Parenting Poll Of The Week – College vs Retirement Savings

Every parent knows how expensive college will be by the time our kids are old enough to go. The question is, what to do about it? SuburbanMommy and I argue about discuss this on a regular basis. How much we should be saving now for our kid’s college, and how much for retirement?

My position is that I’d love to pay for their college, but I don’t know today how much I’ll be able to afford in 18 years, or what our financial situation will be like then. Stuff happens. So to take money off the table now, by putting it into a 529 account, instead of, say, our own retirement accounts, seems like it could be risky down the road. What if we put too much into the college accounts now, only to realize in 30 years that we don’t have as much in retirement as we need? Will we wish we hadn’t diverted so much money to college accounts?

SuburbanMommy feels that we can do both. Put some money towards college and some towards retirement. If we don’t put it away now we’ll never have it later (i.e. she we will spend it). This is probably the right, best of both worlds approach, and it is what we are doing now.

But I still wonder amount how much is the right amount? The kids can always borrow money for college. I’d rather they didn’t have all that debt, but at least the option is there for them. You can’t borrow for retirement.

Well, maybe I could rely on my kids to fund my retirement. Since they won’t have any college debt, I’m sure they’d be more than happy to help out dear old dad. Oh wait, they’ll be saving for their kid’s college.

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