Treasurer Sarah Steelman of Missouri announced Thursday that the state had hired Upromise, Vanguard Group, and American Century to succeed TIAA-CREF as manager of its 529 college savings program.
Upromise, a college-savings loyalty program, and Vanguard Group, the giant mutual fund company, are to manage the direct-sold portion, and American Century, the adviser-sold portion. St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. and Simply Brilliant, a college savings credit card company, are also involved as managers.
TIAA-CREF, a New York financial services company, has managed the Missouri Savings for Tuition Program since its start in 1999 and began managing a plan sold through advisers in October 2002. Morningstar says the company managed $789.6 million of Missouri 529 plan assets at Nov. 30.
TIAA-CREF, which had $360 billion of assets under management at Sept. 30, manages 11 other state-sponsored 529 plans. In July 2003, Upromise joined Vanguard Group and the former FleetBoston Financial Corp.'s Columbia mutual fund group to succeed TIAA-CREF as New York's 529 program manager.
