Why? This is a message board, not an IRS audit. Enough that I can put $1000k+ a month away for my kid’s college.
You raised the issue of your personal circumstances apparently to rebut a generalization I made. If you are unwilling to share the details of those circumstances, I won’t put too much weight on your example.
Not that it really matters, since it seems that the bulk of the dispute comes from the lack of clarity in my earlier post. When I talked about saving for college, I envisioned saving enough money to pay for an elite private school. My spouse and I both attended colleges like this and I admit there’s a bit of a bias in my thinking on this point.
Do you doubt that I put $1000 away each month for college? Is that the problem with not putting too much weight on my example?
No, not really. However, there is some question in my mind as to whether you had you plans in place and in motion around the time your first child was conceived. Also, I suspect that your financial situation is a bit of an outlier.
I’d have to crunch the numbers, but I’m pretty sure you can. It may not be the best use of your money, but it’s certainly doable.
Yes - had plans in place before we conceived. Outlier - not statistically in terms of income, but we are definitely on the point on the bell curve that leads that way. BUT, neither my husband or I come from families with money. I didn’t have a college degree until last year and mine is from a state school. My husband still doesn’t have one, but did spend four years at a private college - though not a famous one. We also had some unusual expenses - we DID adopt, after a year of unsuccessful fertility treatments. We’ve helped some family members through some rough times with pretty significant amounts of money. In some ways, we are exactly the family you are talking about - delayed staring a family until our 30s, had fertility issues.
Yeah, you probably can - if you are willing to give up the rest of the bells and whistles that go with the McMansion and the Porsche. I’ve known very few families, however, that stop with the $800k house (this is Minnesota, not either coast), the his and hers matching $80k cars - and don’t add the Kate Spade purse (to go with the other expensive purses), the $40 weekly manicure, the $12,000 a year club membership, the bar stocked with expensive scotch and wines that don’t have a jumping kangaroo on the label, the twice weekly housekeeper, the season tickets for pro ball, etc. - And then they whine because they can’t afford to save for college.
When my kids get too expensive to feed, I plan to just drop 'em off at the pound.
:shrug: If you aren’t willing to disclose the details, I’m not particularly interested in your conclusions (about your personal situation) at this point.
Then I congratulate you (assuming you are happy with your decisions).