Competitive Analysis

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529 Savings Tool
Competitive Analysis

Heather Hopkins
 The Goal:
The goal of this competitive analysis is to compare features in online calculators that are
designed to help users decide how much they should save for college using a 529 plan
and if they are on track to cover the projected college expenses for their children.

Additionally, we will look at similar calculators that may have features or styles we may
find to be beneficial in our own calculator development.
 College Savings
Calculator

https://www.savingforcollege.com/calculators/college-savings-calculator
SavingforCollege.com College Savings Calculator
Savingforcollege.com is an independent resource for
parents and financial professionals, providing them with
information and tools to understand the benefits of 529
college savings plans and how they can prepare to meet
the challenge of increasing college costs.

Their 529 Savings calculator is clean and easy to

understand. It starts off with some general questions.
Step 1 is you choose to enter either type of college or
custom yearly cost, then step 2 is entering information
on how much you’ve already saved. Step 3 is how much
you can afford to save per month. Step 4 is the age of
the child. Step 5 is current yearly household income.
Then it analyzes your answers and gives you
information on projected college cost and projected
savings amount, gap, and scholarships and grants.
There is also information on 529 vs. savings plan. They
link to some savings plans which you can then look into
based on your state and the information you input into
the calculator.
SavingforCollege.com College Savings Calculator
Pros

● The flow of the calculator is

nice...takes you through the
questions, then gives you some
clear results
● The visuals are nice. The graphs
and the state selection are nice
and clear and look good
visually.
● A lot of good information in this
calculator and it does a good
job of breaking down projected
college cost, projected savings,
and other pertinent
information.
● Good customizations (although
could be more prominent, see
more notes on that in ‘cons’)
SavingforCollege.com College Savings Calculator
Cons

● They didn’t have an option to put in information for a second

child.
● I would have liked an additional option on step 1 to say ‘I
don’t know’ type of college rather than just type or custom
yearly cost. They have the option to skip, but it’s a little
confusing.
● Too many ads and too much information in the input
section. Would prefer to have the article/intro telling about it,
then the input questions, then the results so it’s a little more
clear.
● It doesn’t have a clear option to toggle on and off
scholarships and grants on the results page. It assumes the
student will get $37,289 in scholarships or grants. There is an
option to edit, but it’s not clear.
● There is an ability to change results to make them more
personalized, but it isn't very clear. I had to re-read the
description on ‘how to use the calculator’ before I realized I
could edit things like scholarship amount and percent
covered, etc. This should be more prominent.
 College Savings
Calculator

https://www.schwab.com/saving-for-college/college-savings-calculator
 Charles Schwab College Savings Calculator

Charles Schwab is a multinational

financial services company that offers a
variety of financial services, including
brokerage, trading, investment,
retirement, and other plans.

This calculator was cleaner and simpler

than the first one I looked at, and offered
the option to add multiple children,
which was a big plus. However, it was a
little more lacking in the information it
provided. I think the sweet spot is
offering more information like in the first
calculator, but having it be clean and
simple to understand like in this one.
Charles Schwab College Savings Calculator
Pros

● This calculator interface was a lot cleaner

than the saving for college one.
● They allow you to add more than one child,
which is important because people may want
to do plans for multiple kids.
● Had the option to print a report to PDF, which
was helpful
● Lots of good information when you hover
over the graph
● Everything on one page
● Toggle between different kids’ plans is nice
and very user friendly
● Easy to adjust slider and other inputs on the
page and see results update
● It’s nice that it shows breakdown on what’s
covered per year in college
Charles Schwab College Savings Calculator
Cons

● This calculator wasn’t as thorough as

the first one and didn’t give me as
much information in the output about
what will be covered. It also didn’t have
the option to add scholarships or
grants to the assumptions of total
college cost
● It didn’t have links out to the various
plans, I assume because maybe
Schwab offers a product of their own
● Overall I think it was clean and simple
to understand, but very simplistic and
maybe only useful for somebody who
is just starting to explore what a 529
plan is, not as useful for somebody
who is ready to buy and wants to
select their plan.
 College Savings
Calculator

http://www.fidelity.com/misc/college-savings/college_savings.html
Fidelity College Savings Calculator
Fidelity Investments is a multinational
financial services company that offers a
variety of financial services, including
brokerage, trading, investment,
retirement, and other plans.

Their College Savings Calculator is nicely

presented, clean, simple, and to the
point. It presents the information well,
but it is limited in some ways as well. I
think it is a good calculator to look at for
stylistic choices, but it needs more added
to it, such as the ability to add a second
child and the ability to adjust some of
the inputs after the results have been
tallied.
Fidelity College Savings Calculator
Pros

● The calculator page is clean

and uncluttered, and all the
questions and inputs are on
the first page in a simple, easy
to understand list.
● The results page is attractive
with the slider and the header
with 4 icons and basic
information. It is a nice tool
for somebody who is just
starting to think about college
savings and not necessarily
somebody ready to pick a
plan.
Fidelity College Savings Calculator
Cons

● After results have been tallied, it only lets you

adjust the dollar amount per month you’re saving
but none of the other inputs can be adjusted.
● The calculator only lets you see info for one child,
but many people have multiple children they want
plans for.
● Results break it down by year of college, which is
great, but you can’t adjust the number of years in
college. It automatically assumes you’ll be
attending for four years only, not accounting for
students who might take longer or students who
continue on into grad school.
● The only way to restart and change inputs is to
refresh the page, you can’t adjust inputs at all
● The icons and font seems on input page a bit huge.
I had to make sure my browser wasn’t zoomed in.
They could reduce the size a little bit and fit more
above the fold...it’s so big it makes you scroll more.
.
 College Savings Planner

https://vanguard.wealthmsi.com/csp.php
Vanguard College Savings Planner
The Vanguard Group is an American
registered investment advisor based in
Malvern, Pennsylvania with about $6.2 trillion
in global assets under management, as of
January 31, 2020. It is the largest provider of
mutual funds and the second-largest provider
of exchange-traded funds in the world after
BlackRock's iShares.

The Vanguard 529 calculator was very similar

to the Charles Schwab tool. It was laid out in
the same way and had many of the same
features. It is a simple, easy to understand,
one-page solution.
Vanguard College Savings Planner
Pros

● They allow you to add more than one

child, which is important because
people may want to do plans for
multiple kids.
● Had the option to print a report to
PDF, which was helpful
● Lots of good information when you
hover over the graph
● Everything on one page
● Toggle between different kids’ plans is
nice and very user friendly
● Easy to adjust slider and other inputs
on the page and see results update
● It’s nice that it shows breakdown on
what’s covered per year in college
Vanguard College Savings Planner
Cons

● It didn’t have the option to add

scholarships or grants to the assumptions
of total college cost
● It didn’t have links out to the various plans.
● Overall I think it was clean and simple to
understand, but very simplistic and maybe
only useful for somebody who is just
starting to explore what a 529 plan is, not
as useful for somebody who is ready to
buy and wants to select their plan.
● You can add multiple children, but the
total cost results are still only shown when
toggling between the two. This is useful,
however, it would be nice to also have a
line item that shows total cost across all
plans in one calculation.
 College Savings
Calculator

https://www.invesco.com/college-bound-529-plan/college-savings-calculator
Investco College Savings Calculator
Invesco Ltd. is an American
independent investment
management company that is
headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia,
United States, and has branch
offices in 20 countries. Its common
stock is a constituent of the S&P
500 and trades on the New York
stock exchange.

I really liked the way this calculator

was laid out. It started with a
modal that walked the user
through the initial questions, and
then ended on a results page that
showed both results and all inputs
so that users could easily adjust in
real time.
Investco College Savings Calculator
Pros

● Very nice flow at the beginning, starting with

the modal having user answer all the
questions.
● Very nice output screen which included the
inputs to allow users to adjust and see results
change in real time.
● Ability to add a second child from the output
screen.
● Ability to print a PDF of results.
● Lots of customization options.
● Loved the drop down/search field combo
which allowed users to search for a specific
college or choose a generic option like
‘in-state public’, ‘out of state public’, etc.
● Ability to toggle on/off stuff like extra
expenses, books, housing, and adjust those
dollar amounts as well.
Investco College Savings Calculator
Cons

● Couldn’t adjust the number of years a

person is in college
● Grade option only went up to 11th, but
you can open a 529 at any time, no matter
how old you are, as long as it’s for school
expenses. This option should be optional
to toggle off
● Birth year was great, but I think an option
to also have when the beneficiary would
be entering college would also be helpful.
Standard is whatever age they are, and
then will attend college when they are
around 18 years old, but there are
exceptions. A cover-all would be to have
either birth year and expected year to
enter college, or age and expected age to
enter college. This would cover all
situations.
 College Calculator

https://www.capitalgroup.com/individual/planning/tools/ext/college-savings-calculator.html
Capital Group College Calculator
Capital Group is an American
financial services company. It ranks
among the world's oldest and largest
investment management
organizations, with over $2 trillion in
assets under management.

Their calculator was clean and had a

nice flow to it. I liked how it funneled
you through it nicely. There were
some great features on this one, but
also a few things I thought were
lacking, mainly customization options.
 Capital Group College Calculator
Pros

● Very nice start page, looks nice with big photo. It sells me on
wanting to do the exercise.
● Box with rotating stats on college costs was a nice touch.
https://www.screencast.com/t/RzBvVp8NwW
● It had ability to put in number of years you expect the child to
attend college, which is a nice feature a lot of the calculators out
there don’t have
● Can pick by school name or by averages when looking for specific
kind of college to save for
● Includes ‘additional expenses’ like room and board as a
consideration
● Output page is very clean and gives estimate on when child would
attend college (year), estimated cost by that time, and what
additional expenses like housing, books, meal plans might cost as
well. Then it gives you a funding goal showing your one time
contribution (initial investment) plus what you should pay per
month to meet this goal.
● Can print out the PDF of the plan
Capital Group College Calculator
Cons

● No ability to add a second child

● Doesn’t include any options to include
estimated scholarships or grants
● Assumption is only for children up to age 17, but
you can take out a 529 at any age
● No links out to various plans
● No ability to adjust inputs on the results page.
This made it cleaner, but you do have to either
go back or start over in order to adjust
assumptions.
● Results page was clean and gave clear goals, but
I felt like it could have had more visuals like
graphs and/or more information on next steps
somebody could take on their path to taking out
a 529 plan. It doesn’t really give you much in the
way of actionable items except to download a
PDF to print and show to your advisor.
 College Savings
Planning Calculator

https://www.scholarshare529.com/tools/calculator/
ScholarShare529 College Savings Planning Calculator
Scholarshare is the California State 529 plan,
a tax-advantaged investment vehicle
designed to encourage saving for the future
higher education expenses of a designated
beneficiary.

The ScholarShare calculator was easy enough

to understand and I liked how they had the
different boxes set up as steps 1-4, and the
goal results page was fun looking with the
thermometer illustrating the goal and
everything being color coded. This one had
some cool aspects to it that I might want to
take into consideration when designing our
tool.
ScholarShare529 College Savings Planning Calculator
Pros

● Had age of child, plus age expected

to start college.
● Very visually appealing results
page. I love the goal thermometer.
● Simple and easy to understand.
● Color coded items on results page
and divided sections makes it easy
to read
● Button to open account right from
the results page
● Had option for years expected to
attend college
ScholarShare529 College Savings Planning Calculator
Cons

● No ability to add a second child

● No ability to add for adults
● Tried to use the ‘age’ feature for an adult but got an
error when I said the current age is 33 and expected
college start date is age 40. If 529 plans are available
for adults, why does this give me an error?
● Has an option to include room and board, but not to
include things like scholarships, grants, or books,
etc.
● Results page looks cool and is visually fun, but could
be enhanced if you could hover over items and get
more info, or if it showed progress over time.
● You can adjust the inputs to see the output change,
but a slider would be nice to adjust right on the
results. What if I could move the line on the
thermometer up and down and see the results on
the left change in terms of how much you would
have to pay per month, etc.?
Dinkytown and CalcXML for Back
End Functionality
 Dinkytown Calculator https://www.dinkytown.net/java/college-savings-calculator.html
Saving for your children's education requires a long-term plan. And, like
saving for retirement, the earlier you start your plan the better. Use this
calculator to help develop or fine-tune your education savings plan. Click
the "View Report" button for a detailed look at the results. By changing any
value in the following form fields, calculated values are immediately
provided for displayed output values. Click the view report button to see
all of your results.

College Savings Plan:

● Education cost inflation:*Enter an amount between 0% and 20%

● Current savings:*Enter an amount between $0 and $1,000,000
● Monthly contributions:*Enter an amount between $0 and
$100,000
● Rate of return:*Enter an amount between 0% and 20%

College expenses child one:

● Age of child one:*Enter an amount between 0 and 25

● Age to start education:*Enter an amount between 0 and 25
● Tuition:*Enter an amount between $0 and $100,000
● Room and board:*Enter an amount between $0 and $100,000
● (Option to add up to four children with same inputs as above)
Dinkytown Calculator https://www.dinkytown.net/java/college-savings-calculator.html
● Balance and Expenses by Year Graph
● Total Costs By Child Graph

College Savings Calculator Definitions

● Age of children: The current age of your children. The

difference between their current age and the age they
start college is the number of years you have to save.
● Age to start education: The age your child will begin
college. The default is 18, but this can be any age up to
25.
● Annual tuition: The current estimated cost of one year
of tuition and books. This amount should be per child
and be specific to the school they may be interested in
attending. The average published costs of college for
the 2019-20 school year (including tuition, room and
board, books, supplies, transportation and other
personal expenses) as reported by the College Board:
(shows table)
Dinkytown Calculator https://www.dinkytown.net/java/college-savings-calculator.html
● Room and board: The current estimated cost of one-year room and board. Like tuition and books,
this amount should be per child and specific to the school they may be interested in attending. For
the purposes of this calculator, all expenses are assumed to be due at the end of the year.
● Education cost inflation: This is the percentage that you expect educational costs to increase per
year. Data provided by The College Board's "Trends in College Pricing 2019" reported tuition, room
and board increases at approximately 4.8% annually over the past 10 years. 2019 saw a smaller
increase of approximately 2.8%.
● Current amount: The total amount you currently have saved for your children's education.
● Monthly contributions: The dollar amount you plan to save per month toward your children's
education. All amounts are assumed to be added to your account at the beginning of the month.
● Rate of return: This is the annually compounded rate of return you expect from your investments. This
will also be the rate used if you end up with a negative balance and need to borrow money to meet your
goal. The actual rate of return is largely dependent on the types of investments you select. The Standard &
Poor's 500® (S&P 500®) for the 10 years ending December 31st 2019, had an annual compounded rate of
return of 13.2%, including reinvestment of dividends. From January 1, 1970 to December 31st 2019, the
average annual compounded rate of return for the S&P 500®, including reinvestment of dividends, was
approximately 10.7% (source: www.standardandpoors.com). Since 1970, the highest 12-month return was
61% (June 1982 through June 1983). The lowest 12-month return was -43% (March 2008 to March 2009).
Savings accounts at a financial institution may pay as little as 0.25% or less but carry significantly lower risk
of loss of principal balances. It is important to remember that these scenarios are hypothetical and that
future rates of return can't be predicted with certainty and that investments that pay higher rates of return
are generally subject to higher risk and volatility. The actual rate of return on investments can vary widely
over time, especially for long-term investments. This includes the potential loss of principal on your
investment. It is not possible to invest directly in an index and the compounded rate of return noted above
does not reflect sales charges and other fees that investment funds and/or investment companies may
charge.
CalcXML Calculator https://www.calcxml.com/do/529-college-savings-plan
What are the advantages of a 529 college savings plan?

Tax-deferral can have a dramatic affect on the growth of an investment. With a state-sponsored 529 College Savings
Plan your contributions can grow tax-deferred (some states allow contributions to be partially or completely
deductible) and distributed income tax-free as long as distributions are used for qualified education expenses such as
tuition, fees, room and board at higher education institutions.

There is no limit on contributions but some states tend to limit contributions once the plan assets have reached a
defined maximum (typically $230,000 - $500,000). Under a special election, you may make contributions of up to
$70,000 per beneficiary in a single year without triggering a federal gift tax by accelerating five years' worth of
contributions (gifts) as of 2020. Married couples may contribute $140,000 per beneficiary in a single year.*

Assets are professionally managed by fund managers selected by the state. Participants can choose from two to
almost 30 mutual fund-type investments. Control of the account remains with the contributor regardless of the age of
the beneficiary.

* A $70,000 gift is viewed as an accelerated gift over five years. Any other gifts to the same beneficiary by the
contributor within five years may result in a federal gift-tax liability. If the contributor dies within the five-year period, a
prorated portion of the contribution may be included in his or her taxable estate for federal estate tax purposes.
CalcXML Calculator https://www.calcxml.com/do/529-college-savings-plan
Savings

● Initial investment amount ($)

_______
● Annual savings amount: ($)
_______
● Number of years contributions
are made: (0 to 30) _______

Assumptions

● Before-tax return on savings

(-12% to 12%) _______
● Marginal tax bracket (0% to
75%) _______
Common Input Questions
Input Questions Asked Across All Calculators
● How old is your child? / How old is the child you're saving for? / Child’s Current Age
● Age Starting College
● Years Attending College
● Add a child +
● Child’s Name
● Today, what is the approximate one year cost of the school your child may attend? (an estimate is OK)
● Current Annual College Cost (with number input or ability to select from a list of types of schools or even select a specific
college: https://www.screencast.com/t/TwUM3zzUH2v)
● Type of college (with drop down for private, in-state public, out-of-state public, or community college) or can choose
custom yearly cost.
● What percent of the cost do you expect to cover from savings?
○ Between financial aid scholarships, families on average pay approximately 50% of the cost of college out of pocket.*
○ View this chart to see how the typical family pays for college.
● How much do you have saved so far? / current savings balance
○ Include any savings in a 529 plan, savings accounts and other investments intended for college tuition.
● How much are you currently saving for college each month? / planned monthly contribution amount / Given your current
expenses, how much can you reasonably afford to save for college on a monthly basis?
Input Questions Asked Across All Calculators
● Have you already started saving for college?
○ Yes, so far I’ve saved _____
○ No, I haven’t started saving
● What is your current yearly household income?
● Hypothetical average rate of return
○ With info popup on hover and drop down that lets you choose from a number of options:
https://www.screencast.com/t/jtNggENa8)
● Rate of annual cost increase ____%
● % of cost funded by you
● Where do you live?
○ Your state of residence is used to determine the tuition at public colleges.
● What Is The Student's Grade Level?
○ This will be used to determine the future cost when the student starts college. (answer is a drop down with choices from
baby/pre-k, and then all grades ending with 11th grade)
● How much are you saving?
○ Your current savings plan will be used to estimate the future amounts in your college account. (two input fields for
current savings and monthly contribution)
● What college would the student like to attend?
○ Search for a specific college or select a college type (private or public). (had a cool search bar/drop down combo:
https://www.screencast.com/t/xXMwceqSsb6)
Input Questions Asked Across All Calculators
● My child is ____ years old
● I picture my child attending ______ v (drop down where user can enter a college name or select from 2020 national
averages for public, private, or ivy league)
● For a duration of ____ years
● Where is the school located (toggle in state/out of state)
● Will you fund additional expenses like room and board? (toggle yes/no)
● How would you like to fund your child's college education? (toggle fully/partially)
● I want to fund ___% of the total cost of my child’s education (defaults to 100% if you chose fully, or 50% if you chose
partially, but you can edit it)
● at a yearly increase of __% (defaults at 5% but it is editable)
● Starting investment $_______
● Monthly contribution $______
● Hypothetical annual growth rate __% (defaulted at 6)
Visual Inspiration
Inspiration…
Inspiration…
Inspiration…
Key Takeaways...
Conclusions from this study
● If at all possible, it would be extremely useful to users if they get to see the plans they qualify for in results and link to
them. Even more useful if those results are sorted in a way that’s easy to compare like a spreadsheet with check marks
(like comparison...has these features, doesn’t have these features, etc.)
● Education before using the tool is helpful. Can have a question at the beginning where we ask if they feel confident in
their knowledge about 529’s. If not, we can direct them to take the course or read an article (but can still use the tool if
they want)
● Have a few simple questions to gauge their demographics and eligibility, then spit out the results.
● Must have ability to add multiple children. You can only have one 529 plan per person, but some of the calculators had
the ability to add multiple children to help estimate total cost and that seemed really helpful given that many people have
multiple children they want to save for.
● The ability to change results in real time is extremely valuable, so having sliders or other features the user can change
right there on the results page to see the output change is most helpful (for instance, if I want to compare saving $100
per month vs. saving $200 per month, I shouldn’t have to go to a different page to do this...have it all on one page)
● Visuals and graphs are important. Ones to consider are...select your state (map of USA), Bar graphs that show per-year
contribution is good (see schwab),
● Include toggle on/off for scholarships and grants option, but make sure it is optional.
● Line graph showing savings growth over time also helpful (see saving for college).
● You can take out a 529 plan for yourself, but they all seem focused on children. While children account for most 529
plans, we should in some way address this option in our tool. If you’re planning on going to grad school or even for older
adults deciding to attend college for the first time, this is something that would be useful for them to know.