<p>I like to plan even if most of the time things don’t work out exactly as planned. Still when we came to US to work, the first thing I did was to start contributing to my 401K.
The first thing DW wanted was a private school for DD, second a home.
So we did all that.
I contributed to my 401K for 20 years.
I paid down my house mortgage in 10 years.
I paid for private pre-school thru 12th grade education for DD and presently paying $50K+ towards her college.
Result: Even though I paid for more years into my 401K the total amount is far less than what I will pay for DD education and the amount paid towards house separately.</p>
<p>Once DD was in middle school, I started planning for prep HS($30K to 35K) and then college($50K to $60K) both astoundingly costly preposition. We decided to first reduce the mortgage prior to HS to equate the expenses of HS + Mortgage = College.</p>
<p>Once DD decided to become full paying @ $50K+ college, we decided to pay off the mortgage prior to DD college so as to be able to pay the college expenses from the current pay without dipping into our retirement accounts and without compromising on paying towards retirement.</p>
<p>I’m now planning for post DD college life. I hope DD to be done with her education (at least a MS) before I turn 50 so that I can spend rest of my youth (prior to retire) travelling all over the world tasting food and wine across different cultures.</p>