By Jeff Salisbury
JeffreyLSalisbury@gmail.com
Dear Paren
ts,
Stop worrying about funding your kids’ college education.
You need to fund your own retirement. Pay off your house and shed all long term debt.
Contribute to your tax-deferred retirement savings plan.
Then give your adult kids the best gift ever: Move yourselves into a life care CCRC (go ahead and look up what that means) as soon as your age permits you to do so.
Your paid-off house will fund the entrance fee; your Social Security and retirement savings should handle the monthly costs, which include almost everything you need to live.
Sadly, most parents will not listen to this advice but they should. Sadder still, their adult kids will regret it, when they become full-time caregivers for aged parents, have to take away car keys, argue about health care power of attorney, squabble over selling the house and disposing of a lifetime of your stuff.
“But I’m different, I won’t have these problems.”
Except that you’re not different and you will absolutely create these problems — because as you age, the more you’ll cling to familiar things, the more you’ll just want to stay in your little safe sclerotic zones.
So while your kids are in high school to do this…
Tell your kids to crack the books, get grants and scholarships and part-time jobs and pay their own way through college if they want college.
Then go fund your retirement, and your kids will thank you when they’re parents themselves.
FOOTNOTE:
SOME parents – but not ALL parents MIGHT try these strategies to balance college costs and retirement preparations. But keep in mind, I find these suggestions are primarily best-suited for upper-income parents only.
• Examine your priorities.
• Get a 401(k) match.
• Consider a 529 plan.
• Fund your retirement accounts.
• Compare loan interest rates to your investment returns.
• Consider your child’s financial aid package.
For more information about how best to Prioritize Retirement Versus College Savings – at this link:
http://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/articles/2015/05/11/how-to-prioritize-retirement-versus-college-saving
Bravo Mr. Salisbury, I clearly remember my late father telling me to establish a retirement plan. I was a 20 year old second lieutenant at the time and thought I have not arrived at my first assignment and he wants me to think retirement? Well I took his advice and we are secure because of it.
Good advice, informative column.
I have an addendum to Mr. Salisbury’s assertions/recommendations; get the government out of the education business (loans for college, subsidizing colleges with handouts, grants and money) and have colleges stand or fall on their enrollment and income from students. Look in the mirror – you – yes, you – are on the hook for all the debt for college loans since President Obama took over from banks in direct loans to students from the government for college (another bright idea from the smartest President ever). The President doesn’t pay the defaults surely to come, you do, compliments or the President).
As of 2013, the average college student has $28,400 of debt coming out of college. The total college loan debt owned by the federal government is more than $1.2 TRILLION dollars! And many of these loans will go into default because so many graduates cannot find jobs in their field of study. Most of the public colleges are building and adding staff with government dollars, further pulling us into more education debt.