We don’t bother with 529 because surplus annual savings just go into the brokerage account and usually are above the current cost of college so cash flowing college should be doable. I don’t like 529s because one cannot borrow for retirement 🤷‍♂️

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Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

Lol those posters are the funniest.

We “just cash flowed college” pretty easily.

- Biglaw Partner

Why did you cash flow college rather than save in 529’s, which have multiple tax advantages? And no one cares that you’re a big law partner.

NP. We cash flowed the last two years because I didn't want to draw down on the 529 when it was down. I took out $40K for this semester's tuition and still have $40K more than we did last year. I'll leave any extra for the grandkids.

NP. We kinda do the same but route the money through the 529. In VA we get a 5.75% tax break on the contribution and we get to contribute upto the gift tax limit each year ($34K/child this year).

I thought the VA limit was 4K per person per kid?

Per account. We have 8 accounts for 2 kids.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

Lol those posters are the funniest.

We “just cash flowed college” pretty easily.

- Biglaw Partner

Why did you cash flow college rather than save in 529’s, which have multiple tax advantages? And no one cares that you’re a big law partner.

NP. We cash flowed the last two years because I didn't want to draw down on the 529 when it was down. I took out $40K for this semester's tuition and still have $40K more than we did last year. I'll leave any extra for the grandkids.

NP. We kinda do the same but route the money through the 529. In VA we get a 5.75% tax break on the contribution and we get to contribute upto the gift tax limit each year ($34K/child this year).

I thought the VA limit was 4K per person per kid?

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

They should try to cash flow it now and see how it goes. Then stick the test cash flow college money into savings/investments

We cash flow private school, which is about the same as many college tuitions.

In that case, if you are already paying $30-40K/year for a kid to go to HS you can continue that for college. But Can you really pay another 50-60K for expensive privates? If you can, why are you not currently saving that $$$ into 529s and letting it grow tax free?

Tuition is more like $45k, and once they are done with HS then they will be in college so the HS bill goes away and the college bill starts.

I understand that HS tuition goes away once they graduate. However, many private schools are $80-85K+ for tuition plus room and board/all expenses. So you would need another $40K to "cash flow" College.

So once again, the question is, if you have that much extra cash, why did you not put some into 529 and enjoy the tax free growth for 10+ years?

We could cash flow college, but we smartly chose to save, take advantage of the tax free growth and are now set for our kid to attend a 85K+ university.

But I'm smart enough to realize most people CANNOT cash flow college. Most are Not paying $45K for HS tuition, let alone $80K+ for tuition plus boarding school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

Lol those posters are the funniest.

We “just cash flowed college” pretty easily.

- Biglaw Partner

Why did you cash flow college rather than save in 529’s, which have multiple tax advantages? And no one cares that you’re a big law partner.

NP. We cash flowed the last two years because I didn't want to draw down on the 529 when it was down. I took out $40K for this semester's tuition and still have $40K more than we did last year. I'll leave any extra for the grandkids.

NP. We kinda do the same but route the money through the 529. In VA we get a 5.75% tax break on the contribution and we get to contribute upto the gift tax limit each year ($34K/child this year).

PP - and yes, that tuition is for a state school.

FFS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

Lol those posters are the funniest.

We “just cash flowed college” pretty easily.

- Biglaw Partner

Why did you cash flow college rather than save in 529’s, which have multiple tax advantages? And no one cares that you’re a big law partner.

NP. We cash flowed the last two years because I didn't want to draw down on the 529 when it was down. I took out $40K for this semester's tuition and still have $40K more than we did last year. I'll leave any extra for the grandkids.

depends on your yearly spending. for some that would be plenty, others not enough.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

They should try to cash flow it now and see how it goes. Then stick the test cash flow college money into savings/investments

We cash flow private school, which is about the same as many college tuitions.

In that case, if you are already paying $30-40K/year for a kid to go to HS you can continue that for college. But Can you really pay another 50-60K for expensive privates? If you can, why are you not currently saving that $$$ into 529s and letting it grow tax free?

Tuition is more like $45k, and once they are done with HS then they will be in college so the HS bill goes away and the college bill starts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

Lol those posters are the funniest.

We “just cash flowed college” pretty easily.

- Biglaw Partner

What were you doing with the money before? Clearly not saving it.

Check other threads. I'm sure "Biglaw Partner" is bragging about cash flowing all kinds of stuff.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

They should try to cash flow it now and see how it goes. Then stick the test cash flow college money into savings/investments

We cash flow private school, which is about the same as many college tuitions.

In that case, if you are already paying $30-40K/year for a kid to go to HS you can continue that for college. But Can you really pay another 50-60K for expensive privates? If you can, why are you not currently saving that $$$ into 529s and letting it grow tax free?

I'm 49 and spouse is 48 and our networth is $2+ (1.6 million in retirement and $700K in equity) and we are doing fine. We will be able to retire in 10-15 years. OP is doing better than we are and we are better off than most!

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Anonymous wrote:We still have to put 3 kids to college and the NW includes our rental property and primary homes equity and our 401 k. My wife just joined as a fed at 47 yo. How are we doing financially?

It depends.
Do you plan to retire early? Do you have pensions? Do you plan to downsize, lot of NW is in your home..

No pension for me. Which wife retiring with 5 years of service she will not have much pension as well. Also with her retiring early I can’t retire early. We plan to rent our basement or downsize.

Please don’t rent your basement or downsize so you can spend 1.2M on college. State school will be just fine and if they’re driven, it won’t matter. If they’re not driven, you’re wasting your money anyway. You have 3 kids so there will be trade offs. Maybe one can get some sort of scholarship?

It's not like state school is much cheaper for full pay DC residents, especially when private schools give merit aid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it when posters claim they will "just cash flow college" because they can't even figure out how to save for college ahead of time. Bwahahaha.

Lol those posters are the funniest.

We “just cash flowed college” pretty easily.

- Biglaw Partner

Why did you cash flow college rather than save in 529’s, which have multiple tax advantages? And no one cares that you’re a big law partner.