That's effectively paying a massive premium for liquidity you almost certainly won't need.
IMO paying down a mortgage ahead of schedule is the best college funding plan.
I might take a different view if we had a tax-advantaged saving scheme for college expenses (like 529 plans in the US). But unfortunately we don't have anything like that here.
While it's great to be debt free, the problem with paying down your mortgage is that once its been paid in, you can't get it back..... A balance has to be found between accumulating wealth for short, medium and long term use.
Rather than a being a matter of balancing competing demands I suggest that liquidity takes precedence. It’s no good being wealthy if you don’t have access to cash when you need it.
However in the OPs case, liquidity does noT seem to be a concern.
Creches fees are nuts alright. But as they get older, they want more so there's always costs. They want an XBox and games. A new bike, tracksuits (the cost was a real shock!!). They may need braces, they may go to a fee paying school. While these may not add up to €18,000 a year, kids are bloody expensive!!
Creches fees are nuts alright. But as they get older, they want more so there's always costs. They want an XBox and games. A new bike, tracksuits (the cost was a real shock!!). They may need braces, they may go to a fee paying school. While these may not add up to €18,000 a year, kids are bloody expensive!!
Time for a my four year old to get a job so and start contributing to the household income!
What I found interesting in the UK was how people start a pension fund early for their children. I think it is a really good idea although we don't have it here. By the time the children start out on their career they could be sitting on a pension fund of over 100k. Great idea!