About Portfolios, Investments, and Performance

• How do I choose my investments?¹
• Can I change how my account is invested?
• Can I pick the investments for my account?

How do I choose my investments?

Fidelity offers a wide range of investment options for the savings in your 529 Plan account.

To help determine what may be best for you, you should ask yourself two questions:

• Do I want a portfolio that automatically becomes more conservatively invested as my child nears college age?
• Or do I want to choose my own investments?¹

If you want a portfolio that automatically reallocates as your child approaches college age, we offer an Age-Based Strategy, which features investment portfolios that correspond with a beneficiary's year of birth. (E.g., for a child born in 2000, Fidelity suggests an investor choose Portfolio 2018, the anticipated year in which the child will begin college.)

Fidelity offers two Age-Based investment options that adjust their investments automatically, becoming more conservative as your child gets closer to college: Portfolios that invest in actively-managed funds and index funds.

Actively Managed Fund Portfolios are designed to generate returns that beat a major market index over the long term. These portfolios and the funds in which they invest are managed by dedicated portfolio managers who are making investment decisions backed by Fidelity's proprietary investment research.

Index Fund Portfolios are designed to generate returns that closely mirror the performance and risks of a major market index over the long term, but tend to have greater risk. These Portfolios are managed by dedicated portfolio managers, but their underlying index funds are passively managed, which means that the securities held in the respective index determine the Portfolio's investments. These Portfolios tend to have lower management fees.

If you want a portfolio that automatically reallocates as your child approaches college age, we offer an Age-Based Strategy, which features investment portfolios that correspond with a beneficiary's year of birth. (E.g., for a child born in 2000, Fidelity suggests an investor choose Portfolio 2018, the anticipated year in which the child will begin college.)

If you want to choose your own investment options, Fidelity provides a Custom Strategy which allows you to select your own mix of investments from a range of Static Portfolios that invest in actively-managed and index funds and Individual Fund Portfolios.

See Investment Options for more information.

Can I change how my account is invested?

Yes. New deposits can be made into any of the Portfolios available in the Fidelity managed 529 Plans. Many customers establish standing instructions, for example making all contributions to the same portfolios each period, to avoid providing new instructions with every deposit.

You may reallocate previously invested monies (contributions and earnings) once each calendar year and upon a change in the Beneficiary. See Portfolios & Performance for more information. Each Portfolio² invests in Fidelity Investments mutual funds and managed by Strategic Advisers, Inc., a registered investment adviser and Fidelity Investments company.

Use the 529 Plan Investment Instructions Form (PDF) to change instructions on current and future investments.

Can I pick the investments for my account?

You choose the Portfolio(s), but not the individual funds. The IRS does not allow a Participant to have direct or indirect control over the investments in a 529 account. The 529 Portfolios are invested in a combination of mutual funds.² See Portfolios & Performance for more information. To see a list of the underlying mutual funds that make up each Portfolio, download or request an Enrollment Kit.