College savings versus vacation?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I was thinking about whether college savings is necessary. I fully agree that retirement needs to be taken care of first and foremost. But parents and as former children, can I ask, should you be saving for college instead of taking annual family vacation?

If a family vacation costs an average of $7k, would it better spent if it were only $2k to vacation and $5k to college savings? I know as a kid I'd have appreciated a $5k college fund instead of a $5k vacation.

But parents ring in? Is it more important to vacation as a family? Maybe I put too much emphasis on college and not enough on vacationing. But I think for me I'd rather save for my kid's college than go on vacation. But there are tons of cheap vacations like camping, road tripping, etc.

Or would it be better to blow the vacation fund on vacationing?

[jIM_Ohio]

vacation. The time you spend with kids will be memorable, and those memories help build the relationship stronger. Solve college another time (by having kids borrow to pay for it).

[sweeps]

Saving for college and saving for vacations are both good goals. But if you can't do both, I think the decision between the two is pretty easy.

[Broken Arrow]

I always feel a little guilty when people talk about saving money for their children's college tuitions. My earning is limited and I am playing catch up, or so I tell myself. But in the end, to be perfectly honest, I have no plans to save for my children's college. They will just have to bear student loans as I have. I also hope that it will help teach them financial responsibility as it has taught me.

To be frank, if I was in that situation, I would not have picked vacation either. I think the best memories are the quality time and attention you give them, and that doesn't have to involve much money at all.

No, if I had extra money, I would probably use it to accelerate my financial plans instead. Then, if there are still money to spare (though I can't imagine that), then I'll look into a 529.

But that's just speaking for myself.

[Scanner]

It's funny - all the finance articles deal with subjects such as diversification, asset allocation, equities, bonds. . .but in the end, these are the real life decisions we make everyday that financial advisors and other pundits are disconnected from.

Do we take that trip to Disney with the kids so they remember it?

or

Do we save for X, Y, or Z?

I'm not going to play the usual fence here.

Vacations are nice and needed but IMO, don't do them for the kids.

Kids will remember things like this when they grow up:

1. Pancakes on Sat. morning
2. Going to church on Sun.
3. Letting them "camp" on the floor in your bedroom (when I was little we had 1 window air conditioner so I remember getting sleeping bags and sleeping in mom/dad's bedroom, I'm sure they were thrilled, LOL)

I sort of remember the trip to Disney my family took but it's very vague (I think we stayed at the Royal Plaza).

So. . .if you have the choice, put it in for college.

[DebbieL]

I for one am extremely grateful that my mom took me to Disneyland a couple times when I was a kid. I will NEVER forget those experiences, and I did the same for my kid. I think there are some experiences that really make an imprint on a kid. I didn't have a kid so I would never have any fun trips with her.

As for the education - I had it available to me for free (from my parents) when I was younger - didn't care and wasn't motivated to do it. Now I'm back in school earning my degree on my own dime and loving it. I work full time, so I'm not taking on debt to do it. It means more, and I actually have a clue now what I want to do - something I couldn't say in my 20's.

For my own daughter I will play it by ear. I will not pay for her to piss away my money. If she is motivated to go to college and does well, I will likely reimburse her. I have to see the grades before I’m writing the cheque.

[disneysteve]

If a family vacation costs an average of $7k,

What kind of vacations are you taking? We do a week in Disney World every fall. That costs about $2,000. We also do a week or two somewhere else during the summer. That runs another $2,000/week or less depending on what we do. We also do some short trips during the year, like this past weekend to Lancaster, PA. We are fortunate in that we can afford to take several trips each year, but if we couldn't, we'd be perfectly happy with one $2,000 trip.

I'd say if you're spending $7,000 on vacation, you need to take cheaper vacations and use the difference to fund the education accounts. I think both are important. Vacations need not be expensive. Just taking a week off to spend time at home with your kids and take some day trips is a perfectly good vacation and that can be quite inexpensive.

[Like2Plan]

If it was either/or, it would be college. We did put vacation behind college funding for several years. We were fortunate that we were eventually able to do both
(We don't spend 7,000 for a family vacation, either).

[disneysteve]

If it was either/or, it would be college.

I didn't address this part of the question. I'm not in that situation, so I can only be hypothetical, but I don't think I'd give up vacations. I would make vacation as inexpensive as possible while still being enjoyable, but I wouldn't cut them out. My daughter has learned so much through traveling that can't be learned any other way besides experiencing it. I think that is worth every penny. She's been to something like 17 states, plus Mexico, Canada, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Belize, Dominican Republic and probably a couple of places I'm not thinking of. She remembers tons of stuff from places she has visited. It has helped her in school already when they've been studying various things.

There are always ways to pay for college - jobs, loans, scholarships - but you can never replace those family vacations and experiences.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I think I will get more out of reading others' thoughts in this thread than I can contribute.

What we did has worked out well, so far. We did not save at all for college, but all along we have spent for our child's education. We knew that come the college years we would be willing to continue the highest yearly level of spending we'd put out for "education" up to that point, possibly more. However, we also remained open to the possibility that we would help fund a new business for our child, rather than pay for college. We figured he would probably choose college, but perhaps he would want to begin a business.

We also pretty much counted on our belief that our child could get scholarships. That was risky, no doubt, but we had reason to think he could.

Our vacations were educational. They were not terribly expensive, but I am so, so glad we took them. Some of them affected our child profoundly, helping to form his personality in ways that makes him goal oriented, self-assured, independent, observant, thrifty, innovative, patient with others, able to endure, satisfied in his heart. These are things that do help when it comes to learning schoolish things. They were also worth learning in themselves and were so well done through those vacations.

As I said, it all worked out fine. Son (now in college) got enough excellent scholarships to take his pick from among several universities. He has chosen a major for which he has to work very hard. I honestly don't see how he could spare study time for more than a few hours a week. Jobs are hard to come by in the rural university town, anyway. Plus he does work a few "service hours" a week connected with one scholarship. So we parents are happy to continue spending on him for room, board, transportation, and general living needs. It is no more than we were spending on him when he lived at home.

For the specific question-- $7K vs $2K with $5K put way for college? Well, if we'd had that much to make choices with, I'd have to say we'd definitely save the $5K per year and take $2K vacations. Our wonderful vacations were had mostly with well under $2K per year, though some years the average was more. I would have to average it though, cause some expensive equipment was used for several years. So for us, I know great vacations could be had on that. Then are we talking about 18 years X 5K? $90,000 for college?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Yep, but realize if you read MP Dunleavy she writes she needs $7k/year for vacation but can't save for college. Hence the question.

Would your kid want the $7k vacations or maybe a paid for college? Cause yes $5k x 18 = $90k which can be a lot.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

(I think MP Dunleavy has her head in the sand on a number of personal finance matters.)

[pearlieq]

(I think MP Dunleavy has her head in the sand on a number of personal finance matters.)

Amen to that! She's a hot mess. She makes very questionable decisions, and uses her column space to try to justify them. I've been very disenchanted with her over the last couple of years.

As for the original question, I think both are important. I don't think any kid will shrivel up and die without an annual vacation, but traveling together could make some very precious and powerful memories. I don't think it would be too much of a tragedy if some discretionary income was saved for vacations instead of college.

[sweeps]

What is the lesson for a child when a parent who can only afford education or an expensive vacation chooses the latter?

[disneysteve]

Yep, but realize if you read MP Dunleavy she writes she needs $7k/year for vacation but can't save for college. Hence the question.

Who is MP Dunleavy and can you provide a link to the article?