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We have young kids. We're planning on setting aside about $1MM to put them through college.
Are you expecting to be paying sticker price for Yale or Stanford or hoping to be able to pay their way through med/law school as well? That seems like an extreme amount of money to save for college.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Originally Posted by lewdog_5
I am guessing most don't have kids?
I expect my kids will reach $2m in less than half the time it took me. Raising kids was dirt cheap. Taught them money management and they were on their own financially long before they left home at age 18. They paid 100% for their cars, insurance, gas, college, + housing and medical. I consider that normal. (And a good practice for equipping them to survive in real life.
Me buying a farm was not too wise financially, but it provided a good quality of life, and excellent training for kids. They certainly learned why NOT to buy a farm.
Are you expecting to be paying sticker price for Yale or Stanford or hoping to be able to pay their way through med/law school as well? That seems like an extreme amount of money to save for college.
Pretty much. If they get into a top school we expect to pay sticker price for undergrad. If they end up going somewhere cheaper instead then they can use the funds for grad/professional school.
Pretty much. If they get into a top school we expect to pay sticker price for undergrad. If they end up going somewhere cheaper instead then they can use the funds for grad/professional school.
Read the book Outliers. It offers some interesting insight into the value of high end schools vs the others. You might be surprised.
Read the book Outliers. It offers some interesting insight into the value of high end schools vs the others. You might be surprised.
Plus, one thing you often see is the average income earned by grads of the top schools compared to grads of non-elite unis, but what they always fail to account for is cost of living. Most grads of top unis end up in extremely expensive cities, which come with a much larger cost of living. So if I'm a computer engineer that graduated from Stanford and work in the Bay area making $150k that looks awesome on paper, but what about the computer engineer that graduated from the University of Illinois living in Saint Louis making $90k?
Looks like you'd be much better off paying the extra $40k/yr to go to Stanford, because you'll earn more than that each year, but when you factor in cost of living the $150k/yr in the Bay Area has less buying power than the $90k/yr in Saint Louis. So, who's really better off?
I also don't pretend that my kids will be smart enough, and I'm certainly not connected enough, for my kids to go to an elite uni I like to think I'm pretty smart, graduated from a fully-funded PhD program in a quant field, but that doesn't mean I would have been smart enough to get into Yale as a kid from a middle-class home in the midwest. I went to a fairly elite private HS in Saint Louis, where it was fairly common for kids to get 1500+ out of 1600 on the SAT and/or 34+ on the ACT (out of 36) and I knew one kid who went to an Ivy (Dartmouth) and not only was he smart, but he was a great linebacker too and he went there to play football. One of my good freinds got a 35 on the ACT and a 1540 on the SAT, had great grades, was Varsity Track and Football and the best he could muster was Washington University and Vanderbilt. He's also a neurosurgeon today
Read the book Outliers. It offers some interesting insight into the value of high end schools vs the others. You might be surprised.
My wife and I came from refugee/immigrant families, and we both believe that education (including attending top schools) played a big part in getting us from where we started to where we are today. (It also means that our kids will have legacy status at two Ivies if they choose to apply.)
We're also at a point financially where paying full tuition at a top school shouldn't impact our retirement goals. If anything, it's more like allocating part of their inheritance. Maybe they'll get in, maybe they won't, but if they have the opportunity to go, we don't want them to have to pass on it because of finances.
Plus, one thing you often see is the average income earned by grads of the top schools compared to grads of non-elite unis, but what they always fail to account for is cost of living. Most grads of top unis end up in extremely expensive cities, which come with a much larger cost of living. So if I'm a computer engineer that graduated from Stanford and work in the Bay area making $150k that looks awesome on paper, but what about the computer engineer that graduated from the University of Illinois living in Saint Louis making $90k?
Looks like you'd be much better off paying the extra $40k/yr to go to Stanford, because you'll earn more than that each year, but when you factor in cost of living the $150k/yr in the Bay Area has less buying power than the $90k/yr in Saint Louis. So, who's really better off?
I also don't pretend that my kids will be smart enough, and I'm certainly not connected enough, for my kids to go to an elite uni I like to think I'm pretty smart, graduated from a fully-funded PhD program in a quant field, but that doesn't mean I would have been smart enough to get into Yale as a kid from a middle-class home in the midwest. I went to a fairly elite private HS in Saint Louis, where it was fairly common for kids to get 1500+ out of 1600 on the SAT and/or 34+ on the ACT (out of 36) and I knew one kid who went to an Ivy (Dartmouth) and not only was he smart, but he was a great linebacker too and he went there to play football. One of my good freinds got a 35 on the ACT and a 1540 on the SAT, had great grades, was Varsity Track and Football and the best he could muster was Washington University and Vanderbilt. He's also a neurosurgeon today
The CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, went to the same school I did, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Essentially a commuter school. He made out alright. I think I did too. Graduated with no debt. I was able to launch my savings far quicker than someone with loans which leads us back to the OP, having at least 2 million.
My wife and I came from refugee/immigrant families, and we both believe that education (including attending top schools) played a big part in getting us from where we started to where we are today. (It also means that they will have legacy status at two Ivies if they choose to apply.)
We're also at a point financially where paying full tuition at a top school shouldn't impact our retirement goals. If anything, it's more like allocating part of their inheritance. Maybe they'll get in, maybe they won't, but if they have the opportunity to go, we don't want them to have to pass on it because of finances.
I agree completely that education is key. The book points out that a degree is key and the pedigree of the school is overkill.
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I like to think I'm pretty smart, graduated from a fully-funded PhD program in a quant field, but that doesn't mean I would have been smart enough to get into Yale as a kid from a middle-class home in the midwest. I went to a fairly elite private HS in Saint Louis, where it was fairly common for kids to get 1500+ out of 1600 on the SAT and/or 34+ on the ACT (out of 36) and I knew one kid who went to an Ivy (Dartmouth) and not only was he smart, but he was a great linebacker too and he went there to play football. One of my good freinds got a 35 on the ACT and a 1540 on the SAT, had great grades, was Varsity Track and Football and the best he could muster was Washington University and Vanderbilt. He's also a neurosurgeon today 