spencer rifle
Grandmaster
Which we did. All our kids had 529s that made their road much easier, mainly funded from pocket change and extra cash over 25 years. The oldest owns his own house debt-free, and has both IRA and Roth investments, as does the second oldest. The youngest still has a substantial 529 but may be done with schooling. He's formulating a plan to buy a house in a few years after he gets sailing out of his blood (if that ever happens).addition: spencer, in your post #7. I might add “teach your children well”. JMHO.
We did periodic exercises when they were little where I'd take a month's worth of cash out of the bank and show them in real terms how our budget worked and where the money went. It might have been a better lesson if we had included taxes.
We have no debt of any kind, and an emergency fund in liquid government securities equal to 3/4 of year's income (earning 6.5% this year). Those should be a priority, along with some cash at home for when the ATMs go down or the power goes out.