<prompt> Human: Hi, rpf! Im 35, married with a 5 year old and a 3 year old. I make a good living and max out my 401k every year, have a 6 month emergency fund, and some years have enough left over to contribute to IRAs as well. I have no meaningful debt beyond a 30 year mortgage fixed at 4.25 and a small car loan at 2 that I could pay off but why bother.At the advice of my financial planner I am diverting about 250 a month to a 529 plan for my kids future college educations and to date have about 7,500 socked away in there. Every month I get a statement informing me of Fidelitys up front sales charge of 4.25 and it makes me cranky.Are these sales charges reasonable and customary? Does anyone know of a no load 529 plan where I could be getting better returns? Thanks!  <response>: Lots of unhelpful responses in this thread, which is unusual for this sub. Anyway: a 4.25 upfront charge is absolutely outrageous. Any financial advisor who would steer you into something like this is not your friend and is not helping you. Just open a retail account at Vanguard, there is no upfront charge and the fund expenses are much lower. 