways of saving, soooo I started researching 529 Plans. Wow is this confusing!!! So by definition A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged investment that to encourages saving for the college expenses of your child. Now came the hard part..which company do I choose to go with. Well, I began researching my State's plan, which is not that good by the way. But as I found through my research you can actually join the 529 plan of any state without any problem. The program I chose is administered by the State of Maine. I am also in no way endorsing them but I did open my 529 plan with Merrill Lynch. With ML I chose to invest my money in an age based portfolio. From what I understand this portfolio is an aggressive investment until my child turns 7, they then change the investments into more moderate or conservative ones. (Please anyone correct me if I am wrong). I am new at all of this. So I haven't put in too much money into it but I do see where my money is going and that is very interesting. See The Link for some books on Saving for College

Cool way to invest without even knowing!

Hello Smarty Pants Mommies!!

So one cool App I have been using lately is called "Acorns". This app is available on Smartphones. What this app does it invests your spare change. You do have to connect it and link it to your bank account. In my case I am often weary of this but nevertheless I decided to give it a try. So I linked it and in less than one month I have invested $75.44. This is pretty awesome because what they do is they take "Round Ups" from your everyday purchases and then each time you get to $5.00 they invest it in stocks.

Now the cool part is that you choose how they invest your money. You can choose from one of 5 categories, which are: Conservative, Moderately Conservative, Moderate, Moderately Aggressive and Agressive.

I chose to go with moderately Agressive. Acorns invests your money in the following categories and in the following ways if you choose to go with moderately aggressive.

Large Company Stocks- 0.13 cents of every dollar purchases the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)
Small Company Stocks- 0.25 cents of every dollar purchase the Vanguard Small Cap ETF (VB)
Emerging Market Stocks- 0.14 cents of every dollar will purchase the Vanguard ETF (VWO)
Real Estate Stocks- 0.22 cents of every dollar will purchase Vanguard REIT (VNQ)
Corporate Bonds- 0.21 cents of every dollar invested will purchase PIMCO investment Grade Corp Bd Index ETF (CORP)
Government Bonds- 0.05 cents of every dollar will purchase the iShares 1-3 Treasury Bond ETF (SHY)

I will update you guys on my progress monthly.

So this is in no way a way to get rich BUT it is a way to get your foot in the door of investing especially if you are just starting out like me.

I am just writing this independently, I am in no way being paid by Acorns. Also I am not responsible for any monetary loss you may have by using this app.