Top-performing plans

Consumers have a couple of different options when it comes to putting their money into 529 plans. They can go it alone through direct consumer plans, or they can enlist their advisor, who can put their money into advisor-sold plans. And since advisors can put their clients' money into virtually any 529 plan–provided the benefits of going to another state's plan outweigh the home-state benefits–it's good to know which ones are performing.

Here are the top five advisor-sold plans ranked by five-year, three-year and one-year performance (including max sales charges) for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, as compiled by Savingforcollege.com:

Five-year -

1. Arizona: InvestEd Plan
2. Virginia: CollegeAmerica
3. South Carolina: Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan
4. Alaska: John Hancock Freedom 529
5. Mississippi: MACS 529 Advisor Program

Three-year -

1. Arizona: InvestEd Plan
2. Virginia: CollegeAmerica
3. Wisconsin: EdVest
4. Nebraska: College Savings Plan of Nebraska
5. Wisconsin: Tomorrow's Scholar

One-year -

1. Arizona: InvestEd Plan
2. South Carolina: Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan
3. Wisconsin: EdVest
4. Maine: NextGen College Investing Plan-Client Select Series
5. District of Columbia: DC 529 College Savings Program