Saving Money for Kids

[carolyngrace]

Personally I think it depends on when you started parenting your stepson. In my opinion, it seems fair to start saving the same amount for each child. But if your stepson is older when you start saving for him, he will inevitably have a bit less. In other words, I wouldn't set aside more for him to make sure he has the same amount when he's 18 as DB will. But I also wouldn't set aside less just because he also has that other money.

[Bluedaisy]

I think it depends on whether you plan to give DB the money regardless of whether he plans to use it for school. If he gets money either way then I think you should save for both(for example could he decide to use it to travel or buy a car/house, etc). However if the deal is that you will only use that money to pay directly for DBs school then I don't think you need to save the same amount for both. I'm of the mind that fair isn't always equal and equal isn't always fair.

Just a thought though.

[Deleted]

We will both start getting some good sized inheritance at some point over the next decade. We have every intention of using the first bulk of it for both boys college funds but DS1 will get more than DS2, like 60/40 split. We have an extra eight years to save for DS2. In the mean time we put the same monthly amounts into their accounts.

[carolyngrace]

I'm so terrified I'll have nothing to give my kids. It will take us the next 10 years or so to pay off my school debt and then we'll really commit to saving, both for kid(s) and ourselves.

[billyhorrible]

DH is more concerned about this than I am because BH got substantially more money for his bris than LBB did so he already has more in savings then his almost 4 year old brother.

But I honestly don't think they're going to compare. I have no idea how much my brother had/got versus what I did. I know he didn't have student loans because he went where my dad taught, lived at home and didn't go to grad school. Whereas I'm still paying off my SL. And the amount we each had in savings wouldn't have changed that.

[wegrowsheep]

Sept 19, 2015 21:15:20 GMT -5 carolyngrace said:

I'm so terrified I'll have nothing to give my kids. It will take us the next 10 years or so to pay off my school debt and then we'll really commit to saving, both for kid(s) and ourselves.

Pretty much. We don't own a house, so that's gonna come first, (someday), and my parents didn't pay for my education. Not saying I have a problem with it, but it isn't even close to a priority right now.

[silv3rlining]

What we currently do is put $50/month in each kids' account. Whatever money they receive from relatives for birthdays/holidays go into their account as well. Once they're 18 (or graduate from high school) they will get access to their savings account.

Eta: I think DH also recently transferred some of his GI bill to both kids

[mathistm]

I think it's going to be relative to your circumstances. I hope to have my own student loans paid off before Lo goes to college so I can help her. I am the first in my family to go to college and had no help from my parents. I went to a private school for undergrad and a state school for my masters in a field where there is not nearly enough help for school and I dont make nearly enough to pay off all the loans I had to take (mental health). My DH went to a private university for 6 years for free because his field is much better (engineering). He has zero loans, I have 100k +. We used a 529 calculator not long ago to calculate schooling costs-a private university for Lo with average increases is 350k total. My hope is we will be able to help her more than our parents could.
Eta-I just realized you weren't just asking about school. Saving money for our kids for anything other than school is a foreign concept for us.

[dmoney]

We started a 529 plan for DD, since DH is currently unemployed we put the minimum amount in every month $25. Anything she gets for hannukah, or her Birthday is going to go straight in there. She got a little bit of money at her baby naming and that went in as well. My Aunt and Uncle do not have kids, and I feel like every time we see them, they give us more money to put into her 529. Dh has a HUGE loan for 2 years of undergrad and all of grad school that he has to pay off, but we are not taking that into account as to what we need to save for DD. His dad has also set up some kind of trust for DD for college. I had a small loan for undergrad but that is now paid off. While i would love to be able to pay for all of DD and our future childs college education, it might not be a reality. I dont think I would feel bad making her take out a student loan. It will be a good way for her to build her credit and to teach her to handle her finances.

[Deleted]

This could be flame worthy but we received money for DS and DD from my parents specifically for college and we spent it already on a fixer upper investment property in our neighborhood. But the way we see it, the money would have sat in a bank account and now we will have a house that they can own or sell someday when they both inherit it. So for now they don't have a college fund. My parents also didn't pay for my college and neither did DHs parents.