It pretty much assures that except for the most fortunate, the next generation will also have to take significant debt, and the situation will propigate itself.
I think that's just about right. If you consider H and I's background it's decidedly upper middleclass, granted we took about 10 years off from actively pursuing money, but we also have no debt for our educations... We make pretty good money today, but H is only making slightly less than 1/2 time money, so we've got a leg up in that regard toward saving money as we are slightly above water with her working 1/2 time. We have no debt other than auto/home loans. We live more frugally than anyone we know, and if we are lucky our boys may be able to 1) get through college with very little debt, 2) not have to support us in our dotage... hardly keeping our kids in our station... they are clearly slipping to a decidedly 'middle' class existence (although I tend to think of it more as a subset titled the American intelligentsia).
Two related observations I've made recently about others:
1) What is the push to having us refinance our house to a lower interest rate? We aren't going to be able to lower it more than 3/4 point, but we'll have to extend the term of the loan another 5 years making it impossible to pay the SOB off before we're 65... Where's the sense in that? 2) I was talking to a mother who recently went back to work to finish the renovations on the new kitchen they'd been trying to finish for years. She was lamenting that the school system she and our boys attend don't really cater to the extremely gifted... I told her that was our experience, but they do try (I pointed out letting O teach first graders, etc.) I then told her about our decision to augment the public school model with that online curriculum from 'the center for talented youth.' as it works out to about $200/mo... if it keeps O happy and occupied it may be a resonable alternative to 20K/yr private schools. She said they'd thought about that, had their kid tested, and he'd gotten accepted, but they ultimately BALKED AT THE COST... I don't think I'll ever get over that. You've got a new navigator in the driveway, you go back to work to get money to pay for a new kitchen on your $600K house, but you BALK at 200/mo for extended coursework for your kid?!
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Date: 2009-04-27 09:27 am (UTC)I think that's just about right. If you consider H and I's background it's decidedly upper middleclass, granted we took about 10 years off from actively pursuing money, but we also have no debt for our educations... We make pretty good money today, but H is only making slightly less than 1/2 time money, so we've got a leg up in that regard toward saving money as we are slightly above water with her working 1/2 time. We have no debt other than auto/home loans. We live more frugally than anyone we know, and if we are lucky our boys may be able to 1) get through college with very little debt, 2) not have to support us in our dotage... hardly keeping our kids in our station... they are clearly slipping to a decidedly 'middle' class existence (although I tend to think of it more as a subset titled the American intelligentsia).
Two related observations I've made recently about others:
1) What is the push to having us refinance our house to a lower interest rate? We aren't going to be able to lower it more than 3/4 point, but we'll have to extend the term of the loan another 5 years making it impossible to pay the SOB off before we're 65... Where's the sense in that?
2) I was talking to a mother who recently went back to work to finish the renovations on the new kitchen they'd been trying to finish for years. She was lamenting that the school system she and our boys attend don't really cater to the extremely gifted... I told her that was our experience, but they do try (I pointed out letting O teach first graders, etc.) I then told her about our decision to augment the public school model with that online curriculum from 'the center for talented youth.' as it works out to about $200/mo... if it keeps O happy and occupied it may be a resonable alternative to 20K/yr private schools. She said they'd thought about that, had their kid tested, and he'd gotten accepted, but they ultimately BALKED AT THE COST... I don't think I'll ever get over that. You've got a new navigator in the driveway, you go back to work to get money to pay for a new kitchen on your $600K house, but you BALK at 200/mo for extended coursework for your kid?!