Originally Posted by vbb

I have had a couple of different financial guys tell me the exact same thing... "you can take a loan out for college, but you can't take a loan out for retirement." I get it. But, we have a good program here in my state that lets you prepay for college tuition through an investment package which will cover all tuition, room & board through any state college, or pay out at the highest in-state rate for any out of state college. When you spread the payments over the course of 12 years (typically parents start it when their kids enter kindergarten) it really isn't that big of a hit. I'm not going to pay for my kid's college at the exclusion of funding my retirement. I plan to do both simultaneously. And, like my parents did for me... college is on me, but if my kids want advanced degrees, that's on them.

But more on topic... I'm definitely not going to use that extra money I'd put away for their college on buying a more expensive car. If I can afford a gently used Porsche and pay for their college, or a gently used Ferrari and not pay for their college, I'm choosing the Porsche. Lastly, if either of my kids gets a scholarship, or decides not to go to college for some crazy reason and over my strenuous objections, then I get all that money back, plus interest.

Originally Posted by vbb

And, like my parents did for me... college is on me, but if my kids want advanced degrees, that's on them.