Savings Story

I Made A Decision About ESA Funding For 2006

My original goal for 2007 is to save 60% ($48,000) of my gross income in retirement or education savings accounts. One of my mini-goals, inside of my main-goal, was to contribute $2000 to my son’s ESA for fiscal year 2006. I have made the decision NOT to fund his ESA for 2006. I have already fully-funded an ESA for my daughter for 2006 and 2007, but my son is 4 years younger than she is, and I am busy exploring other investment opportunities. To be honest, I will probably wait until 2008 to begin funding his ESA. Right now, I am focused on fully funding our Roth IRAs and saving money in our car-replacement fund. (My son is only three, so it’s not like I am neglecting him. My daughter is 7, and we began to save for her college education when she was 6.) I will still aim to save $48,000 this year, but I shall allocate the funds that were going to go into his ESA into other accounts. (Saving for college is a MAJOR priority. We plan to pay for our children to attend quality schools. We are planning to save for a majority of their college expenses and then budget for the rest when they actually enter school.)