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Geez really?! Any investment advisor I've ever spoken with has always nailed home the importance of retirement funding for you and spouse, before paying for college. As said, paying for their education doesn't garantee they will take care of you when you are old.
Plus, there are plenty of companies that pay for your education if you are willing to look. UPS covered mine.
lol investment advisors usually have a financial "investment" in that statement. the more money of yours they can get their hands on, the higher income they collect. so yeah I guess they would not be to happy to have some one pull out 40K out of their portfolio
I did not educate my children so they can take care of me when I'm old. although I often threaten them with being a burden to them in my old age
Now every kid is different so there is no golden rule on what makes a good parent.
For my husband and myself, when we decided to have children we took that responsibility seriously. One of our jobs was to produce self sustaining, contributing members of society. Now we looked at how life was in the 60, 70's and 80's and we looked at the times we live now.
We saw absolutely no value in throwing a kid out (proverbially) at 18 and saying here kid go for it. My youngest wants to be a lawyer, not sure how many companies are paying for some one to get their law degree but mine did not. lol.
Now since all the careers that my children aspired to needed a college degree, that decision was easy. We can argue the feasibility or the value of higher education until the cows come home. as of Nov 2018 most jobs are asking for college graduate. I'll concede they are of no value when employees stop asking for them. lol, firemen in my city now require some college. To work security at my job you have to have at least 12 college credits. now maybe that's just a way to weed out people but it is what it is.
since this is the reality and I like to deal in reality it was not a hard leap.
lastly, from looking around I find that ensuring that my kids where successful was the easiest way to ensure my retirement was going to be good simply because I see way to many examples of non successful kids still being a drain on their parents into their latter life.
again that was our choice. I'd much rather have worked an extra 7 years and ensure my kid was successful (as much as possible) than say "gee kid" join the army if you want to go to college. especially since I would never encourage any of my kids to join the armed forces just so I could stop working.
also in the interest of full disclosure, my parents paid for my college degree and helped out with my graduate studies and I definitely appreciate how much of a help that was to me.
I'm a chemist and never worked for an employeer that remotely paid any tuition assistance.
lol investment advisors usually have a financial "investment" in that statement. the more money of yours they can get their hands on, the higher income they collect. so yeah I guess they would not be to happy to have some one pull out 40K out of their portfolio
Well to prepare for and save for your child’s education doesn’t mean money is withdrawn for a decade or more so I’d wager it’s highly unlikely that an advisor suggest saving for retirement before paying for your child’s education simply get their hands on more of your money. It’s entirely logical and sound advice to get your financial affairs in order, have a plan towards retirement and for it to be realistic and on track before you start putting money away for your children. Student loans exist, retirement loans do not
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I'd much rather have worked an extra 7 years and ensure my kid was successful (as much as possible) than say "gee kid" join the army if you want to go to college. especially since I would never encourage any of my kids to join the armed forces just so I could stop working.
No need to throw the baby out with the bath water. The military isn’t the only avenue to pay for college. You can take college classes while still in high school, go to community college for a couple of years and then transfer, you could also work your butt off getting good grades , grants and scholarships or heaven forbid have a job as well
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I'm a chemist and never worked for an employeer that remotely paid any tuition assistance.
Tuition reimbursement isn’t a foreign concept so the fact that you never worked for an employer who remotely offered it is really on you
I, for one, am more than happy people are questioning the standard way of doing things when it comes to higher education. For one, as currently practiced, it isn't financially sustainable to individuals or taxpayers. Secondly, even if it was, not everyone has the intellect to finish college. Thirdly, we have a lot of people who are great at specialized knowledge, but do not have many practical skills outside what they do for a living (myself included). This can't be a good or healthy thing.
College isn't the answer for everyone. I am perfectly supportive of trade and technical education for those who want it. In fact, these programs need to be beefed up.
However, the point is that some type of education is a virtual necessity in terms of earning a decent living in the USA anymore.
Saying that education isn't practical enough and we need to reconsider some of the things we've accepted for many years is fine. Its another thing to tell your kids that they are on their own when it comes to such things.
College isn't the answer for everyone. I am perfectly supportive of trade and technical education for those who want it. In fact, these programs need to be beefed up.
However, the point is that some type of education is a virtual necessity in terms of earning a decent living in the USA anymore.
Saying that education isn't practical enough and we need to reconsider some of the things we've accepted for many years is fine. Its another thing to tell your kids that they are on their own when it comes to such things.
Agree completely. I have a few friends with no college degrees and make a good income. Better than the median household income for the country for single folks. One guy after years of putting in the work, is now a service manager at a car dealership making 6 figures. He knows of technicians making close to six figures with the amount of hours they put in.
One of my friends is a building engineer (maintenance guy) and he's been make 75k for years without a college degree. He's well balanced, doing plumbing, drywall etc and some electrical though he's not technically certified for that work. Just imagine how much money he saves when he doesn't have to call a repair guy to fix stuff at his house!
These folks went to trade schools that were much cheaper than going to a university. The one guy who's a service manager, started life out as a service writer at Firestone. No real formal car training other than being a "car guy". He learned everything on the job.
College doesn’t have to be expensive. Go to a community college for 2 years (maybe that’s all you need...nurse, cop, HVAC, etc) and then if desired transfer to a in-state university. Community college is about $4k/year. In-state university is about $10k/year. Let’s say $30k total. A lot of people let their children work part time jobs to help pay for expenses and take out loans so they are financially vested in doing something with their education...instead of just going to socialize and continue being a kid. If your kid is really gifted, they’ll probably get some scholarships too.
Parents don’t need $100k laying around to pay for an education. I had a friend that was over $100k in debt for a history degree from a small private school...making $25-35k/year for the last 7-8 years.
Last edited by eddiehaskell; 11-05-2018 at 09:40 AM..
My pension is just a little over half that much [$18k/year], and I have lots of time for my family and hobbies.
We also save about half of my income for investments. [recently bought an apartment building that we are remodeling. When you live on half your income you still have room to improve your portfolio. Regardless of how much that gross income is.]
I may be mistaken but did you not post about a hick up a few weeks ago?
I may be mistaken but did you not post about a hick up a few weeks ago?
There was a Tri-plex rental property that we bought in 1991 [a decade before I retired], it was our third rental property.
That property did well, it was a real cash-cow for us.
In 2005 we decided to refinance it and to use the cash to buy the farm where we settled.
During the Recession, the big employers of that city went through a series of layoffs and we lost our tenants. We mistakenly thought that we were going to get new tenants, so we tried to carry the mortgage ourselves using my pension. That was a mistake. On my level of pension, only a fool would attempt to make that kind of mortgage payments.
The bank forced us to go through bankruptcy in 2009.
All we 'lost' was that Triplex. We still have our farm and all our other possessions. The Triplex built up a lot of equity, we were able to convert that equity to cash and we used that cash to buy our retirement home. The 'B' word is scary, but overall I must say that it worked out well for us.
College isn't the answer for everyone. I am perfectly supportive of trade and technical education for those who want it. In fact, these programs need to be beefed up.
I agree with that, but those can be a rip off, too. The devil is in the details.
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Originally Posted by markg91359
However, the point is that some type of education is a virtual necessity in terms of earning a decent living in the USA anymore.
I feel a bit torn on this. On one hand, I can't disagree. On the other, I really don't think the status quo as far as college goes is sustainable (both financially and for the ever increasing numbers radical leftists being churned out, esp. in the humanities--even a few brave liberal professors are speaking out about how lopsided it's become and about how radical leftist ideology is starting to invade the hard sciences as well). Something's going to give for a number of different reasons.
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Originally Posted by markg91359
Saying that education isn't practical enough and we need to reconsider some of the things we've accepted for many years is fine. Its another thing to tell your kids that they are on their own when it comes to such things.
The thing about it is, I don't think the other poster was exactly saying his kids were on their own. I think if it got down to specifics, he probably spent a lot of time teaching his kids real life skills. The more real life skills you have, the less you need the diploma. I know the two are not mutually exclusive. But at this point in time, I'm really thinking the people with the real life practical skills are going to have a major edge in life over those of us who have specialized degrees but pay other people to do everything for us. It goes back to my belief that the standard way of doing things isn't going to last much longer. Of course, I don't have a crystal ball. I could be wrong.
Early retirement is a premature road to death. There's been countless studies on this. Once you stop stimulating your brain and body and have no coherent purpose for your life, the body responds and begins to shut down. You can have it!
Early retirement is a premature road to death. Once you stop stimulating your brain and body and have no coherent purpose for your life, the body responds and begins to shut down. You can have it!
You don’t have to stop stimulating your brain/body in retirement nor does it mean you have no coherent purpose.
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