There are lots of reasons to go to college, but a nice nest egg when you retire isn't one of them. If your parents had invested your first two years of college expenses in IRAs that you couldn't raid, by age 65 you'd be well set--much further ahead than attending an Ivy League school, or even any college at all. I have a scheme that just might get you the best of both worlds, because really, I'm quite a fan of education. I'm the third generation in my family to have a college education. It's also a good place to meet your future spouse, my grandparents, parents, and my husband and I all met in college.
When your child graduates from high school insist that he/she get a job and work for at least one year--fast food, retail, construction, agriculture worker, county flagman, groundskeeper--you get the idea. It would be nice if they can live away from home and support themselves, but that isn't essential. Then take the amount of money it would cost you for a year at a state university (I have no idea what that is these days, $12,000?) and invest it in the stock market (but not in their name, because otherwise they'll take it the first time they want a car, a nice wedding or new furniture).
After a year in the trenches or behind the counter, they'll probably be better able to take advantage of what college has to offer, and by investing for them, you'll insure they have a nice retirement in the distant future. This will really help if they want to go out and save the world in a low paying job like social work or library science, positions that have lots of simple pleasures but don't pay particularly well unless you want to claw your way to the top and become a manager/director.
I know this works, because I figured it out one day standing in line at the Tremont Goodie Shop in the 1980s while grieving that my children said no to college. Unfortunately, I already had their college money (for the first year) in accounts with their SS# and name and it later disappeared for consumer goods that will be gone long before they retire. But in case you don't believe an ordinary librarian, go read this article.
College: Big Investment, Paltry Return
"Over the past 30 years, the S&P 500 Index averaged about 11 percent a year. Only 88 schools out of the 554 in the study had a better return than the S&P. Everywhere else, students would have been better off—financially, at least—if they invested the money they spent on their college educations and never set foot in a classroom." -- And I would comment that the ROI predicted for any of these colleges is far higher than the 1%-4% I've read in other sources.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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6 comments:
Norma,thanks for commenting on my blog. As soon as i can i will check out more on your blog but I'am once again rushed away. Again, thanks and any follow up disagreement or agreement is very welcome!
Doug, nice to meet another Christian on the internet even if you do think the gov't supposed to be doing what Christ told us to do. Good luck on your rushing around, where ever that takes you.
Let me be clear. Both individuals and government should do what Christ instructs. Government does not take the place of us doing our part should there be any misunderstanding. I believe in individual salvation followed by the works of faith through individual and collectivist action. There is no need for these to be opposing positions but I plan on writing more about this soon.
Since Christ had both the OT and the Roman government, why didn't he just use those to get his followers to love. Your belief in collectivist action through the gov't is called "stealing."
Jesus had no weight with the Roman government so that would of course be obsured.
When Jesus said give to the government what is theirs and give to God what is His he wasn't encouraging you to reinforce their "stealing" . Taxation is a legitimate form of raising revenue. You might also consider that the Roman government engaged in some fairly corrupt practices not to mention open orgies so when you object to the actions of the U.S. government as reason to not pay taxes you should think again.
I have six kids, five of whom are college graduates (four with advanced degrees) and if I had invested all the money I spent on them while they were in school there would probably be enough to buy each of them a couple of hamburgers. (Even today, kids can work enough to get scholarships, and then work in the job market while studying). Actually I exaggerated a little, but out of the five that went to school I dont think I paid out of pocket more than two thousand bucks. (except for the occasion train, plane or bus ticket so that they could go home or we could go see them on holidays.)
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