Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$25 a month for my two year old. Go ahead and laugh. $200K HHI, in non-profit and govt with my own law school loans I'm still paying. We save more for retirement, and will help DD as much as we can.

Totally not laughing. That's better than we did when our kids were young.

We're in the same boat, fluctuate from $25-$50 per month, per kid. HHI only about 160k, 3 kids, oldest is 6. When student loans are paid off (another 1 1/2 years) all that $ goes to college fund. We aim to throw the bulk of future raises into college funds as best we can. It won't cover 100% but we'll do as much as we can. In our cases, parents had nothing to give for college, so I feel at least this is better than nothing.

We're $25/month-ers, too. No more loans, but HHI closer to 110k. Planning to ramp up some after daycare is over. Between savings, our future cash flow, any scholarships/grants/gifts from grandparents, and our kids' PT jobs, we'll keep loans to a minimum, and help them pay off as much of them as quickly as we can.

Anonymous wrote:However, I work in higher education and plan to work at a school like Georgetown or Johns Hopkins to get their dependent benefit. Georgetown will give you up to 67% of Georgetown's tuition to go to any school anywhere while JHU will give you up to 50% of their tuition.

I don't know about JHU, but that's not correct about Georgetown. It pays up to 33% of Georgetown's tuition at other schools. It's 67% only if your kid goes to Georgetown. It also takes five years of continuous employment to be eligible for it, so if you're counting on something like this, plan ahead and read carefully.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So any money grandparents give goes to 529? Do ppl still set up regular savings account for their kids?

We have a checking but pulled the money out for the 529. Our grandparents suck and are too selfish to give. My grandparents were really generous and helped a lot. If we do get money, it all gets put away.

I really don't understand this mentality. I don't expect anything from my parents. Anything grandparents give is a luxury.

Anonymous wrote:3 kids, $8k/each/year. DH self-employed with variable annual income $180-$400K but high SE expenses; I was laid off from $250K job late last year and actively searching. 7th grader, 5th and 3rd. Started when they were newborns so saw bid dip with #2 when she was 2yo in 2008 - now have $120K/$90K and $83k respectively. No grandparent help (mine died years before I was married, little bit of cash among many siblings). Our retirement plan is solid. About to start $75K/yr private for older two. We have decided education is where we want to spend our money, not luxurious house, country club, cars, vacations. Just like our parents did, and our grandparents, and my great-grandparents. Proud of our enduring contributions to society, architecture, literature, health care and medicine.

This is a joke, I assume.

LOL seriously, what a sanctimonious turd

Anonymous wrote:3 kids, $8k/each/year. DH self-employed with variable annual income $180-$400K but high SE expenses; I was laid off from $250K job late last year and actively searching. 7th grader, 5th and 3rd. Started when they were newborns so saw bid dip with #2 when she was 2yo in 2008 - now have $120K/$90K and $83k respectively. No grandparent help (mine died years before I was married, little bit of cash among many siblings). Our retirement plan is solid. About to start $75K/yr private for older two. We have decided education is where we want to spend our money, not luxurious house, country club, cars, vacations. Just like our parents did, and our grandparents, and my great-grandparents. Proud of our enduring contributions to society, architecture, literature, health care and medicine.

Barf.

3 kids, $8k/each/year. DH self-employed with variable annual income $180-$400K but high SE expenses; I was laid off from $250K job late last year and actively searching. 7th grader, 5th and 3rd. Started when they were newborns so saw bid dip with #2 when she was 2yo in 2008 - now have $120K/$90K and $83k respectively. No grandparent help (mine died years before I was married, little bit of cash among many siblings). Our retirement plan is solid. About to start $75K/yr private for older two. We have decided education is where we want to spend our money, not luxurious house, country club, cars, vacations. Just like our parents did, and our grandparents, and my great-grandparents. Proud of our enduring contributions to society, architecture, literature, health care and medicine.

Anonymous wrote:

Grandma died and we recieved a modest 150k insurance pay out.

$150k is not a modest amount.

yes, it is. At least for my frame of reference/income.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:180 income: $6k/yr in oldest (now in 7th), $3600/yr in middle (now in 3rd grade), $3000/yr in youngest (now in 1st grade).

I'd like to start throwing more towards the oldest since we got a late start with hers, but it's tough while trying to max out retirement and put something away for vacations and home improvements. Oh yeah - can't forget the kids' expenses!

Bless you for writing. We save 1200 for the younger kid, 2000 for the elder. We are a two-income family making 150k a year and saving like mad for retirement. You and we are much closer to the norm for sure. Good for us for doing it even though it hurts!

Hang in there guys. We did $50 a month for years when our income was closer to $100K and we were paying off student loans. Now our income is closer to yours but we have a lot of catch up to do with both retirement and college savings. We are now managing $700 per month (one kid). We already have enough for in state tuition and have another four years to save but we won't be able to close the gap between in state ($25K per year) and top tier private ($70K) and of course we make too much now to get more than a few thousand dollars in need based aid. We should be able to swing $55K a year between savings and paying as we go but the more reasonably priced colleges are not in the top 50 for the most part and I am not sure if a mid tier college is necessarily better than UMD. Sigh! On the plus side, we could afford two degrees in state by the time we are done so maybe ds can graduate from grad school debt free!