<prompt> Human: So, I was researching info about 529 plans because we just had a baby. I discovered that my state just ended the tax break for contributing to a 529 and I saw a few articles that talked about how good a roth could be as a vehicle for college saving not necessarily in the way I started to think about it. Downsides to a 529 include the fact that there is a penalty on the earnings if it is used for anything other than education expenses, 529 assets are included in the calculation for financial aid, and investment choices are limited. Roth IRAs are not subject to those limitations, and Im sure everyone here is familiar with the other rules for Roths.My wife and I already max our 403bs and Roth IRAs, so i wondered if my parents had Roth accounts. My parents are both over 59.5, but my mom plans to work for a few more years, so they are both still eligible to opencontribute to a roth, but for whatever reason hadnt already done so and didnt plan to. I thought that we could use their tax advantaged space if they werent going to use it.The 13k that we can contribute to their two accounts 5500 plus 1000 catch up contribution is below the annual gift tax exclusion, so we dont have to worry about gift taxes for the money going in. Once the accounts are 5 years old they can withdraw money for us or our son without penalty since they are over 59.5. There are no RMDs, so the money can sit there as long as we want. They will each be beneficiaries for each others Roth, with us as secondary beneficiaries, because a spouse-inherited IRA can be treated as if it was their IRA from the start, whereas an IRA inherited from a parent is subject to a RMD. We will set them up through Vanguard where I have my other accounts, and I will be given grantor status which allows me to see the account on my vanguard page and have full access to manipulate the account as if it were my own.I know that the main concern here from everyone will probably be the fact that I am giving that money to my parents and there would be nothing stopping them from using it for themselves however they wanted. We are comfortable with that risk given our relationship and past financial interactions they paid for my college, lent us another large sum for grad school that we paid back quickly, cosigned on my house which ive since refinanced only in my name. I have talked with my parents about everything I put here and made clear to them that we do not want to take up this space if they had any inclination whatsoever to use it themselves. Ive also told my siblings what we are doing.Another limitation is that we wont be able to take out all the funds at once when we are ready for them, we will be limited by whatever the gift tax exclusion is at the time. They could also pay the school directly and circumvent the gift tax rules.So what are your thoughts FI, anything we havnt thought of?  <response>: In truth youre probably asking the wrong set of people. I would look for a certified financial planner or lawyer with knowledge of this kind of stuff to look at your plan and its legality. This is such a specific scenario, that you need someone who does this for a living to know for sure. 