The theme this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast is: How to save $100,000 for your grandkids college

Today, I’m talking about why you should care about saving for college in the first place. Many parents and grandparents save little or nothing for their children or grandchildren’s education. Many times this is simply because there are more pressing financial needs, and many times because the cost of college is something isn’t planned for, because many people simply procrastinate and put it out of their mind until they need to deal with it. But by the time junior hits high school, it’s much too late to save a meaningful amount of money for college, and student loans become the way to fill the financial gap.

You’ve probably heard all about the student loan debt crisis. College grads are carrying around crushing amounts of student loan debt. And many will still be paying off their student loans well into their 30s and 40s. 

The main problem I see with people I’ve advised in their 30s and 40s who have student loans is that it keeps them from saving for retirement or for their own kids college, and the vicious cycle of debt continues. If Americans today don’t start saving for retirement until their 40s, they only have 20 years to save instead of 30. 

After all, “It’s time in the market, not timing the market that matters”. Here’s why: If I save $5000/year for retirement starting at age 25, and it grows at a reasonable 8% per year, I’ll have about $1.4 million on my 65th birthday. 

If I delay that by just 10 years and don’t start saving until age 35, I’ll have about $600,000 at age 65, less that half of what 

The longer you wait to start saving for retirement the more you’ll need to save just to catch up. So one of the best things you can do for your children and grandchildren financially to set them up for success in retirement is to help them avoid student loans, and show them the power of saving early and often - prioritize saving for retirement with their first paycheck and it will build the habit of saving early with the potential for huge payoffs later in life. If they don’t have the burden of student loans, it’s all the more likely that they’ll start saving with that first paycheck. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance