Rollover your
Out-of-State 529 Plan

It’s easy to roll over your out-of-state 529 plan into Bright Start. Take advantage of all the great benefits this top-rated college savings plan has to offer.

Benefits of Rolling Over to Bright Start

  1. The State of Illinois offers an income tax deduction of up to $10,000 ($20,000 if filing jointly) for contributions made to Bright Start. The Illinois Administrative Code provides that in the case of a rollover from a non-Illinois qualified tuition program, the amount of the rollover that is treated as a return of the original contribu­tion to the prior qualified tuition program (but not the earnings portion of the rollover) is eligible for the deduction for Illinois individual income tax purposes.
  2. Since 2017, Morningstar has ranked Bright Start as one of the best plans in the industry.
  3. Bright Start offers a number of quality investment options including Age-Based, Target, and Individual Fund Portfolios, and utilizes quality funds from 11 well respected fund families.
WATCH: How a Bright Start Rollover Can Help You Save on Taxes

Completing a Rollover is Easy

  1. Review your existing out-of-state 529 with your tax professional. Consider any surrender charges or penalties the out-of-state 529 plan may impose.
  2. If you don’t have a Bright Start account, you will need to establish one.
  3. Complete the Rollover Form.
    1. Obtain a Medallion Signature Guarantee on the form.
    2. Attach a copy of the latest statement from your out-of-state 529 plan.
    3. Mail the form to Bright Start, and let us handle the rest.
Rollover Form

Important Considerations

Before you rollover your existing 529 College Savings Plan, be sure to compare Bright Start with your existing 529 plan.

*The Morningstar Analyst Rating™ is not a credit or risk rating. It is a subjective evaluation performed by Morningstar’s manager research group, which consists of various Morningstar, Inc. subsidiaries (“Manager Research Group”). In the United States, that subsidiary of Morningstar Research Services LLC, which is registered with and governed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Manager Research Group evaluates each plan’s investment options within the context of their objectives and peer groups, with emphasis placed on the options with the most assets. Plans are evaluated based on four key pillars, including process, people, parent, and price. The Manager Research Group uses this four pillar evaluation to determine which plans they believe are likely to adhere to industry best practices and feature investment options that are likely to collectively outperform relevant peers on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. They consider quantitative and qualitative factors in their research, and the weight of each pillar is as follows: 30% for Process, People, and Parent, and 10% for Price. The Morningstar Analyst Rating scale is Gold, Silver, Bronze, Neutral, and Negative. Plans that receive Morningstar Analyst Ratings of Gold, Silver, or Bronze for the most part follow industry best practices, offering some combination of the following attractive features: a strong set of underlying investments, a solid manager selection process, a well-researched asset-allocation approach, an appropriate set of investment options to meet investor needs, low fees, and strong oversight from the state and program manager. State income tax benefits vary widely from state to state, and some states have no state tax benefit for investing in a 529 plan. Given the variability of state tax benefits for investors based on personal considerations such as residency, income level, size and frequency of contributions, and other factors, we do not treat tax benefits as a predictor of performance, and therefore it is not included in our ratings assessment. Morningstar Analyst Ratings are continuously monitored and reevaluated annually. For more detailed information about Morningstar’s Analyst Rating for 529 College-Savings Plans, including its methodology, please go to https://www.morningstar.com/content/dam/marketing/shared/pdfs/Research/Morningstar_Analyst_Rating_Methodology_071020.pdf.

The Morningstar Analyst Rating (i) should not be used as the sole basis in evaluating a plan, (ii) involve unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause analyst expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what they expected, and (iii) should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell a 529 college-savings plan or its underlying investment options.

©2021 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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