Elementary advice
Some Oklahoma City elementary students received basic advice today from the state’s banker.
State Treasurer Scott Meahcam talked to first graders at Cleveland Elementary about getting a head start on their college savings.
He handed out piggy banks containing $1 coins to remind parents and grandparents to start saving for college. Two lucky students received vouchers for $100 cash prizes.
Meacham last week passed out piggy banks to first graders at Lanier Elementary School in Tulsa.
The piggy bank giveaway is part of the sixth annual Financial Planning Week, a joint effort of the Oklahoma College Savings Plan and the Financial Planning Association.
Members of the Central Oklahoma Financial Planning Association chapter will deliver piggy banks to more than 20 elementary schools in Oklahoma City and surrounding areas. Altogether, 5,000 banks will be given away; 30 will contain $100 cash prizes donated by the Oklahoma College Savings Plan.
Meacham, chairman of the Oklahoma College Savings Plan, said families that start saving for college when their children are young can reap tax benefits on those savings for many years.
All contributions and any earnings to a college savings plan account are tax deferred and become permanently tax free when qualified withdrawals are made to fund a variety of student expenses at most institutions of higher learning. Funds may be used at virtually any private or public college nationwide, and the savings can be applied to tuition as well as other qualified expenses including fees, books, supplies and certain room-and-board costs.
The Oklahoma College Savings Plan is the only 529 plan with an Oklahoma income tax deduction of up to $20,000 per family.
Introduced in April 2000, the Oklahoma College Savings Plan has more than $275 million in total assets. The number of accounts has surpassed 36,000.
Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
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