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[quote=Anonymous][quote=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. [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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