I opened a 529 plan for each kid last year. They both don't have much in them. I wasn't real sure on how to allocate the contributions so I did 25% to each of the 4 savings tracks based on their age. I've noticed I'm losing money, not much, but a few bucks, so I went and changed the contributions to 100% on the least aggressive portfolio (less stocks more bonds). Does anyone else have one of these? If so, are you losing $ and how did you decide to allocate your contributions?

We do have them for our boys, and ours are actually doing really well. It is one of our only investments that isn't losing in this market, actually! I don't know how we have them allocated, though, my dh does all that stuff.

We have 529 plans for both of our kids. We've had them for a while, so they both have a fair amount of money in them. We have them on the most aggressive track right now, and set it up so they will automatically get less aggressive as the kids get older. Yes, we lost a little bit the last quarter of 2007 and probably lost some this quarter as well, but we're going to tough it out. When things aren't so bad with the market, we've made significant returns; we certainly aren't losing even close to what we've made.

Amanda

The Dow is losing right now, so if you're kids are young, you shouldn't worry too much. The younger the child, the more stock/less bond portfolio you should have. That's the train of thought, though its hard to watch the funds shrink.

We have 529's for each of our boys. We have an automatic transfer made every month to fund them.

I agree with OP, if your children are younger the advice is to go with a more aggressive investment plan. That way you have more time to weather the ups and downs of the market, and a greater chance of making some good money on it.

The plan we have automatically adjusts the allocation based on age.