There are 3 ways to pay for University for your children. 1 is risky, 1 is down right stupid and 1 makes sense and is what the sensible people do.
Okay, let's set the scene. Let's take three brothers: Tim, Tom and Dom. They’re 35 year old brothers and they also all have 3 year old kids born on the same day. What a co-incidence right??
First, let's look at the cost of University, (these figures are average and taken timeshighereducation.com)
ANNUAL
- £9,000 course fees
- £6,000 rent
- £9,000 living costs
Total: £24,000 per year
Over a 4 year course, that’s £96,000 TODAY.
If you factor in the rising cost of living over the next 15 years when the kids are 18 and to have the same buying power. They're gonna need £139,200
Tim is pretty laid back, he thinks "meh". Tim Jnr is only 3, I’ve got a good job and should be earning enough when he’s 18 to afford Uni. I’ll worry about it then.
Flash forward 15 years. Fortunately Tim can afford to do so. But it costs him £2,900 every month for 4 years - a total of £139,200, the downside of this means that he can’t afford to top his retirement savings up, so he now can’t retire at 55, he has to work until he’s 60. Not ideal.
--
Tom thinks the same but unfortunately Tom’s company are going through a difficult period, he can’t afford £3,000 a month. So he chats with his wife Sharon and says, "babe, I don’t think we can afford to send Tom Jnr to Uni. We don’t have the money." She hits the roof, there’s tears, and he’s in the spare room for a week.
So he speaks to the bank and remortgages his house for £139,000. He’s 50 years old now though and this seriously upsets him, he always dreamed of being mortgage free by now. So he takes a 15 year loan against his house, it costs him £995 per month (a total of £179,100).
Tom also can’t stop working until he’s 65 because he’s now got a mortgage to clear off again.
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Dom is a little more forward thinking and sensible.
He says sod having that pressure in 15 years, no matter what happens I will give Dom Jnr the very best start in life. So he starts investing today. He speaks to a professional who shows Dom that at 6% per year returns he only needs to put away £470 per month (a total of £84,600) over the next 15 years. This means when Dom’s 50 he has the money readily available for his son to go to University.
Not only has Dom guaranteed his sons future and saved a tonne of money along the way, at age 55 he can retire. Dom now spends 5 days a week on the golf course while his brothers are still slaving away.
So to summarise:
The cost of Uni for the brothers is £139,000
It cost Tim just that due to lack of planning.
But it cost Tom £179,100 due to lack of planning and a bit of bad luck.
But it cost Dom only £84,600. Why? Because he planned ahead. And because he took action, now!
Which one of these 3 scenarios do you want to be in? Be smart, be like Dom.
Thanks for reading,
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