I’m the primary breadwinner. My job situation and industry are incredibley stable. I will retire from my company. I’ve been here 25 years. They pay 100% of my healthcare costs. I have profit sharing and a healthy employer 401k match. Our combined retirement funds, if we didn’t contribute another dime, should grow to a point in the next 20+ years that we’d be fine. I still intend to contribute even if paying loans from the beginning.
If I become disabled…we’d be in trouble…but we’d be in trouble anyway. If I die, everything would be paid for.
My wife works part time currently and intends to go full time. The potential full time job would come with a pension, which would be gravy at retirement time.
As for our current spending, we have plenty of facets of our lives that could be trimmed back. I guess it’s a matter of what we’re willing to give up to help our kids. We pay A LOT for a fancy health club. Unnecessary. I have a pretty substantial watch collection…and I only wear one watch at a time…so I could cover at least a semester if I sold most. Do we need to go out to nice dinners as frequently as we do? Of course not. We have a $650 car payment on my wife’s truck. It will be paid off in a couple years…and then she drives it until it falls apart. Do I need every cable channel known to man? Nope. We currently spend $15k+ per year on club soccer for the youngest. I can bring that cost down to sub-$5k if necessary. The money will save without the oldest under our roof will go towards college. I’m willing to significantly alter my lifestyle for an extended period of time to make this work. It will be a balancing act.
We have a HELOC we could access, but my house is on track to be paid off completely by the time son #1 graduates. I’d prefer to have no true mortgage payment and make my new mortgage payment to “college #1” and then “college #2” when the youngest is there.