Post #141 - Don’t Scrimp On Your 401K to Save For your kids’ college?

Part 6: Let’s emphasize the important stuff (cont.)

Your main concern should always be saving money and investing your savings for your retirement, not college tuition.  Be selfish.  Provide for yourself!

They tell you the same stuff in an airplane.  If the plane suddenly loses cabin pressure, the little breathing thingies will drop down from some hidden compartment.

• Put the breathing thingie around your own head first.  Forget the little rug rat next to you.
• Make sure you are getting oxygen.
• Then worry about the little ankle biter.
• • If he’s been a pain the whole trip, take a vote from the other passengers before you put the breathing thingie over his mouth.  OK, I only heard one airline say that.

I’m giving you the same advice.  Take care of yourself first.  Worry about the kiddies second!

So here is the rule:

• Do not put money away for your kids’ education unless you can save and invest at least 20% of your gross salary for yourself.

You may think it’s terrible to be so selfish.  It’s not.  It’s very practical.

• Your kids can get great educations at state colleges.
• Your kids can go to community college for two years and then switch to private, expensive colleges.  It will save tons of dough, and they still get the degree from the fancy college.
• Your kids’ eventual success or failure in life will not be determined by which college they attend.  So spending your retirement money on a fancy college is foolish.  Read this link: Ivy League Versus Regular College
• No matter how much you do for your kids, they will never appreciate most of it.
• When you’re 70 ½ and need financial assistance, your kids won’t help much.  They’ll say “Why didn’t you save more when you were younger?”

Here’s another link you should read.  College versus Retirement

I already hear some of you saying “My parents sent me to a good school.  I should do the same for my kids.”  That’s a dumb way of thinking.

If you think your parents were so smart, remember that:

• They thought VD came from toilet seats.
• They put raw meat on black eyes to help heal them.
• They thought you could fix a leg cramp by punching the muscle.
• They thought that eating raw sugar gave you worms.
• They told you if you touch it, you’ll go blind.  (This is a guy thing.)

Wait a minute.  Those are my parents I’m talking about.  Your parents would be my age.   The post hippy, slightly too young for the Age of Aquarius generation.  They are cool.  But if they paid a lot of money to send you to a private school, ask them if they have enough money set aside to retire comfortably.   Be prepared to run, because they may try to attack you.