headingout
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2008
- Messages
- 147
Hi everybody! I appreciate all the friendly and informed posts here and hope to contribute as well.
I'm 47, a software engineer, married, with one son -- a junior in high school. We own our house outright, no debt, have a total investment portfolio in the high 6 digits, which I've managed myself for 10+ years.
I've worked more than 20 years at a generally decent, medium-sized corporation. But the technical work itself has been incredibly stressful for me (picture working calculus problems all day long when you don't like calculus), and I'd have left long ago if not for putting my son through private school.
My wife and I are very frugal and track our expenses carefully. We could probably semi-retire later this year, given some part-time work consulting and teaching, except for one big variable: college.
Here's where I'd be interested in some personal advice, especially from the experienced parents out there: When you've worked long and hard and produced a happy, healthy, smart 18-year old, how much more do you owe them at college time? Obviously we're going to support him and make sure he gets a decent education at one of our better state schools, as a minimum. But when he starts talking about out-of-state or private colleges, I get queasy at the costs. That could mean several more years of work! Any words of wisdom on this?
I'm 47, a software engineer, married, with one son -- a junior in high school. We own our house outright, no debt, have a total investment portfolio in the high 6 digits, which I've managed myself for 10+ years.
I've worked more than 20 years at a generally decent, medium-sized corporation. But the technical work itself has been incredibly stressful for me (picture working calculus problems all day long when you don't like calculus), and I'd have left long ago if not for putting my son through private school.
My wife and I are very frugal and track our expenses carefully. We could probably semi-retire later this year, given some part-time work consulting and teaching, except for one big variable: college.
Here's where I'd be interested in some personal advice, especially from the experienced parents out there: When you've worked long and hard and produced a happy, healthy, smart 18-year old, how much more do you owe them at college time? Obviously we're going to support him and make sure he gets a decent education at one of our better state schools, as a minimum. But when he starts talking about out-of-state or private colleges, I get queasy at the costs. That could mean several more years of work! Any words of wisdom on this?