If you’re anything like me, you struggle to look ahead to what you’re doing next weekend. Is there a birthday party? Is there a bake sale next week? How in the world is it already May?!?
Of course, you could be one of those moms that’s always prepared for everything, and in that case, you probably don’t need this post anyways because you’re already doing it!
For the rest of us, though, I wanted to share this reminder. It might seem a bit crazy, I mean, they’re preschoolers. While the preschool might do a “graduation” ceremony, and yes, you will cry about your babies getting so big, it isn’t like they’ll be going off to college soon.
Still, saving for college is a really important thing to start doing early, and I’m going to tell you why!
Save for College With Preschoolers
This post was sponsored by Carson-Dellosa. All opinions are 100% my own, please see my full disclosure policy for details.
Saving Early is Always Better
Have you ever heard of Dave Ramsey? He’s the super famous finance guy, and he uses the envelope system for budgeting? Yeah. I watch his videos a lot, and there’s one that sticks out to me every single time.
The basic point is that one kid saves $2000 a year for roughly 8 years when he’s 20-28 and the other guy saves $2000 a year from 28-45. The guy who saved LESS money, but did it EARLIER had more when they were ready to retire.
I’m not a financial guru, but it’s something about compounding interest rates. When you start with $1000, and you earn 8% interest, it becomes $1008. The next year? you’ll earn interest on that extra 8.
While that doesn’t seem like a lot, it can make a huge difference in your savings total!
Kids Grow FAST
I know that you might think that you have years and years to start saving before your kids head off to college, and that’s true. But I think as moms we spend a lot of time in denial about how quickly those years will pass.
It shocks me every single day that Mr. C is already 6. A-Man is starting Kindergarten in the Fall, and all I can think is “where did the time go?!”
Your babies might be babies right now, but in the blink of an eye they’ll be graduating high school and off to college. You want to be prepared!
Older Kids are More Expensive
Along with the last point, you might think that you can simply save later, as your kids get closer to college. Here’s my biggest issue with this.
Older kids are way more expensive than preschoolers.
Older kids need braces. They need drivers ed. They need sports fees and equipment. They need/want cell phones, computers, and video game consoles rather than those annoying plastic toys that cost $15.
Now, of course your children will likely work for some of that money, but it’s still a lot more expensive to raise older kids!
Trust me, you want to start saving for college when your biggest expense concern is preschool rather than when you’re spending crazy amounts for the things that big kids need!
College is the New High School
You might be saying, “but I don’t even know if my kids will go to college”. And I get it. What if you save all that money, and it doesn’t get used?
Here’s the thing, though. College is the new high school. If I had a dollar for every “entry level job” that required a bachelors degree, I wouldn’t need to save for my kids to go to college!
The bottom line is that college is becoming standard education in our country, and unless something changes, it’s incredibly expensive. You’re going to want to have a good chunk of change saved.
Of course, help your kids to save for their education as well, but I really believe that as parents we should at least do what we can to help our children reach their educational goals.
College Saving Giveaway!
I know that it can feel overwhelming to get started saving for college, so I wanted to share with you this awesome giveaway from Carson-Dellosa!
If you’re looking for a way to kick start your college savings account for your kids, you should definitely check out this giveaway from Carson-Dellosa where you can win up to $2,000 towards your child’s education!
I completely agree with you! I actually started saving for college when I was pregnant with my first child. Life is full of surprises so if something happens that makes it hard to put away college savings down the road, you’ll always have compound interest working away on your earlier contributions. My oldest is just finishing his first year of college and we have 3 more behind him so I’m definitely going to enter the giveaway! Every little bit helps. :-)
Way to go mama! I wish I started saving during pregnancy!
We will be starting a college savings fund for our toddler within the next year or so. And even if she doesn’t use it for college, then at least she’ll have something there.
Kori recently posted…How to Easily Manage Your Money from Anywhere
You’re so right, Kori! If not for college, maybe she’ll use it to get started with a place to live. :)
My oldest graduates high school today and I can say…it happens too fast…faster then you ever think it will!
Jamie recently posted…New Series The Eleventh Will Have You Anxious for the Next Episode
You’re so right mama! I can’t believe my oldest is 6, I can’t imagine him being 16!!
This post is really insightful and is packed with good advice. Setting money aside for your child’s college fund is extremely important, even if they are only in preschool. The time goes by much more quickly than we anticipate, so that financial security for your child is nice to have because it will help alleviate anxieties in the future. Awesome article! Thanks so much for sharing!