As of December 2019 you can use up to $10,000 of 529 plans to pay down student loans for yourself or a sibling ($10,000 per). The new law also allows the funds to be used for apprenticeships that are registered with the Federal Labor Department. This is the second expansion in 2 years – in 2018 plans were updated to allow $10,000 a year to be contributed to pre-college education (Kindergarten up).
Rates – improved marginally this week as the 10 Year US Treasury yield hit the lowest levels of the quarter. If the treasury breaks convincingly below 1.67 we would see further improvement in rates.
Home Sales – are up a whopping 10.8% year over year reaching the fastest pace in two years. At the same time supply is at the lowest level on record of 1.4M units. This speaks to the healthy demand for housing. If more units were available, homes would be selling at a faster pace.
Jobs – 211,000 people filed for unemployment last week. While it increased slightly from last week it is a very low number and speaks to the health of the job market. This week’s numbers will be reflected in the jobs report for January so expect a strong report on Feb. 7th.