Idiots
I recently counseled a married couple with twin teenagers who were asking about college financing.
They are proud owners of a modest house, two lower-end luxury cars, and both kids in private school.
If you stop there, you’d think they’re living the American Dream. But, when we look a little further, this couple in their late 40s don’t appear as rosy.
The house - mortgaged to the tune of $2,800 per month. The BMW’s still cost another $900 and the kids are costing $20k per year for private school. Throw in property taxes, food, utilities, etc. and they are spending $6,500 a mont for their “basic” expenses as they call it.
As a couple, they pull in about $100k, which after taxes, leaves them about $700 short every month to meet the “basics.” Guess where that comes from?
They asked me about setting up a S.529 plan for college costs!!! With nothing in the bank, $22k in credit card debt, nothing saved for retirement, zero equity in the home and a shortfall in cash every month they were worried about tax breaks on college tuition savings plans.
Idiots.
November 2nd, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Hmm…runaway spending habits with an eye towards minor tax breaks. If these people aren’t the definition of today’s Republican mindset, I don’t know what is.
November 7th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
We spoke little of politics, but they were both firmly on the Duckworth bandwagon and wanted “big changes” in Congress. I’d characterize them as center-left.