I can’t believe that Christmas is in just 59 days. It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Katie’s first birthday and sweltering in New York’s long, hot summer. Now we’rebraving a nor’easter and wearing coats.

Earlier today, my sister-in-law sent me a text sharing that with a huge sigh of relief she’d just finished wrapping the last of her Christmas gifts. Come again? With 59 days left until Christmas, Becca has already purchased and wrapped all her gifts. This not only made me feel 100% behind, but also made me realize that Bo and I have to sit down and finalize Katie’s wish list. Making a Christmas list for Katie is especially hard since we live in New York City. Our family of three lives in a 1,500 square foot apartment. Up until recently, our place felt spacious. But, recently, it’s feels more like a tornado of chaos than a spacious, Brooklyn brownstone apartment.

In fact, as soon as Katie goes down for a nap or to sleep at night, Bo and I both take five minutes to put away all of her toys and restore order. At sixteen months of age, Katie loves nothing more than dragging her favorite toy of the hour into every room or dumping her blocks all over. Needless to say, while we’ve started to introduce the concept of putting our toys away, she definitely hasn’t mastered cleaning up after herself.

Even though today during a fun play date with friends, Katie played with multiple toys that she doesn’t have, it’s hard for us to imagine adding more things to our space. While we will of course ask for a few gifts, we are hoping to put more gifts towards something she won’t outgrow – a NY-529. Thanks to Momtrends and Vanguard, I had the opportunity to learn more about the NY 529 plan. Since we’ve only discovered 529 plans recently, I figured this was something you guys would appreciate as well.

Here are a few facts about 529 plans, so you can figure out whether this is something you need or if you want to ask family members to donate money to it in lieu of gifts this holiday season.

• What the heck is a 529 plan? 
  • A 529 is an investment account that people can use for higher-education savings. They are often sponsored by states and some, like New York, provide tax benefits. Your earnings grow federally tax-deferred and qualified withdrawals are tax-free*.  The money in the 529 can be used for multiple types of higher education including college, graduate school, vocational school and anything that is school related, beyond tuition.  In New York the tax is deferred and New York State taxpayers benefit from a tax deduction.
• How do people contribute to a 529? 
  • You can either directly deposit their checks or cash to the 529 or you can give them a gift code. There some websites and companies that provide gift coupons or links that help people easily donate or gift contributions during the holiday season.
• What is the minimum amount of money needed to open a 529? 
  • Unlike certain savings accounts, you only need $1 to open a 529. In addition, there are no monthly or yearly contribution requirements. In fact, you can contribute as little or, nearly, as much as you’d like over the lifetime of the 529.  In fact, in New York, the contribution limit, in aggregate to one person’s 529 account is $520,000.
• Can my child have more than one? 
  • Yup, your child can have countless 529 accounts if that’s what you want. They just need to be registered under his or her legal name.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. Compensation was provided by NY529 via Momtrends.  As always, all words and opinions are my own.