retirement
Occasionally I get some version of it from those who have saved a great deal in 529s and wonder if perhaps they have over saved for college and can just use the leftovers for retirement.
The maximum protection occurs when the child owns the account, of course, since it is no longer your asset, but you obviously lose control when you do that.
The main 529 account rule is that if you spend the money on something other than education, you will have to pay regular income tax plus a 10% penalty, but only on the earnings, not the basis.
Keep in mind, in some 529s this income can be assigned to the kid and taxed at his (hopefully lower) bracket. If your 529 doesn’t allow that, you could first transfer it to another 529 that did.
They’re far better than a taxable account, retirement accounts, and the myriad of insurance schemes proposed for this purpose. But 529s are not a “Stealth IRA” by any means. Plan on spending yours on someone’s education.