Does it make sense to write a check for so much money before you are financially independent?
Let's set the table here before we get going. College is worth it. I wouldn't be where I am today without the time I spent matriculating through some of the finest institutions in America. But at what price does college become a net-negative? I'd say when paying for it jeopardizes a family's chance at financial independence.
How can you achieve financial independence if you mail a check to your child's college for $100,000? That is $100,000 that will never work for you and your family again. Does that make sense? Sure it feels good for you or your child to not have student loans, but what feels better is having $200,000 in the bank eight to ten years after their high school graduation along with a college degree and a high paying job and a student loan that you are paying off over over time - not all at once.
Not all at once because if you're smart that $100,000 you didn't pay to the college your child attended is now worth $400,000 twenty years after that child's senior prom. This is what not paying $100,000 to free a child from student loan payments can do for a family in pursuit of financial independence. Last I checked 20 years after most parents' children turn 18 is about the beginning of those parents retirement.
Americans have a choice. Keep sacrificing everything to pay for college. Or sacrifice being free of student loans to be financially free.
If you are struggling with determining the best way to pay for college, we've got some ideas. Contact us at info@wilsonwealth.com and put "College" in the subject line or visit us at www.wilsonwealth.com.
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