It’s back! The extremely popular $25 sign up bonuses for the Ohio 529 College Advantage plan [1] have returned.
When they ran the program last fall, it was one of the most popular Free Money [2] Friday offers. For those of you that missed out, here’s your chance!
How to Earn Your $25 Referral Bonus
- Open a new Ohio 529 College Advantage [3] account with $25.
- Enter the following referral code: 2323158
- You will receive a $25 credit to your account within 7-10 business days after your account is established.
- You must establish an account on or before May 31, 2009 in order to be eligible to receive the referral bonus.
Ohio 529 Plan Highlights
The Ohio plan is one of my favorites [4]. We have nine accounts with them (but I’m sure I’ll open some more with the new promotion!) Here’s why:
- Low fees [5] and investment options. You can invest in the Vanguard 500 index fund with a 0.19% expense ratio.
- No enrollment fee or maintenance fee.
- Low initial investment ($25), which means it’s easy for me to open accounts for my niece and other young children in our lives.
- You don’t have to live in Ohio to take advantage of it, although Ohio residents can take a tax deduction.
- If you don’t have kids, you can just use yourself as the beneficiary.
Sweeten the Deal
Once you sign up, you can earn even more by referring your family members. If you open an account for one child, you can refer yourself to open a second account for another child to earn an extra $25 in each account. ($25 referral + 2 x $25 sign up bonus = $75).
In addition, you can have multiple accounts for the same children, using different owners. Scott and I each have an account for ourselves, each other, and each of the kids (8 total in our family alone).
If you don’t have plans for college, you can withdraw your deposit and referral bonus five business days after it is deposited. (Just remember, earnings are subject to income tax when withdrawn, plus 10% additional federal tax.)
I get 20 referral bonuses, so I’ll monitor them closely. If you subscribe by email or feed, be sure to check back at Ohio 529 College Advantage $25 Sign Up Bonus [6], as I’ll update the code once it looks like I’m getting close to 20.