529 Plan Account Type Not Included in Net Worth Report (edited)

Snipes

This happened for me maybe 2 months ago or something, so there may already be a discussion on it that I can't find.

On the Dashboard, my Net Worth reports correctly. On the Reports section under the Net Worth tab, it also reports correctly in the top graph area.

At the bottom, there is a little chart that shows the last 6 months of Net Worth, Assets, and Debt with Assets and Debt able to be expanded/collapsed. What appears to be missing - and is creating the difference for me - is that the 529 accounts I have appear to have been moved from where they were before (either Savings, Other Investments, something) to a new category called "Education". This category doesn't show up under the Assets collapsible section - resulting in my Net Worth here being lower by that Education total than is reported in the other locations I had stated.

I just wanted to report the bug in case you weren't aware.

Coach Natalie

@Snipes, thanks for posting to the Community!

Is the account in question classified as an "Other Asset"? If so, you are likely seeing this known issue:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/9495/updated-6-17-24-other-asset-other-liability-accounts-missing-from-net-worth-report

Please be sure to follow the Alert for updates if this is the case. I hope this helps!

-Coach Natalie

DannyB

I just set up a test account designated as a 529 with a balance of $1000 and made the account available for reports. It shows up in the Account list under Investments > Education, as @Snipes points out, but it is not showing up in the Net Worth report.

The Education Investment type account needs to be added to the Net Worth report as an Assest the same as all other Assest accounts do.

DannyB

@Coach Natalie

529 Plan is one of the types of investment accounts available for selection. The 529 Plan selection will create an account that is listed in the Accounts list under Investment Accounts with the subcategory of Education.

However, the Investment subcategory Education is not being added to the list in under Assests in the Net Worth report page.

Coach Natalie

Thanks, @DannyB, I found it!

I was able to reproduce this issue and have gotten it reported. I will post back with updates!

-Coach Natalie

SIMPL-23559

bobodc1

Adding to this thread. The "529 Plan" account type is another that's not showing up on the Net Worth report. I personally reported on the issue related to "Other Asset" being missing months ago. Simplifi team can you please put some priority into investigating the issues with The Net Worth report. I'm noticing a common theme here related to certain account types being excluded. Seems like the report logic is broken and one of your Dev's needs to look at the queries to figure out why certain account types are being excluded from this report. Obviously I don't know your product well enough but from my perspective as a user, I'm not understanding why you're excluding certain account types from this report - just show all of them.

Snipes

I am not sure if an explicit link was made. I did notice this thread that seemed to be similar in cause to this - where certain account types are not showing up in the net worth report.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/9495/ongoing-6-17-24-other-asset-accounts-missing-from-net-worth-report#latest

DannyB

Just a thought: If I understand correctly a 529 Plan is for education only for a child or dependent? If so, technically any funds in that 529 are not part of the parent's or custodians' net worth once contributed. I don’t count the balance of my grandchildren's' custodial accounts as part of my net worth. These funds once contributed to their accounts belong to them though I remain the custodian of the accounts until, in my jurisdiction, they reach the age of 18.

Snipes

@DannyB I do not believe this is the correct understanding of a 529 plan. The "owner" (generally a parent or grandparent) owns the funds as far as controlling the contribution level, investment allocation, and how and when to disburse funds. 529 plans may change their beneficiary. For instance, it is often advisable to "overfund" a first child as funds may be transferred to a subsequent child if not everything is used, and you have more time to fund the second child. Beneficiaries may also be transferred to any number of qualified family members. You also can have a 529 plan for yourself as a way of saving for your own education expenses in a tax-free way - if you know you want to go back to school in 5 years for instance.

I am not sure if your state has very different rules, but this wouldn't be the norm for how they work.

I think this would be markedly different from a custodial account where the parent is just a custodian for a minor's funds - until such a time as they reach the age of majority and the funds become theirs - like an UGMA/UTMA account or similar.

I think it is much more appropriate to view it kind of like a savings account (even though some may be invested) for a specific future expense. While, yes, this generally is to benefit someone else who is declared, and generally this will eventually be spent, it still would count as a part of the total net worth in the same way that if I was saving up for a house, car, computer, or my own college they would show up as savings on the net worth statement even though they may be spent on something that may not show up on that statement in the future.

I could see there being some value in flagging accounts to now show up on the net worth if desired, if someone wanted to exclude some particular saving behavior for some reason - like a child's account being monitored.