controversial opinion: money & finances edition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We had kids in our mid 20s, saved for college and now our kids are in college that is 100% paid out of savings. It is incredible to be in our mid 40s, peak earning years, no kid expenses and bringing in 41k in gross income each month. DH and I travel like crazy and dont have a single financial concern in the world. We also will be able to fund a down payment for our kids homes and have already money set aside for our unborn grandkids higher education. Our good planning with our high incomes will positively impact a future generation.

I'm so grateful we are not saddled with toddlers at this point in our lives. Plus my body didnt get wrecked because I had kids when my body was able to bounce back mere weeks after giving birth.

Hope your kids have more humility than you do. Good lord.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who makes $200k plus and is "scraping by" has poor judgment.

I think the problem is that most people get their ideas on how other people live from watching television. So it’s surprising after seeing Carrie buy Prada and $500 pairs of shoes working as a sex columnist or the Friends or lifeguards in Baywatch, etc that at $200k/yr, your life is more like Carl Winslow than Phil Dunphy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To add to the above, I think it's crazy when UMC get on the college forum and say "My kid got into X private college but we can't afford it. Wah wah wah. Life is so unfair for us UMC."

And it turns out they make like 300k.

Why weren't they saving all along? That's what I want to know. When you have a baby, the baby's needs come first. That means college savings before a big house or fancy vacations and cars, etc.

They probably have been saving all along. They also weren't making $300K or anything close to it 20 years ago; spent 5-10 years paying thousands of dollars a month for childcare; had student loans to pay off; other (disability, elderly parents, medical disaster, other).

The real question is, why is it ok for the increase in college costs to far outpace inflation?

College costs have increased along with the availability of student loans. The money is available so colleges keep adding expensive amenities and support staff. As long as 18 year olds are able to get massive amounts of non-dischargeable debt, the costs will not be reigned in.

Agree.

So stop blaming the people who "fail to save." It is not that simple.

You have control over exactly one component of this - how much you save. If you choose to abdicate responsibility in that area, that's your business, but it isn't a surprise.

Note - this does not apply to people who can't save for college. This applies to people like the one described, who make $300k, prioritize things other than college savings, and then whine about the cost of college.

Yes, that is always the component. The question is, is it reasonable to expect that people save towards something the cost of which ever-increases in excess of inflation?

If college costs e.g. $100K/kid/year in five years, is it my fault that I cannot pay for it from our $200K annual income because I "abdicated" my responsibility?

Insanity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We had kids in our mid 20s, saved for college and now our kids are in college that is 100% paid out of savings. It is incredible to be in our mid 40s, peak earning years, no kid expenses and bringing in 41k in gross income each month. DH and I travel like crazy and dont have a single financial concern in the world. We also will be able to fund a down payment for our kids homes and have already money set aside for our unborn grandkids higher education. Our good planning with our high incomes will positively impact a future generation.

I'm so grateful we are not saddled with toddlers at this point in our lives. Plus my body didnt get wrecked because I had kids when my body was able to bounce back mere weeks after giving birth.

Hope your kids have more humility than you do. Good lord.

+1.

+100000 PP is awful. Personally I’d be sad if I missed out on my 20s by having kids. However, I recognize there are benefits as well. PP is defensive in her choices or she wouldn’t have to boast so much about her success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people on here save way too much for college. If you're able to save that much, you can probably pay some as you go as well. Let your kid pay for their own grad school.

Agreed

Make hay while the sun still shines. You never know when your money might leave, through a job loss, disability, death or other bad situation.

+ 1

Save now while you can.

Eh, if the money goes we qualify for financial aid. Right now we are paying daycare (3900/mo) and a mortgage (2000 Principal and interest) that will no longer exist when my kids are in college. If our income stays the same as it is right now, which isn't likely because we are in our 30s and will probably receive promotions and increases, that's $70K of cash flow that can be reallocated to college costs each year. Plus, it's not like we are spending all of our money every year. We are actually saving quite a bit. However we're putting it into retirement funds, paying down the mortgage, and general savings rather than earmarking it for college.

I feel the same way. We are putting money away for college, but I don’t know why there is so much pressure about it. We had nothing saved for daycare when our incomes were considerably lower, and we were still paying mortgage, car, student loans, etc.

But then you have to remember that a lot of dcum has children much later in life. So when their kids are born, they are in the place in their careers that I will be when my kids go to college. And when their kids go to college, they will be starting to look at retirement. So in that case, of course it makes sense to save a ton for college.

We had kids in our mid 20s, saved for college and now our kids are in college that is 100% paid out of savings. It is incredible to be in our mid 40s, peak earning years, no kid expenses and bringing in 41k in gross income each month. DH and I travel like crazy and dont have a single financial concern in the world. We also will be able to fund a down payment for our kids homes and have already money set aside for our unborn grandkids higher education. Our good planning with our high incomes will positively impact a future generation.

I'm so grateful we are not saddled with toddlers at this point in our lives. Plus my body didnt get wrecked because I had kids when my body was able to bounce back mere weeks after giving birth.

You are so smart! Everyone should be just like you!

[Anonymous]

I think spending hundreds of thousands of dollars extra on a house so that your children go to “good schools” is just coded racism for staying away from minority poor people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people who put themselves in a position to still have college loans into their 30s are blazing idiots. If you cant make enough to pay your loans by age 29 with your white collar job, you are a failure.

I must be a blazing idiot because I will continue putting my cash in the stock market as opposed to servicing low interest debt. I'm 36 now, and don't have any plans to pay them off soon. The interest rate is 2.5%.

Yes, you are. Clear your debt.

[Anonymous]

Everyone should have the strategy to never need long-term/permanent nursing care. I want to sign something now that says if I get Alzheimers or dementia, someone qualified will end my life peacefully. Yes, I'm aware of the ethical considerations- I would still sign it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think spending hundreds of thousands of dollars extra on a house so that your children go to “good schools” is just coded racism for staying away from minority poor people.

Ding ding ding!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think spending hundreds of thousands of dollars extra on a house so that your children go to “good schools” is just coded racism for staying away from minority poor people.

No. We want to stay away from poor white people too .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think spending hundreds of thousands of dollars extra on a house so that your children go to “good schools” is just coded racism for staying away from minority poor people.

I'm sick of people like you pulling the racism card. Choosing the best possible school for your child is smart. Buying a house in a good school district is an excellent investment. Any of the parents at Justice high school would switch to Langley immediately if the opportunity presented itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people who put themselves in a position to still have college loans into their 30s are blazing idiots. If you cant make enough to pay your loans by age 29 with your white collar job, you are a failure.

I must be a blazing idiot because I will continue putting my cash in the stock market as opposed to servicing low interest debt. I'm 36 now, and don't have any plans to pay them off soon. The interest rate is 2.5%.

Yes, you are. Clear your debt.

NP: I held onto my low-cost student loans as long as I could (also at 2.5%) until my late 30s even though I had more than enough cash to pay them off within 3 months of graduation. I earned an average of 9.9% on my investments. I don't see how I'm a blazing idiot. I wish I could get that debt back again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people on here save way too much for college. If you're able to save that much, you can probably pay some as you go as well. Let your kid pay for their own grad school.

Agreed

Make hay while the sun still shines. You never know when your money might leave, through a job loss, disability, death or other bad situation.

+ 1

Save now while you can.

Eh, if the money goes we qualify for financial aid. Right now we are paying daycare (3900/mo) and a mortgage (2000 Principal and interest) that will no longer exist when my kids are in college. If our income stays the same as it is right now, which isn't likely because we are in our 30s and will probably receive promotions and increases, that's $70K of cash flow that can be reallocated to college costs each year. Plus, it's not like we are spending all of our money every year. We are actually saving quite a bit. However we're putting it into retirement funds, paying down the mortgage, and general savings rather than earmarking it for college.

I feel the same way. We are putting money away for college, but I don’t know why there is so much pressure about it. We had nothing saved for daycare when our incomes were considerably lower, and we were still paying mortgage, car, student loans, etc.

But then you have to remember that a lot of dcum has children much later in life. So when their kids are born, they are in the place in their careers that I will be when my kids go to college. And when their kids go to college, they will be starting to look at retirement. So in that case, of course it makes sense to save a ton for college.

We had kids in our mid 20s, saved for college and now our kids are in college that is 100% paid out of savings. It is incredible to be in our mid 40s, peak earning years, no kid expenses and bringing in 41k in gross income each month. DH and I travel like crazy and dont have a single financial concern in the world. We also will be able to fund a down payment for our kids homes and have already money set aside for our unborn grandkids higher education. Our good planning with our high incomes will positively impact a future generation.

I'm so grateful we are not saddled with toddlers at this point in our lives. Plus my body didnt get wrecked because I had kids when my body was able to bounce back mere weeks after giving birth.

I had one in mid 20s and another in early 30s. Body bounced back better the second time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think spending hundreds of thousands of dollars extra on a house so that your children go to “good schools” is just coded racism for staying away from minority poor people.

I'm sick of people like you pulling the racism card. Choosing the best possible school for your child is smart. Buying a house in a good school district is an excellent investment. Any of the parents at Justice high school would switch to Langley immediately if the opportunity presented itself.

Your education at the best possible schools apparently did not teach you what “controversial opinion” means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think spending hundreds of thousands of dollars extra on a house so that your children go to “good schools” is just coded racism for staying away from minority poor people.

Or.... we just want good schools. I don't care if my kid is the poorest or whitest kid in the school. I want the best education.