She must have found the most miserable picture of Disney fans she could find for her opening picture.
"Some experts say that parents, instead, may want to use that money elsewhere."
Heh...do tell..."Some experts", eh? Let's move on to her first suggestion. National Parks.
"accommodations can range from camping (even with gear, this can be far cheaper than a hotel)"
Did she price camping at Disney? Oh...she didn't know they had that, did she...stupid wench.
"Plus, the National Parks Service will provide maps and other educational materials free of charge"
So does Disney.
"guidebooks and other additional learning materials can be purchased on the cheap on Amazon"
Same with Disney.
"you can typically drive to a national park from your home (which with today’s low-ish gas prices is likely to save you big compared with four plane tickets to Disney)"
1) She contradicted herself...Florida and California Tourism was BASED on low gas prices (especially Florida tourism) for decades. Now that gas prices are cheaper, you should consider NOT flying. Which also tosses her "rental car" strawman out the window (you don't need a rental car at Disney)
2) Yeah, well, your closest National Park isn't Yellowstone or the Grand Tetons...so...yeah, you can drive to one, you can probably also drive 15 minutes and find, if you live in the middle east cost, a national historic marker. That doesn't mean anything regarding long term viability nor amazing things to see outside of some yuppie (oh wait, that's the old term, now she's a hipster) wannabe who thinks that "education is amazing" merely because she is ignorant.
"All-in-all, a family of four could spend four days — everything included — at a national park together for one-fifth of the price of a trip to Disney. "
Ok, lets do the math (assuming you aren't sending us to our backyard crappy national parks, which you are)...1/5, after you said Disney costs 5k. That means 1k.
Ok...lets go to Arches National Park. A park I've seen in person, and as a kid, was the one park I enjoyed the most (oddly, I didn't like Yellowstone much)...
Anyhow, so, lets go there. From NYC.
Flights - NYC to Salt Lake City in mid July - ~600 dollars according to (insert .com I just checked cause I'm retarded)...but wait, gas is cheap, LETS DRIVE!
Drive - NYC to Salt Lake City with current around 2 dollar per gallon gas prices in a Prius with 50 mpg average - That's 44 tanks of gas. That's 880 bucks, assuming a 10 gallon tank. Yeah, cheaper to fly.
Ok, so now there, lets talk hotels (which she avoids...because we could "camp"...though I'd LOVE to see her really "camp out" with a sterno and the like...)...
They range from 75 - 400 a night. IMAGINE THAT! So, lets say 800 bucks for lodging and call it fair game.
Ok, now you need to rent a car.
Cheapest is what, 50 a day? Give or take? That's 200 - 300 bucks for your whole trip. Not to mention filling that tank back up before rental return.
Lets just crunch it quickly...yeah, 1k isn't even close. She smokes some financial peyote last trip to the National Park.
Last i checked...the National Parks don't have much in the way of food service, much less a Dining Plan option.
I'm having real trouble understanding what she means by "all included" unless it's beenie weenies over a sterno in your back yard.
"If you’re like most families, you haven’t saved much for your kids’ college — just half of families with kids under 18 have saved any money for college and average savings across all college savings vehicles is only $15,346, a 2014 Sallie Mae study shows. In that case, it may be smarter to sock away that Disney fund into a 529 plan or college savings plan for the kids (after all, the long-term benefits of attending college often far outweigh the benefits of one family trip for your kids) as the cost of even a public, in-state four-year college may easily top six figures."
I...really don't even want to respond to this, because it is some of the most backwards thinking I've seen in a while. Well, not really, it's just indicative of her mindset, and why she needs to shut up and focus less on what others do, and more on herself, since she obviously has all the answers (which she wouldn't be writing articles like this if she did).
Does she really want to tell me how "important" college is? I make six figures, and have for years. I've never made less than 50k a year since I was in my early 20s. I haven't graduated college. Screw her. She's dumb enough to be dumb.
Work is worth work.
I'm sorry, I'm done listening to people postulate about how much "college" is worth the expense...it's not. Education is, for certain, and I take great care and expense to be sure my child is well educated. But, certification isn't necessarily (note that last word before you flip out on me).
There are a few types of people in society, from lowest to highest:
1) The insane, elderly, indigent and dependant (I lump these together, as they really should be treated the same medically and socially, but we don't)
2) The ignorant poor
3) The willingly poor (due to the tax and benefit trap)
4) The ignorant middle class (working their butts off)
5) The willingly middle class (working their butts off)
6) The lower upper class, scratching at the riches (working their butts off)
7) The political class (making us all think that it's all ok)
8) The investment class (setting us all up)
That's about it. Once you have enough money, your money does your work for you. It's that simple. If you go into higher education with the expressed goal (as she did) of making more money, you are viewing it through the wrong lens.
College will not (and historically hasn't proven that it will) cause your family nor an individual, by it's merits alone, to jump these class barriers. Nor will it, outside of extremely bureaucratic and ignorant systems, cause you to earn more money simply because you graduated.
People don't respect education. They respect ability and they respect knowledge. Education, or should I say certification, opens doors. But, that's about it.
You may invest in your 401(k), and that is a wise planning move, but you are hardly seeing Buffet style returns, so don't fool yourself. You are NOT in the investment class, and you never will be. You are in the willing middle class.
I should be VERY clear here. I am NOT saying college is a bad investment, nor am I saying that children shouldn't go. What I am saying is that you are not, in most cases, paying for the education, rather, you are paying for the certification. And that is something to consider.
In addition, very wealthy lifestyles can be forged without college, and there is no reason why one should fall into a mindset where the parent must offer their child a 4 year "free ride" at their own expense after age 18. I'm not saying a parent shouldn't plan financially for college expenses, but with grants, loans and scholarships, if your child truly wants to go to college, it's not that expensive.
Now, if
YOU want them to go and succeed due to some misguided mentality such as she has that it will make them a better person somehow, well, be prepared to pay through the nose. Because you will. Your child won't qualify for aid or more importantly scholarships, and will view the whole thing as a massive party at your expense. As she does by hinting that there is such a thing as "resume building experiences"...
Want to have a "resume building experience"? Have them work young, and learn to pay taxes, and earn their way into management young, so they know how business works. Or, send your kid not to Europe, but to South America or China, and BE SURE THEY LEARN THE LANGUAGE FLUENTLY.
Friggin ignorance...it blows my mind. But, yeah...that's worth more than a Disney trip. Pfft.
Ok, close rant...but, it's true. And, she probably wastes more on rent living in NYC than if she was willing to brave rush hour and live in CT or NJ than she'd care to admit...but, that's for another "financial responsibility" fluff piece.
"But put that $5,000 into a 529 plan now and you could end up with a significant chunk of change. Let’s say you put in $5,000 now, and then $1,000 annually. In about 10 years at a modest 4% rate of return, you could have nearly $20,000 for your kids to put toward school."
529 plan interest returns hasn't been at 4% AFTER TAX for a long time. She didn't include tax in that calculation (as a 529 is pre-tax). She really is out of her depth and needs to stop using online calculators to create substance for her material.
Tax rates are, likely, going to go up, especially for long term investments, as we have a spiraling spending and debt issue in the country. This is the LAST investment mechanism you should be sticking your long term dollars into. In the 90s, this made sense, but now? It's just wishful thinking.
If you did the same, 5k down and 1k a month with 4% in a taxable medium, you'd have nearly the same money. The growth difference is negligible.
"Of course, it is hard to shun Disney forever, so Buz Livingston, a financial planner at Livingston Financial, says that a compromise may be in order. “Yes most people would be better financially by saving the money…but financial planning includes more than money,” he says. “Maybe you go one year and tell the kids the next year, the money goes in their college fund.”"
Shut up. You stupid lady with your friend named "Buz".
Yeah, that's him.
http://livingstonfinancial.net/
You flipping retards. Glad to see you quoted amazing financial minds, who post pictures of "retiring on the beach" on their homepage.
Ok...lets move on.
"College is uber-competitive to get into these days"
Well, obviously if you use that term, you never went.
"so parents may want to shun a trip to Disney in favor of funding a resume-boosting (and memorable) trip for their high school kids."
No...no...no...no...no!
I can already tell she is the sort who, if she did go to college, was swooned by the "worldly guy" who "backpacked around europe" (carefully forgetting that his parents paid for it all).
"McCormick says that they may want to think about paying for their kids to try an arts, music or cultural immersion camp/experience or a one-of-a-kind charity excursion that would help them stand out from other college applicants. Plus, in addition to the actual pleasure and learning, there are the good feelings you get from helping other people. Global Leadership Adventures and ISV both offer plenty of charitable trips for high-school students."
Ok...what about Space Camp? Or BSA? Or GSA? Both high High Adventure and International Experiences, and are far more organized than what you listed. Or swimming lessons with the American Red Cross. There are plenty of investments you can make in your child which are worth as much, or more, than a Disney Trip, and are cheaper. That's just silly.
Oh, and you mentioned your retarded buddy, McCormick, that you haven't mentioned before, but will mention next post...nice continuity. And, it gets really funny from there...read on.
"We know this isn't the most exciting thing to do with your $5,000 Disney fund, but the fact that about nine in 10 working-age households aren't saving enough for retirement, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security, makes this a compelling option."
No...no it doesn't. See my rip about investment returns earlier. Then pull your head out of your rear.
"Wan McCormick, a financial planner at Reliable Alliance Financial in Fairfax, Va., says this could help you retire years earlier: “$5,000 growing at 6% a year will be $38,430.43 after 35 years, which makes retirement just a tiny bit easier,” he says. “Alternatively, saving that $5,000 every year at the same rate will be $595,604.33 after 35 years.”"
My god, his name is Wan.
https://www.reliablealliancefinancialllc.com/
Oh wait...Wan is a WOMAN! ULTIMATE FAIL!
https://www.reliablealliancefinancialllc.com/our-team.html
You can't even get your sources straight. Too much wine?
THIS is WAN McCormick. CFP (Certified Financial Planner)...which is ****. It's worth less than a "Licensed Insurance Agent"...and is one step above being a Mary Kay salesperson, frankly. No offence to the CFPs out there.
And Wan is a lovely woman, I'm sure. But, your article calls her a man. Nice.
"According to a study released in February by the American Psychological Association, parents report significantly higher levels of stress than non-parents (they rank their stress levels at 5.7 out of 10 vs. 4.7 for non-parents) — a finding confirmed by a number of other studies. And a trip to Disney — with the lines, crowds and high cost — isn’t likely going to do those stress levels any good."
Really. Heh...good to know I pine to take the kiddo back every year because I was stressed due to some survey you misread.
"Consider: Dozens of four- and five-day, all-inclusive trips (these include food, accommodations, airfare and more) to Caribbean destinations like Jamaica or Mexico (particularly in or near Cancún) can be had for less than $800 per person (check out a site likeCheapCarribean.com or Kayak.com for deals), which leaves extra money for parents to pay for the on-site baby sitting that many of these resorts offer."
Yeah, I smell either ignorance, or posturing, or placement, or all three.
I was going to go into what a Disney vacation meant to me for this post, but I'm tired, and you've worn me out.
So...
There is my response.
She's a vapid and lazy reporter, and this "story" is just silly.
Lazy journalism at it's most extreme.
