Enough to Do Anything. Not Enough to Do Nothing.

You built real wealth your kids will inherit. The hard part was never affording tuition — it’s funding their future without handing them a reason to coast. We’ve sat across from families wrestling with exactly this. There’s no perfect answer, but there is a right way to do it.
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And for most families, that’s fine. But you didn’t build what you built by accident — and the way you fund education shouldn’t be an accident either. Which accounts you use, who owns them, how they’re structured, and when the money comes out all quietly shape your estate tax exposure, your kids’ financial aid, and how cleanly wealth moves to the next generation. The difference between thinking it through and winging it can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. We treat this as part of your whole picture, not a form you fill out once and forget.

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Still the most tax-efficient vehicle for most families — but account ownership, beneficiary structure, and superfunding strategy matter enormously at high wealth levels. We optimize every variable.
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Contribute up to five years of annual gift tax exclusions in a single year — up to $90,000 per beneficiary in 2024 — removing a significant sum from your taxable estate immediately while funding future education costs.
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For families looking to fund education across multiple generations, a properly structured irrevocable trust can provide greater control, asset protection, and flexibility than a standard 529 account.
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Payments made directly to a qualifying educational institution on behalf of a student are entirely excluded from gift tax — with no limit. For grandparents and other family members, this is one of the most powerful and underused wealth transfer tools available.
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For families funding K-12 private school costs alongside college, Coverdell ESAs provide tax-free growth and broader qualified expense eligibility than 529 plans — useful as a complement within a broader strategy.
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Custodial accounts offer flexibility beyond education expenses, but carry important tax and control considerations. We evaluate when they make sense within your estate structure and how they interact with financial aid calculations.
The Bigger Picture

The fear most people won’t say out loud: giving the kids enough to do anything, and accidentally giving them enough to do nothing. Done right, education funding is one of the cleanest ways to move money to the next generation — tuition paid directly to a school isn’t even a taxable gift, with no limit. It lets you invest in who they become before any inheritance ever changes hands. We help you use that on purpose.

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A Way to Move Wealth Without Spoiling It
Our Process

How We Build Your Education Funding Strategy

We start by mapping the full picture — how many children or grandchildren, target schools and cost projections, timeline to enrollment, and any existing accounts or commitments already in place.
Planning Ahead
$500K+

projected four-year cost at a top private university by 2035, including room, board, and fees

The Cost of Doing Nothing Is Compounding Every Year

For families with multiple children or grandchildren, the aggregate education funding obligation can easily exceed seven figures. Without a structured strategy, families often liquidate taxable investment accounts, trigger unnecessary capital gains, or miss significant estate planning opportunities. We build education funding plans that grow alongside the obligation — so you are never scrambling when enrollment arrives.

The families we work with do not worry about whether they can afford tuition. They worry about doing it the right way.

At this level, the question was never whether you can pay for school. It’s whether you’ll do it in a way you won’t second-guess later. The gap between a plan you thought through and one you cobbled together can quietly cost hundreds of thousands — in estate taxes you didn’t need to owe, gifting windows you let close, and returns you left on the table. We’ve watched smart families make every one of those mistakes. So we bring the same care here that we bring to every other corner of your financial life.

Education Funding Questions from South Florida Families

Superfunding — formally known as the five-year gift tax election — allows you to contribute up to five years of the annual gift tax exclusion into a 529 account in a single year. In 2024, that means up to $18,000 per year times five, or $90,000 per beneficiary ($180,000 for married couples). The contribution is treated as if it were spread over five years for gift tax purposes, effectively removing a large sum from your taxable estate immediately. No additional annual exclusion gifts can be made to that beneficiary during the five-year window without triggering gift tax implications. For families with multiple grandchildren, this strategy can move significant wealth out of a taxable estate efficiently.
Under the updated FAFSA rules that took effect for the 2024-25 aid cycle, grandparent-owned 529 distributions no longer count as student income on the FAFSA — eliminating what was previously a significant financial aid penalty. However, the impact on CSS Profile schools, which are used by many elite private universities, can vary. We evaluate financial aid implications as part of account ownership decisions, particularly for families whose income and assets may put them near aid eligibility thresholds.
Yes — beginning in 2024, the SECURE 2.0 Act allows unused 529 funds to be rolled into a Roth IRA for the beneficiary, subject to certain conditions: the 529 must have been open for at least 15 years, annual rollovers are limited to the Roth IRA contribution limit, and lifetime rollovers are capped at $35,000. This change significantly reduces the risk of over-funding a 529, making superfunding strategies more attractive for families who previously worried about excess balances.
Under IRC Section 2503(e), payments made directly to a qualifying educational institution for tuition — not room, board, or fees — are completely excluded from gift tax with no dollar limit. A grandparent can pay $80,000 in annual tuition directly to a university, on top of a separate $18,000 annual exclusion gift to the same grandchild, with no gift tax consequences whatsoever. This is one of the most powerful and underutilized tools in the UHNW estate planning toolkit, particularly for families with significant estate tax exposure.
Absolutely — and for high-net-worth families, this coordination is not optional, it is essential. Education funding decisions affect your annual gift tax exclusion usage, your lifetime exemption calculations, and your estate’s overall gifting strategy. A superfunding contribution, a direct tuition payment, and an annual 529 contribution to the same beneficiary in the same year all interact with each other and with your broader estate plan. We ensure every education funding decision is made with full visibility into its tax and estate planning implications.
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At Nichols Wealth Partners, we work with families across Boca Raton and Palm Beach County who built their wealth themselves — and who care less about the next tuition bill than about getting the bigger decisions right. We don’t hand you a brochure. We sit down, ask the questions you’ve been carrying alone, and fold education into the whole picture: your estate, your investments, and the family you’re really doing this for.

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Your financial future deserves personalized attention. Let us show you what a true partnership looks like.

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