That said, I would max out tax-advantaged retirement savings and pay off the mortgage first. But if you can find a few extra dollars in your budget to save for college, well, it can’t hurt.

And do you know how many worthy students drop out because it is just too hard to work and to find sufficient time to study and that, for years? (only some of them come back to school later, after having lost years of good income).

I don’t know what your backyard looks like, but I’m guessing it’s pretty safe to let your kid play there. Actually after a while you’ll be happy to let the kid run around outside for hours because they tire themselves out.

And girls can find this discouraging. They can start to believe that they really are less talented than the boys and that their future hard work is less likely to pay off. So they stop trying as hard.

As always, there’s a need for balance. Praise and encourage hard work, but don’t ignore their talents.

That’s why I’m much more cautious with my daughter and grandkids when we’re at home in the city and give them more leeway at our rural home.

As for the saving for university issue, I think it’s important to have at least a small amount set aside so it doesn’t seem overwhelmingly difficult for a child to go on to post-secondary education. I didn’t have the ability to put any aside with my 3 grown kids (I was a single parent for many years, receiving $100/mo, if anything, from my ex) and only one went on to any additional schooling (another is now taking some serious computer coursework, although he’s already at management level in the IT company that employs him, but I think computers are one area where genuine innate ability often trumps book-learning).

With my youngest, $50/mo has been going away into an RESP since she was an infant. The Canadian government matches 40% of that amount. It won’t be everything she needs by a long shot, but she should be able to do at least a couple of years of college, university or seminary. And, if she’s a good student or motivated, she’ll have access to scholarships. Beyond that, yes, she’ll probably have to come up with some money herself if she wants to complete a degree. (After all, we’ll be hitting retirement age at about the same time as she finishes high school.)

You always worry, but you have to let them go sometime.

When pondering the subject, I’d venture to say that the only issue on most parents’ minds is–how to save enough for my children, how to save enough for me.

However, it seems that what the real issues should be are–

–set your children up (mentally) to where they won’t need as much help for college (good education=sholarships).

–fix your onw finances to allow you to easily save more for both.

–when applicalbe, focus on your own income generating potential to where you won’t need as much money, if any, set aside for retirement.

1. Is it true that, when it comes to long term investments and returns, Equity, generally beats all other forms of investments ?

2. I find that you promote traditional conservative savings forms when it comes to long-term preparations like College, Retirement etc. When you are young, and if you start saving early, putting a significant component of your savings into Equity, is one of the smart choices, no ?

By equity, I also include mutual funds, for people who are not comfortable picking stocks. You advocate a lot on index funds, but even those you don’t seem to include in a really long term savings, say, spanning 10 years or more ? Why ?