That said this is 529 account and possibly my retirement mindset may not apply directly. I wanted to get the community’s thoughts on how to approach the glide path for a college saving account as opposed to retirement.

My view:

A 529 has a far shorter withdrawal window than retirement accounts typically: 4-8 years vs possibly 20+. This means even for retirement accounts, you may need to have a fair amount of stock even in retirement to ensure it lasts long enough (look up the bond tent concept at minimum).

Retirees may have some government and other programs available to them, while for many students, it may seem like taking (more) loans is the only alternative.

20% at 14 years (edit: remaining) may feel high (even to me), but I can at least understand why it would need to be more conservative than ones for retirement.

If you want <20% bonds at 14 years out, you aren't going to like the Vanguard target dates or a good portion of others. Vanguard target date 2040 (15 years out) is 24% bonds. Vanguard target date 2035 (10 years out) is 31% bonds. If you want a lower % bonds, then choose a different (later) target date, or choose the specific allocation you want, instead of using a target date.

That said, if this is a college fund and it's critical that you do not have especially low returns over next 14 years (more concerned about protecting against rare large losses than having highest possible average gain), I don't think 20% bonds is unreasonable.

The 20% bond allocation in the Fidelity NH 2039 is not a mistake or something that needs to be "fixed" – it's a deliberate design choice. The fund was specifically developed for college savings, as different rules apply here than for retirement savings. The goal isn't just to earn as much money as possible, but also to ensure that the money is available precisely when needed.

My fourth child will start using his 529 next year. I regretted having my oldest's in the age option. I eventually put all four kids' in 100 percent equity until closer to time to use. Then 70 or 80 percent equity during use.

For me it was worth the risk. I needed my kids to have more money. My parents gave us an amount and I needed to make it grow. I figured time was on our side and the good years would outweigh the bad years. With ten years from oldest to youngest the money has been in for 20 years so far (in various amounts) and still has 5 or more years to go.

I am trying to open 529s for my kids rn, we will need the money in 10 years, I use fidelity so the Unique NH option is being presented on their website as the best choice. It sounds like I have to track receipts/expenses to use the funds, will that be true of all 529s? I'm not sure if there is any benefit greater than just opening a specific brokerage account that I can just withdraw, I am in WA state so there are no tax advantages. Any thoughts on this?