re: Saving for college/car etc..

Teach them a good work ethic problem solved no one bought me a car payed for my tuition. It all worked out my parents were amazing probably because they didn’t do this garbage.

Lol

I give them a $30,000 car for college - when they graduate I give them the title. They have full scholarships and work in summer. It still cost me a good bit, but they did what I asked as far as grades, ACT, staying out of trouble, etc. and I pay for most of their stuff. Probably $1,000 a month a piece not including car, insurance, gas, food, phone, etc.

When my kids turned 16 I got them a 20 year old Honda Civic which they drove until they graduated high school. For graduation they got a choice of a 3 year old Civic or Corolla with about 30,000 miles.

It worked out well.

The newer cars will last until they get out of graduate school and choose to buy a car on their own.

I put a little away each check in a 529 invested in mutual funds when they were born and here and there added some birthday money from an uncle and they ended up with 25k. With academic scholarships and Tops they just had almost enough. Well one did and the other worked and paid some so had some left.

I was able to save $125K each in Mississippi 529 for my two daughters. It has worked out well.

Older daughter has her graduate year left in accounting starting this summer so is just a little over a year away from gainful employment. She spent a year at local cc so we saved big there and when she went to Ole Miss she had some nice scholarships so we will end up spending about 2/3 of her money by the time she finishes. Did not join a sorority. I would have been supportive but she wasn't interested. We do have some out of pocket since the rent for her one-br apartment is more than the total allowable withdrawal for rent. I tried to get her to apply to law school but she doesn't want to.

Younger daughter is in her first year at local cc. Since it is so cheap I have not started withdrawing from her account yet. Things may be a little tougher for her. She does not have any scholarship money, and she is pretty severely dyslexic so I have tried to plan for 5 to 5-1/2 years for her to finish. Will have the balance of older daughter's account to transfer in if we need it.

Cars, older daughter has my old 2015 4Runner that I bought new, turned it over to her in '19. Younger one has '05 LX (100-series Cruiser). It has less miles on it than the 4Runner. I had it all gone through mechanically so it is like a nearly new vehicle and she loves it. So they are both set for wheels for the next 5, possibly 10 years if they don't wreck the damn things.

My goal was to get my daughters educated with a debt-free start in the world when they finish. When I finished my education I was $200K in debt and I definitely do not want that for them.

When they are both done with school I am retiring.

You CANNOT start saving too early. Salt it away boys.

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more expensive/Greek life, etc, that's what Student loans are for

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This mindset is what is wrong with the majority of Americans.

It would be most convenient to have at least $40k at the time they start. This does not factor any vehicle ownership or expenses.

At LSU, after Tops, tuition and books are about $2,000 per semester. Living is approximately $1,000 per month whether you live in a dorm or not. My kid is a freshman living in a condo with a roommate. We live close enough that a dorm is not mandatory.

Don't let LSU fool you into believing you are required to have a meal plan your freshman year, you can have it removed from your fee bill.

I will say that if you have a 529 plan and multiple kids. I would suggest over funding the 1st kids 529 bc you can roll any remaining funds into the next kids 529 without penalty.