529 plans

Those who leave the workforce and are sitting on losing investments may do tax-loss harvesting, or they may donate their winning holdings to a charity to avoid the capital gains tax

Each plan has pros and cons: Clients who own a Roth IRA for at least 5 years are entitled to penalty-free withdrawals for education expenses, but they'll owe income taxes on those earnings.

Each plan has pros and cons: Clients who own a Roth IRA for at least 5 years are entitled to penalty-free withdrawals for education expenses, but they'll owe income taxes on those earnings.

The robo-adviser announced this week a partnership with the state of Nevada and Ascensus to offer its own 529 plan.

Of the many industry critiques of the Department of Labor's fiduciary proposal, one of the most oft-repeated is the assertion that new regulations would cut off access to advice for low- and middle income investors — precisely the segment of consumers the initiative aims to protect.

The public has until July 21 to submit comments on the proposal that would expand the fiduciary standard to thousands of brokers and advisers who provide retirement investment advice.