Author Topic: What are your thoughts on saving for kids education....  (Read 11021 times)

TVRodriguez

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Re: What are your thoughts on saving for kids education....
« Reply #50 on: February 08, 2018, 12:09:19 PM »
The Mrs and I bought lump sum Florida PrePaid 4 year university plans.

Florida Prepaid 4 yr University plans are what we have for our 3 kids, too.  I figure that at a minimum they can stay at home and go to school in driving distance and it's already paid for.  If they get into an out-of-state or private school, they will get the FL prepaid money applied to that school and the rest will have to come from scholarships and loans (or us). 

We also have small 529s (~$4000) for each kid.

DH will be 59 1/2 by the time our oldest is ready for college, so we'll be able to pull out of his retirement accounts by then if we feel like it.

marion10

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Re: What are your thoughts on saving for kids education....
« Reply #51 on: February 08, 2018, 01:16:11 PM »
Even before 529s, you could still save for education- you can open a Uniform Gift to Minors Account and the interest is taxed at the child's rate which is lower.The disadvantage was once the child was 18, they could do whatever they wanted with the money. We were able to put our kids through 4 years of college with  all expenses paid. They are grateful and doing well.

18 years from now , who knows what college and higher education will be like? Do you get any gifts of money for your child- you could put those in a 529 account or ask grandparents to cut down on the toys and give $50 at Christmas.

Abe

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Re: What are your thoughts on saving for kids education....
« Reply #52 on: February 08, 2018, 11:25:48 PM »
I’d be fine with them going into education because that’s useful to society in my value judgement. We just don’t want them wasting time and money in college getting a degree and end up choosing a job that doesn’t need a college education.

J Boogie

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Re: What are your thoughts on saving for kids education....
« Reply #53 on: February 09, 2018, 09:01:39 AM »
My thought is that by the time my little guy (and any after him) are going to be entering college, I'll have downshifted and will be making far less money and most of my money will be in retirement accounts which don't count towards fafsa. I also am thinking of transitioning to a 15-year mortgage

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/373110-university-of-wisconsin-madison-to-offer-free-tuition-for

In addition to fafsa, it seems this could be an emerging trend as well ^

So my strategy is to fill up the 401ks and Roth IRAs and then downshift so that my little guy qualifies for aid.

Do I feel like I'm cheating the system? I take the approach of if everyone did what I'm doing, would it be bad - and the answer is no. By saving up for my own retirement I do my part to alleviate the massive burden that is unfunded social security.