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?
For us it was the best way to not adjust but still keep that going to the kids future. And we don’t really notice it since it’s already accounted for.
That said we also signed up for that type of plan that can be used for trade schools and the like. College degrees are flooding the market and becoming devalued. It’s possibly that money can be better spent on a specific skill if the kid so wants to pursue it.
And if they want to go to a fancy private or out of state, they will need scholarships or a way to fund.
I fully recognize this may not be enough to pay for all of college, but at least should cover a very good chunk of it. And again, without really making a change to our cost of living or income:expenses.
Yeah, I’ve been delaying putting money into a 529 exactly because of college degrees being overvalued. But now I’m regretting that choice, considering they indeed can be used for other stuff like you said, and also because of the new ability to transfer to a Roth IRA without penalties. Also, I’ve learned that in my state (Illinois), only ~5% of the money placed on those 529 count towards getting grants and loans; so basically the more you put money in there as opposed to just giving it to your kid from a regular bank account, the more money you get from elsewhere. Pretty compelling.
But yeah, at the end of the day, unless the landscape changes dramatically, I fully intend to have the “colleges are mostly scams” talk with my kids as we get closer.
I wouldn’t feel too bad. That’s a new chnage that occurred during the Trump Admin. We transferred to a compatible 529 when it did chnage.I think Utah or something. But I was concerned like you prior to that (we just didn’t have much put in). No way you can predict the future.
Definitely will have a similar convo with my kids and impress that if they do want to go to college, stick to degrees that give you skills and certifications coming out (ie: engineering, finance, nursing etc etc ) not something like political science.