Anyone make $200k + not saving much for college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We pay out of pocket. How do the numbers not add up? Is it that you just can't fathom putting a child's needs first? I could have a nicer car and bigger house (2500sqft now), but I would prefer to spend that money on my one and only child.

Maybe you should imagine how things might be different for those families that had more than one child.

[Anonymous]

You're doing something wrong. We only make $150 combined, and we are able to save for college. Our kids will go to state school...we don't think $60k/year buys you a better education or career opportunities unless it's a top ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're doing something wrong. We only make $150 combined, and we are able to save for college. Our kids will go to state school...we don't think $60k/year buys you a better education or career opportunities unless it's a top ivy.

Where do you live and what's the mortgage?

[Anonymous]

If I had more than one I would not have paid college prices for HS? We all make choices. We didn't worry about saving for college since we were used to already paying close to that amount. We have investments we could liquidate if necessary as that is where our savings went, but we really don't want to touch those. So, we pay out of pocket. We could have saved all the money for college at that income, but we didn't save any. Yet, it turned out fine to just pay now. If the OP wants to know if it can be done, then the answer is yes. If someone else wants to come along and tell me it can't be done, then I have to disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For all those PPs that have a plan to start saving after daycare, I really do not think it gets cheaper - at least not in my case. Daycare was about $650 a week for 2 kids back when kids were little. But everything else costs more as kids get older, sports- including equipment and clothes, lessons, camps, clothes, entertainment, going out to dinner -- everything! It seems like getting rid of that weekly bill will give you more but there are a lot of expenses that go up too. Try to put a few hundred a month away now if you can.

People told us this too, but we just transitioned our youngest out of daycare this year and found that we do have extra money to stash into college. You don't have to get caught up in the expensive rat race of travel sports and high-priced summer camps unless you want to go that route. You won't be able to move the full amount that you paid for daycare into savings, because you likely will have extended day and some summer camp costs. But we were able to easily divert an extra $500/mo per kid from former daycare payments into college savings. (We were paying $1100/mo for daycare in Arlington.) You just need to make a budget and stick with it. (And yes, I realize that the teenage years will cost more than the elementary school years, but that is even more reason to really stash college savings away when your kids are K-5-- not to mention that gives you more time to benefit from compounded interest.)

[Anonymous]

I make about $100K a year, live in North Arlington and hope to have about $100K saved for my daughter by the time she's in college. I'm hopeful that her dad is also planning to save some money too, but if he doesn't, his parents will likely help out.

Ideally she'll get some academic scholarships like I did, or choose a VA state school so she doesn't have to take on debt. I only had to take on $20K total debt (for my masters) so I'd like her to be similarly unencumbered.

[Anonymous]

We are currently saving $200 a month per child. We will up that when the nanny cost + PT preschool goes away. When both kids are in public school there will be childcare expenses but they will not come close to what we are paying now (we pay our nanny very well!).

My parents are contributing to their college as well, while not hugely significant amount it is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Do you have investments you can sell OP? We're just like you, actually make $25k less HHI and aren't saving for college at all. We do have a rental property that's paid off and we'll sell in 10 years to pay for college.

[Anonymous]

We make just about that and kids are 4 and 6. We haven't saved anything for the kids, though we generally have about 100k in savings. We are maxing out our 401k which I absolutely think should be a priority. We also bought a house we enjoy. We are not going to "scrimp" our way through life to save every last penny for college. At the height of their daycare we were paying about 35k a year. I figure we can go back to that mode plus some when the time comes. As youngest transitions to K we will probably look at more specifically setting money in 529s.

I graduated college with loans, and my partner put herself through school, so there are lots of routes. We are in VA and their are many options for in-state schools. Where there is a will there is a way.

[Anonymous]

I'm in a similar boat OP. We're not even setting aside small amounts right now due to some unexpected expenses arising this year. BUT my kids are 1 and 3. 3yo starts public preK in DC next month. So, even accounting for aftercare and camp next summer, that gives a LOT more money to spend or save each month and should get us back to putting at least small amounts in every month. We also just looked into refinancing our home, which is going to save us several thousand/year, at least some of which will go into the college accounts. If we get it reappraised, I think we'll find that it has appreciated significantly in value, which at least gives us a big pile of equity to borrow against if needed.

We have a few small investments. Once both kids are in public school, we can save like crazy for a few years until one of them decides they're really into travel hockey or horses, or some such expensive nonsense, I suppose. DH has some future job prospects that would be lucrative. I'm a GS-15, and can't see moving to the private sector unless it was really necessary. Heck, the only other jobs I have even considered would involve a substantial pay cut for me.

That still doesn't get us anywhere close to the astronomical amounts that other people in DC seem to be saving. Fingers crossed for state schools. And one of them being really good at hockey or whatever.

[Anonymous]

We're around that income and put away $8k/year for 2 kids. Maybe when daycare ends there will be more to put away, maybe not. We prioritized school district (so house cost) and retirement savings at this point in our lives, so with that and daycare there just isn't a ton left over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make just about that and kids are 4 and 6. We haven't saved anything for the kids, though we generally have about 100k in savings. We are maxing out our 401k which I absolutely think should be a priority. We also bought a house we enjoy. We are not going to "scrimp" our way through life to save every last penny for college. At the height of their daycare we were paying about 35k a year. I figure we can go back to that mode plus some when the time comes. As youngest transitions to K we will probably look at more specifically setting money in 529s.

I graduated college with loans, and my partner put herself through school, so there are lots of routes. We are in VA and their are many options for in-state schools. Where there is a will there is a way.

How many generations are you away from experiencing the Great Depression?

[Anonymous]

We save about 20k per kid (2 kids) but that is because we are doing catchup. Kids are in middle school now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make just about that and kids are 4 and 6. We haven't saved anything for the kids, though we generally have about 100k in savings. We are maxing out our 401k which I absolutely think should be a priority. We also bought a house we enjoy. We are not going to "scrimp" our way through life to save every last penny for college. At the height of their daycare we were paying about 35k a year. I figure we can go back to that mode plus some when the time comes. As youngest transitions to K we will probably look at more specifically setting money in 529s.

I graduated college with loans, and my partner put herself through school, so there are lots of routes. We are in VA and their are many options for in-state schools. Where there is a will there is a way.

Um, are you aware of what college costs in 2016? Public schools can be that much if you include room and board and all the related fees (such as books). What do you think it is going to cost in 12 years? It's not going to go down, that's for damn sure. Don't count on Hillary or Bernie doing anything for you.

[Anonymous]

Soon to have 2 kids in daycare @ 3100 per month. We put in a few thousand a year from a combination of allocating some money from my end of year bonus and a very paltry monthly deduction. All we can do for now. Grandparents have committed to save 10K per kid, but I'm not sure how they've done it (they didn't give it to us), or if it really exists, so I can't count on it. If they have set it aside, it's in a savings account and won't grow very much.

I hear a lot about the "yeah, you think you'll reallocate money from daycare, but older kids are expensive too!" and you only really hear this from people who currently have older kids and were decidedly NOT paying over 3K per month in childcare 15 years ago. So I take it with a grain of salt. I know I won't be able to reallocate the full 3K to college savings because of aftercare, but I'm side-eyeing anyone who claims to not be able to re-direct ANY of it.