<prompt> Human: I opened 529s for my kids in December of last year. Ever since then, the account values have consistently been lower than the invested cash. Nothing too extreme, usually less than 10 dollars, but the whole reason I started these accounts was to have them grow, not shrink.At this rate Id be better off putting it in a savings account instead. The only plus side is I can deduct contributions up to 4,000 per account per year with an unlimited carry forward to future tax years.Currently my sons 4 years old account is an age-based with 70 stocks and 30 fixed income asset allocation.My daughter 7 months old has two: an age based and stock index with 80 stocks and 20 fixed income allocation and 100 investment in Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Index Fund respectively. Ive looked at other portfolios that I can switch to and almost all of them have negative YTD returns as well, so its not just the ones I have invested in.Should I just wait this out and see what happens? I was thinking about just throwing money into savings and then opening Roth IRAs when they are able to get jobs in high school as an alternative.Assistant: Ok thanks everyone for the responses. I knew I wouldnt see much growth this soon but I have the accounts on payroll deduct so Ill just stop checking them constantly and let them grow.  <response>: There you go. I just started one for my one year old. That means the money I put in now has 17 years to grow. Stick it out! 