<prompt> Human: Hi rpf, first time poster, long time reader! At least, as far as I can remember.Im one of the myriad 20-somethings that hasnt proposedmarried off yet not forever alone though, but Im starting to turn my attention to the future, knowing that theres a relatively decent chance that the woman I eventually marry will either already have children or want to have them with me. I got a lot of help in my financial life with parental assistance for college, and its of paramount importance to me to be able to provide that for my own stepchildren.Im curious what tax-advantaged options there are out there to start saving for the education of a family I havent started yet. Is there a way to open an ESA529 without designating beneficiaries? Are there other options that I may not have considered that would help me achieve this goal without simply investing and taking capital gains on any appreciated value before having someone to designate as a beneficiary? Any insight at all would be appreciated.  <response>: You might look into using a Roth IRA for this instead of a 529, given that at the moment you dont really know if you will actually ever have kids for whatever reason. I dont remember the specific episode but a recent Marketplace Money podcast recommended to a caller that for his specific scenario the flexibility of an IRA was preferable to a 529. 