Give family a place to back their future

Backer is the easiest way to save for college with help from family and friends. We’ll help you invest your savings with a tax-free 529 Savings Plan, which is like a retirement account for your child’s education and career. It’s a government-sponsored account and is the smartest way to avoid future student debt.

With Backer, it’s simple to involve family and friends in the process. These “backers” can quickly and easily contribute to your child’s 529 and stay involved as your child gets closer to college. Our most active customers save significantly more by building a team of backers for their kids.

Studies have shown that simply having a college fund can dramatically improve educational outcomes. Backer amplifies this effect by having your family and friends chip in, and then investing all of the savings tax-free. We’ve also noticed parents on our platform contribute more themselves when they have a team of friends and relatives along for the ride. Just like it’s helpful to have a gym buddy or study buddy, having a team of backers for your kids is super motivating and helps you make much faster progress toward your savings goals.

Anyone you invite by sharing your unique gifting page link can join as a backer and contribute gifts. We see lots of grandparents, uncles/aunts, and even family friends or the child’s mentors at school and through other activities.

With limited access to your child’s page, backers can see that they’re part of a team, but you choose how much of the page’s activity you want to be visible. We send reminders to your backers around the holidays and when your kid’s birthday is coming up. We make it easy to link a bank account via online banking, or they can use a credit or debit card or digital wallet like Apple Pay or Google Pay – so gifting is a breeze. Contributors pay just $1.99 per gift in addition to any card processing fees, if applicable.

We’ve got a plan for every family – with simple, transparent pricing, no matter how much you save. Check out all the details about Backer membership on our pricing page.

A 529 plan is a government-sponsored program to help families build their savings early so they can more easily afford future education- and career-related expenses (e.g., K-12 tuition, college, vocational and trade schooling, and apprenticeship programs). It lets your money grow tax-free and be withdrawn tax-free as long as it’s used for qualified expenses. It’s like a retirement account, but for education, and has been around for over 25 years.

We use the strongest available browser encryption, secure servers monitored 24/7/365, and industry-leading identity verification services to safeguard your personal information. We also have clear privacy procedures in place to govern our own use of your information. To learn more, please see our Privacy Notice.

We’re a diverse team with decades of experience in financial services and the tech industry. Learn more here.

We’ll be sad to lose you, but you’ll be able to keep the 529 plan we helped you open or we’ll help you roll it over to another provider. If you leave Backer, you will lose the ability to access and manage your 529 plan via our website and mobile apps, as well as the gifting page where your backers can help you save, your Backer contribution and gifting history, and all of our other features. We’ll welcome any feedback you have for how we can improve and will always welcome you back if you change your mind.