W.A.Y. Planning vs 529
Since I’ll be comparing the WAY plan with our very own Alabama PACT program & 529 plans, let me set the record straight by saying that 1st and far most, my #1 goal hasn’t changed since 2006; And that’s to help families pay for college the best way possible. Despite the W.A.Y Plan’s popularity, the comparison below is in no way designed to shun or humiliate the Alabama College saving programs that have also helped thousands of families to pay for college over the last 10 - 15 years or better. In other words, I have a great deal of respect for the P.A.C.T. Plan and what it’s done to help families pay for high tuition cost.

However, once you look at the complete comparison chart prepared by my organization, It’ll become obvious that W.A.Y. Planning is literally loaded with more benefits than our very own State 529 plans including the PACT, and other 529 plans nationwide. As unfortunate as it may be with the funding issues that the PACT Plan is facing today, I personally have warned against using Government sponsored programs to help save for college for the last 5 years, as thousands of families have lost millions of hard earned dollars that was exposed to market risk while chasing a rate of return.

These potential loss of funds have not only occurred  in the state of Alabama, but in every state that has a 529 program in the U.S. that is exposed to market risk and other limitations that their plan representatives usually do not share with them.

We, like you, can only accept the realization that our state college saving plans are very limited in terms of flexibility, control, and guarantees. So much so, that even without the currents problems facing our PACT program today, the benefits of W.A.Y. Planning would still heavily outweigh both the PACT and the College Count 529 plans combined.

If you are participating In the PACT program or any of our state 529 plans, you don’t have complete control and flexibility over your plan as you may have thought. Especially if your plan is exposed to market risk of any fashion. Whether you love to gamble or not, why take chances with one of your most precious investments -a college education- during today’s economic times with the money you’ve worked so hard to accumulate.  

If you are a fan of the PACT program as we are, Please help us in giving the Alabama state college saving programs a better grade by informing us of any benefit(s) that we might have missed while conducting our research. We will gladly restructure this comparison chart to accommodate any unlisted benefits. You may also leave a general comment concerning any thoughts you may have about the information provided.

I would like to point out that the score of the State plans are reflected on the scale of total benefits. It is not a reflection on how good or bad each program is in and of itself.

For example: Suppose that we were comparing only 7 total benefits instead of 30. If you took the 6 major benefits of the Alabama state plans and included them into the total of 7, the state plan would have scored an impressive 86% (6 of 7). Not bad… right? However, in order to do that, you would also be forced to limit disclosing all the remaining benefits of W.A.Y. Planning.

Therefore, It’ s the extended benefits of WAY planning that causes the PACT grade to decline as the benefit comparison categories increase; and as you can see, there really is no comparison!  Again, this is not to say that the PACT program is bad. I’ll let you be the judge of whether or not you feel it’s good or bad. (Hence why PACT participates have gladly switched to WAY Planning and are still coming aboard like never before)
Want to see if WAY Planning is for you? If you live anywhere in the state of Alabama you may qualify for a WAY Plan.