College Saving Plans

[CigarNut]

Originally Posted by OLS

THE BEST ADVICE is the simplest. Doesn't MATTER what you use it for in the end. The simple
act of putting away money and foregoing that box of BHK 56 or sailboat or dumb garage sale find is
what is paramount. I spent my life grabbing this DVD, this box of cigars, this bag of weed, and now
I am 50 and have NOTHING. Well, that's not true, last year I started saving like a fiend So I DO have
something after all, but not what I could have! But two things helped me survive it all....
NO WIFE OR KIDS, and NO debts whatsoever. When I pay cash for my cabin in the mountains
it will end up being worth it, all the cigarettes quit, the weed stopped, the realization that
you can take NONE of that crap I used to buy WITH ME when I pass. Sure puts a reversal on
the old hoard instinct.

My boss pulled a few technicians off sales calls and made em go to Bartlett yesterday to pick up
his new antique gas pump. SURE, it's cool, a 1950s model Texaco pump shell. But WHY?? Why own
it at all. He buys cars the same way. I am sure his son just rolls his eyes as his inheritance is
blown on cars he will have to liquidate (or add to, who knows.) But I also watched my Dad do the
same thing, packing away tools and other stuff I have to lug around now. I am thankful for a lot of it,
but it is an anchor these days. He never thought cancer would take him so early. No one ever does.
SAVE that money boys. One day there will surely be an excellent use for it, and you JUST might get
to keep that change after someone else spends it.

While I would hope that there is something for our kids left when my wife and I are gone, that is not what our savings is for.

Our savings -- that my wife have worked very hard to accumulate -- is for my wife and I to use when both now and we retire. We have told our kids not to count on any inheritance. We want to be able to travel and enjoy things during our retirement.

I spend my "hobby" money on cigars, tequila, wine, etc. If someone chooses to spend theirs on antique gas pumps then that is their choice...