The other day my daughter had an assignment in which she had to describe what her life would be like in 5-10 years. I guess schools are already getting kids ready for that infamous question used in job interviews 😛 I also found out that, in the Netherlands, many kids have to make their career choices at the age of 11 or 12 years old. What a tough decision to make at such a young age!
Preparing for Future Education Today
Munchkin had to really think about, mostly because she’s so undecided as to what she wants to do. One profession we’ve talked about is physical therapy. She’s very good at helping people and she’s clever enough to pick up on human biology and medical terminology.
On the other hand, she loves art and is extremely creative. She could really excel in some sort of digital animation or creative media development. Decisions, decisions… What is sure is that she will need some kind of extra education outside of her normal high school courses.
Since she is in homeschool, Munchkin has the opportunity to take some classes at the local college starting in the 10th grade. That means she can already start accruing college credit while in high school and at no extra cost to us. While that’s all good and dandy, what will we do if she needs to take extra classes after graduation though?
While WHAT she wants to do is still a mystery, at least we have the HOW part down. We have an account with ScholarShare, California’s 529 College Savings Program, and are saving for when she’ll need books, tuition, and maybe even living expenses. It’s not much but each bit we put in now will help for later on. Man, we should have started her account years ago when I first learned about the program! We could have saved so much more over the past 14 years!
If you have children or are planning to have some, don’t make the same mistake we did. Open a ScholarShare ASAP. You only need $25 or $50 to open an account and you can add as little or as much as you’d like later on. You can even set a certain amount for automatic deposit so the fund is constantly growing. Family and friends can also contribute to the account of their favorite niece, nephew, or grandchild with the e-gift option. The money saved can be used on most educational expenses and the beneficiary can be changed in case your child doesn’t end up using it.
Have you been saving for your kids’ future education?
This post is part of my participation as a ScholarShare Ambassador, which includes compensation and a one-day event with travel expenses covered. All opinions are my own.
