Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs is pushing a bill allowing parents who don't use all the money in their Illinois 529 College Savings Accounts to roll the funds to a Roth IRA retirement account. Frerichs urged state lawmakers to approve the tax and penalty-free rollovers from Bright Start and Bright Directions in his speech.
"(There are) two things we want to do: we want more people saving and being financially secure, their kids getting better education and graduating without being saddled with so much debt, and we also want families saving for retirement."
State law allows leftover funds in a Bright Start account to be used by another family member going to college or put into an Illinois ABLE account. Money can also be taken as a non-qualified withdrawal with tax implications.
