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REDDIT

Trust vs Custodial vs skip?

S
Dec 27, 2025 · 14:44

If this isn’t the right sub to ask let me know where to go. Have a child that I would like to setup for the future. Mother and I are not together and my own retirement accounts are well funded. Emergency funds are good, HSA maxed and started a 529 plan.

I get that a trust is a lot of hoops and tax implications and a custodial account is easy to setup but would potentially hurt my child’s prospects for financial aid and taxes. Should I just skip out on both and just open a new account with my child as the beneficiary? If I go that route is it as simple as parking money into VOO/VTI and just leave it?

Any advice would be appreciated. Just want to give my kid a head start that I didn’t have. Thanks!

Edit: would be looking at an initial sum of $100k and time frame would be 18-25 years