A few months before Ashwini was born, I read about a website, Upromise.com. It is a consumer spending trend tracking program with a twist. Instead of a usual cash-back program, they put the cash in a Nevada-based “529 college-saving plan” run by Vanguard. More about 529 plans can be found here. You earn rewards not only by shopping online, but also at grocery stores, drug stores, gas stations, restaurants etc. You could also get a Citibank card connected to this program that gives 1% cash-back on all purchases and some additional rewards as well. You can also invite friends and family to link up to your account and help you save money for your children’s college. If you’d like to contribute some money to Ashwini’s college fund, click on this link for online shopping. I’ll only see the money received in the account and will not know what you buy. :)

I opened an account at the website in Dec 2002 and just a few days ago, the total rewards received in this program crossed $1000. Over the next 13 years, I hope this will at least double in value on top of more earned rewards before Ashwini needs to use it.