3404: [Part 1] The Greatest Risk To My Retirement Goal by Craig Stephens of Retire Before Dad on Securing Your Future
Episode
10 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Career Growth, Investing, Software Development
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓College ROI calculation: Choosing in-state education over out-of-state can increase five-year return on investment from 150% to 233% with same degree and career outcomes, using total costs versus cumulative earnings.
- ✓Generational payment strategy: Parents who pay for their own college plus their children's education perform double duty, but enabling one generation to graduate debt-free allows all future generations to fund only one.
- ✓Retirement priority framework: Parents should secure their own retirement goals before committing to fund children's college education completely, since students can borrow for school but retirees cannot borrow for retirement.
What It Covers
Craig Stephens shares how funding his children's college education by 2030 poses the greatest threat to his goal of retiring at age 55.
Key Questions Answered
- •College ROI calculation: Choosing in-state education over out-of-state can increase five-year return on investment from 150% to 233% with same degree and career outcomes, using total costs versus cumulative earnings.
- •Generational payment strategy: Parents who pay for their own college plus their children's education perform double duty, but enabling one generation to graduate debt-free allows all future generations to fund only one.
- •Retirement priority framework: Parents should secure their own retirement goals before committing to fund children's college education completely, since students can borrow for school but retirees cannot borrow for retirement.
Notable Moment
The author realizes his stubborn 18-year-old self ignored return on investment when selecting college, costing his parents significantly more without providing additional career value or earnings.
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