I’ve stopped contributing to my daughters’ 529 plans

He didn't play games. He has told us many times that he had retirement accounts and no cash after home improvements and cars. None.

It's a smart approach that many here should consider. Flagpole also admitted that not everyone can use that strategy. Parents who are public servants and parents who have a business will use different strategies.

1) I never said I was a hero. I also disagree that it's a parent's job to send a kid to the college of their choice. Every family has their own spending limit and values. It's up to the parent to decide how much they are willing to spend to send their kid to college.

2) It's not playing games. It's just all about where you want to put your money. Most people just don't KNOW that they can invest their money in retirement accounts and make sure to have little liquid money come college time and then not have to pay a ton if your kid goes to certain schools (most of them elite colleges).

3) I knew full well that I could have a kid who wanted to stay close to home and go to Ohio State or some other school like that. With a paid-for house and zero debt, that is something that would have been easily paid for out of my income during that time. When my oldest went to college, Ohio State's tuition was $10,000 per year. Room and Board was another $10,000 per year. Big freakin' deal.

CORRECT!

It’s hilarious how wrong you are. It’s NOT the job of a parent to make little versions of yourself, wasting away in Nowhereville, Ohio.

If you have millions of dollars socked away in retirement accounts, and that’s more important to you than sending your child to their number one choice of a college, that’s tantamount to child abuse

and for what? For you to brag on a running message board about how you can retire at 55.

He said that he didn't max out retirement accounts. He said that he had no money when the kids went to college. Many of us actually saved money and paid off our house and bought new cars and maxed out retirement accounts. Flagpole gets defensive and refuses to tell us what his net worth was at college time but we can make an educated guess based on stock market returns and knowing that he wasn't maxing his contributions. But somehow he went from a small net worth at college time to an amount that is in then neighborhood of $10M a few years later. Sure.

90% of Americans use the same strategy in life. They have no liquid assets. They only have a retirement account.

Exactly. If Flagpole had that much money now and he’s preparing for retirement than he could have sent his children to ANY college they wanted multiple times over

Agreed, this doesn’t really add up. And admitting he had almost no savings outside of retirement at one point while throwing money into nice vacations discredits a lot of his advice imo.

The money in retirement isn't counted when determining financial aid. That's why his main mantra is put money in your own retirement account. Money in retirement accounts should double every 7 to 10 years anyway.

We all know that. But he was unable to save another penny above his reticent accounts even though he wasn't maxing thise out. Savers arable to max out retirement accounts and pay off house and buy cars and still save a bunch. Flagpole couldn't do that.

1) INCORRECT!

2) Who said anything about making little versions of myself? Both of my children and smarter than I am, and both are athletic with one of them being WAY more athletic than I am. Both of them are better versions of me.

3) Both of my kids went to the college of their choice. I just said it is NOT the job of a parent to make that happen. Parents get to decide what they can afford. I could afford to send both to the college of their choice, and they chose wisely, so I did.

Huh?

1) I never said I wasn't maxing out retirement accounts. I never used that phrase ever.

2) My net worth at any time is not your business.

3) Why do you think I had a "small net worth" at college time (meaning when my oldest went to college)? I have never said that. You are making assumptions that are not true.

4) You have a serious misunderstanding about something. I'm not sure what it is. You might just be stupid.

Well, you are wrong about that. Only 75% of working Americans have any retirement savings at all, and of course the vast majority of those don't have enough.

You people have a hard time with reading comprehension for some reason. Where did I say I didn't send my children to their first choice college? I actually DID do that. Both of them went to their first choice college, and both of them could have gone for 100% free elsewhere, but we decided to pony up the dough for them to go to the schools of their choice.

You people are weird.

1) I never said anything about not maxing out retirement accounts. Not sure where this guy got that.

2) The vast majority of the CASH I spent in the 2-3 years prior to my daughter going to college was on home improvements. We also bought a car for cash during that time and we also spent some money on a couple really nice family vacations. The reason you should get rid of liquid cash before sending kids to college is that any need-based aid will be greatly reduced if you have a pile of cash. I COULD have decided to have a pile of cash on hand and paid $70,000 a year to send my kids to college. I opted to NOT spend that much for their education. Vacations are valuable, so that was not throwing money away at all. Many of you have accused me of being a penny pincher in the past, and here today I'm now throwing money away. Um...NOPE! Neither one is true. I invest like clockwork. I invest a lot. I spend money on things I want or need out of what's left.

CORRECT!

College is an expense. You can decide to get rid of other expenses ahead of college so that you can pay for college out of your income if you want to. If by the time your kid is going to college, you have ZERO debt and a paid-for home, it's pretty easy for a professional person making a professional level salary (I'll put a minimum on that of two income earners in a household making $50,000 each today), that paying for college isn't that hard to do. You can get that way by paying debt down instead of saving for college.

At many elite colleges, if your household income is $100,000, you will get MORE than full tuition. If you have a 529 plan or other liquid money, they will take that.

You might say $100,000 isn't that much, and it's not, but there are a LOT of households in the middle of the country where that is common and even good. $100,000 in most of Connecticut isn't good. $100,000 in Peoria, IL or Mount Vernon, OH is pretty good.

INCORRECT!

You said that your children DID NOT go to their first choice just so that you could sock away more money for your own retirement.

In any case, even if they did go to their first choice, they probably didn’t even APPLY to what their REAL first choice is because of how often you obsess and talk about your retirement money.