We’re naturalized Americans with no family in the US, so we don’t have anyone to ask what they’re doing. Also, advice about it online is remarkably inconsistent, ranging from like $20 a month to $2000 a month. I understand that it’s because it is strongly dependent on personal finance and priorities, and nobody’s going to have a straight answer for me, but still, I am interested, what is everyone else doing, and what is the thinking that landed you on that number?
Obviously, I have no idea what my kids will want to be, so I can’t use that as signal. Doctor? Painting artist? Woodworker? Nobel-prize-winning physicist? Beats me!
Some details about my personal situation: I don’t really have any major financial goals except for this and my retirement (I own my house and it’s paid for). So, I can put some decent money in there, but this is competing with my retirement funds, and it’s important to me that I don’t depend on my own kids during my old age, so I don’t want to overdo it.
A thought I had, but I don’t know if it’s relevant: with the recent ability for kids to convert to a Roth IRA up to $35k with no penalties if they don’t use the funds, has that become the new golden number?
I think at least suggesting the trades is a good idea. An ai can replace an accountant or administrative assistant or teacher a lot faster than a house painter, elevator mechanic, forklift driver, AC repairman, etc.
Edit: trades are generally thousands of dollars cheaper to learn and they will have a job no matter where they move. An AC mechanic may spend $15k on school and have college paid off in a few years where a doctor will spend $500k and be in debt forever
Edit 2: and if your kids decide to go for something stupid like underwater basket weaving they can do it on their own dime
This is a good suggestion, and I am definitely worried about college degrees being overvalued. I’m totally gearing up to having to talk with them about the various choices and how financially reasonable each is, in quite a bunch of years. But ultimately, I also know that the outcome may be a compromise between financial reason, and their desires and ambitions. Their choice might not be ideal, and while I would probably disagree to help fun a frivolous degree, I want to have prepared for them to have various opportunities, not just the optimally least risky ones.
Damn, being a parent is hard.
Oh, absolutely its their life and their choice in the end. You dont have the right to tell them where to go and what for. All you can do at the end of the day is give them a suggestion, explain your reasoning behind that suggestion and point out that you will not spend your hard earned money on a pointless degree and that if they want it they may do it on their own dime