Personally, if I could live the middle-income lifestyle I’m living now without *having* to work then I’d think myself rich.

Would I be able to buy a yacht on a whim? No. But would I be able to do what I wanted each day – be financially free of jobs and mortgages? Yes.

That’s a rich goal for me, and more achievable for most of us to aim for than being a billionaire.

My retirement is more important, and if push comes to shove, the education fund won’t be “fully” funded and my child would have to take out some loans to cover the gap. $200k to go to college seems excessive, even if it is 18 years from now. That must mean that my $175k house will be worth a million dollars by then…. LOL

I’m talking about most kids and the things that they think that they need. I went to HS in the mid 90’s, and I got to go to swim lessons at the YMCA as something “extra”. Wow. I had to start working at age 15, and saved to buy my own car at age 19. I didn’t get laptops, cellphones, and other expensive gadgets. I had to buy anything my parent’s considered “unncessary” such as designer clothes with my waitressing/ babysitting earnings. I turned out just fine not being spoiled. I don’t think that my parents spent much more on the household budget with me there, except extra food and utilities. I got a few $ worth of new school clothes at the begining of the school year and that was about it. I did have braces, and my parents paid oop for those. That was probably their splurge. LOL

Her sister-in-law is mentally handicapped and needed specialized care as well from birth. So there is no way to say that you won’t “pay” for things because the unexpected happens. And of course not all children are equal. Some may be brilliant and others not so much. One might be a super athelete or artist. It’s hard to judge and broad stroke all extra curricular activities as “unnecessary”.

I would like to save as much as I can for college for my kids as well, however, when you consider that a college that currently costs say $15,000 per year (that’s being conservative) and you have 18 years to save, assuming a 6% increase per year in college costs and an 8% return, you would need to save $322 per month for one child to go to college. It is going to cost our kids alot more to go to college than it did for us, estimates are around $200,000 to $250,000 per child.

Oh, my estimates were from:

http://www.savingforcollege.com

Again, this is all related to how much you WANT to spend. It seems as if people feel that they NEED to spend a ton on their kids these days compared to years past, even 20 years ago was different. I plan to save for my child’s college education, but I refuse to give in to all of the “wants” (PS3, IPOD, cell phone, private guitar lessons, private schools, etc.). Some of my younger cousins are spoiled to the point that it is disturbing….