Parents of one in four K-12 students in Seattle have chosen private-pay education.* The trend is widespread and growing. Though generally satisfied with their decision, for many families, this choice requires significant sacrifice. Over time, K-12 tuitions and fees, plus lost earnings on those dollars, are about equal in value to:
- A house
- A nice house, when college costs are included
- A luxury waterfront home, if you pay tuitions for multiple children.**
Education is vital. Obviously, a quality education can not be quantified with numbers. Yet, tuition is a major wealth-eroding factor for parents.
Education funding must go beyond simply gathering money for transfer to educational institutions. By raising the overall efficiency of your financial decisions, we seek to recapture the economic equivalent of tuitions paid, plus lost earnings on that stream of tuition payments. The goal is to have that tuition-shaped hole in your balance sheet repaired at your retirement.
It’s like creating your own scholarship.
You will not be asked to take money out of your current lifestyle. You will not be asked to raise your current level of risk. We integrate and coordinate money decisions to help you better understand money – how it works, how to potentially grow it better, and how to protect it from taxes, inflation, market fluctuations, hidden expenses and other eroding factors. There is more money in the elimination of eroding of eroding factors than there is in hoping to find the “right” investment. The nice thing about this approach is that the money already exists.
*Source: www.seattleschools.org Seattle Public Schools serve 45,800 students in 2008/2009. Washington State Office of Supervision of Public Instruction lists 15,460 students enrolled in Seattle private schools.
**These conclusions assume an education inflation rate of 6%; and, that you could have earned at least 6% (a hypothetical earnings rate that does not represent any specific investment) on that stream of education funding. Whether your education plans include private K-12 schooling plus college, or college alone, public or private, the economic impact is significant. Contact WealthStream for an assessment of the potential impact of your own education funding obligations.
