How much do you pay vs save

[Anonymous]

Inspired by a few other threads:

How much would you give to your kids vs save for your retirement?

So, in the best case scenario your kids go to iv league wo scholarship, so you pay that at $80k/year for 2-3 kids for 4yrs each, so $600-$900k.

Then let’s say that you are young enough that you still have a few years ahead of retirement, so you can save some more, but you never know.

Wwyd?

[Anonymous]

I mean, I paid for my kids’ college with what I had saved for the prior 18 years. There was no additional outlay beyond the prior savings. That money was earmarked for education, it wasn’t a last minute “what should I spend this on?” Scenario.

So I guess the answer to your question is nothing? We always prioritized retirement savings and college savings above all else. Whatever was there when they headed to college was theirs, but we weren’t sending more. We told them what they had available and all kids found ways to graduate within that range (whether graduating early, going somewhere cheaper, taking an offer with merit aid, etc)

[Anonymous]

The scenario describe doesn't matter. If you can do full pay for private for 2-3 kids, you are good no matter what you choose. This question is meaningless except in the specifics that you can't outsource on a site like this. Go get a money manager, you can afford one.

[Anonymous]

This is a social question, not a financial one.

The point being, would you use all your savings for your kids’ college the save some more, or give them less for college and save more on retirement.

This question was partially inspired by a thread on the family forum, where parents in their 80s are struggling now, after giving large sums of money earlier to two of their children.

I don’t think the parents thought they’d be struggling.

[Anonymous]

Your kids can finance their education, you cannot finance your retirement .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kids can finance their education, you cannot finance your retirement .

They can finance up to $27k (total) of their education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a social question, not a financial one.

The point being, would you use all your savings for your kids’ college the save some more, or give them less for college and save more on retirement.

This question was partially inspired by a thread on the family forum, where parents in their 80s are struggling now, after giving large sums of money earlier to two of their children.

I don’t think the parents thought they’d be struggling.

It's a balance, and ideally you are putting money away for both. But I think it's more important to save for your retirement and end of life care. There are other ways to finance college (in-state tuition, scholarships, work-study, loans) but there's only one way to finance retirement.

I am so grateful that my parents and ILs are relatively financially secure now, in their 70s. I went to a state flagship with a partial merit scholarship and work-study, and my DH got a partial scholarship and took out loans that he was able to pay back in his 20s. I never wish I'd gone to a more expensive university or that my parents had paid more for my college education, even though they didn't save much for it. But they saved a lot for their retirement and now I don't have to worry about them and can instead focus on saving for my own retirement and saving for my own kid's education.

I do, however, think parents should be smart and consider this when they decide how many kids to have. Don't have 5 kids and then say "oh it's too hard to save for all of you to college and we prioritized our retirement instead." Like I said, it's a balance and you have some obligation to work on both.

[Anonymous]

Both retirement and college are foreseeable expenses.

If you have the $ to pay full-freight at a pricey private college, you won't actually be making the choice for those 4 years: you have been making the choice all along by spending $ on other things (expensive house? expensive travel? expensive clothing? expensive cars?) instead of saving for either retirement or college or both.

As someone who lives below their means and is paying the extra $ for a pricey college for one kid after saving enough for in-state in a 529, we were able to make this choice because we could spare the extra income (which had been going in to extra savings/investments) for those 4 years. Had we been spending to our income limit all those years, we would not be able to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both retirement and college are foreseeable expenses.

If you have the $ to pay full-freight at a pricey private college, you won't actually be making the choice for those 4 years: you have been making the choice all along by spending $ on other things (expensive house? expensive travel? expensive clothing? expensive cars?) instead of saving for either retirement or college or both.

As someone who lives below their means and is paying the extra $ for a pricey college for one kid after saving enough for in-state in a 529, we were able to make this choice because we could spare the extra income (which had been going in to extra savings/investments) for those 4 years. Had we been spending to our income limit all those years, we would not be able to do so.

Your two paragraphs are contradictory. On the first you say that if you can pay private college in full you’ve been splurging everywhere, and then when you talk about yourself you say that you specifically can finance private because you live below your means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both retirement and college are foreseeable expenses.

If you have the $ to pay full-freight at a pricey private college, you won't actually be making the choice for those 4 years: you have been making the choice all along by spending $ on other things (expensive house? expensive travel? expensive clothing? expensive cars?) instead of saving for either retirement or college or both.

As someone who lives below their means and is paying the extra $ for a pricey college for one kid after saving enough for in-state in a 529, we were able to make this choice because we could spare the extra income (which had been going in to extra savings/investments) for those 4 years. Had we been spending to our income limit all those years, we would not be able to do so.

Your two paragraphs are contradictory. On the first you say that if you can pay private college in full you’ve been splurging everywhere, and then when you talk about yourself you say that you specifically can finance
private because you live below your means.

If you have the money and spend it during years 1-18 of child's life, it may be a difficult choice whether you can/will pay for $$$ college.
If you have the money and save it during years 1-18 of child's life, the choice is much easier.

Perhaps reading the fable about the ant and the grasshopper will help with understanding.

[Anonymous]

we did not pay for private k-12. we were saving for college. My kids earned scholarship and that means that we had to pay minimal for them.

[Anonymous]

we paid for kids college and post college education. k-college all public schools though. one phd, one md, one pharmD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Inspired by a few other threads:

How much would you give to your kids vs save for your retirement?

So, in the best case scenario your kids go to iv league wo scholarship, so you pay that at $80k/year for 2-3 kids for 4yrs each, so $600-$900k.

Then let’s say that you are young enough that you still have a few years ahead of retirement, so you can save some more, but you never know.

Wwyd?

Also paid for Ivy grad school so retirement saving is thin.