3 ms·

No. 2. Prioritize investing for your future Simple, right. But how does this play out over a longer time horizon? How about the family fortune? Is having a mor

No. 2. Prioritize investing for your future Simple, right. But how does this play out over a longer time horizon? How about the family fortune? Is having a mortgage you can barely afford to live in a decent school district and increase your childrens' earning power a wise investment?

loeg 7y ago
It's at best extremely risky and no guarantee of your childrens' success, with poor failure modes.
swiley 7y ago
No? Even nice public schools aren’t great (there are some extreme exceptions but most are mediocre.) Send your kid to a good private school or homeschool co-op (essentially the same thing) and stop doing dumb things with real-estate. Be involved in their hobbies and try to communicate the important ideas you’ve learned, no school can replace that and it’s one of the most powerful ways you can improve your child’s future. (This is intuitively obvious, but I think there are also a number of moderately recent studies to back it up.)
- jcranmer 7y ago
  A "good private school" isn't cheap, about $20k/year on average [1]. If you have 2 children, then spending an extra $3k/yr to get a good school district is a cheaper option than private school. [1] Actually, I'm pulling this number from average private school prices. And the average private school is probably only as good quality as "nice public schools [that] aren't great." But I don't have a good comparison since the public school district I grew up in contained several schools in the top 100 in the nation.
  - swiley 7y ago
    That’s why included the homeschool co-ops, they tend to be a lot cheaper although they usually expect parents to do a lot of volunteer work. There’s not just a monetary cost to moving to a nicer school district, often that can mean a lot more driving which means absorbing a lot of risk (accidents, maintenance) and burning more fuel and time.

loeg 7y ago

It's at best extremely risky and no guarantee of your childrens' success, with poor failure modes.

swiley 7y ago

No? Even nice public schools aren’t great (there are some extreme exceptions but most are mediocre.) Send your kid to a good private school or homeschool co-op (essentially the same thing) and stop doing dumb things with real-estate. Be involved in their hobbies and try to communicate the important ideas you’ve learned, no school can replace that and it’s one of the most powerful ways you can improve your child’s future. (This is intuitively obvious, but I think there are also a number of moderately recent studies to back it up.)

jcranmer 7y ago
A "good private school" isn't cheap, about $20k/year on average [1]. If you have 2 children, then spending an extra $3k/yr to get a good school district is a cheaper option than private school. [1] Actually, I'm pulling this number from average private school prices. And the average private school is probably only as good quality as "nice public schools [that] aren't great." But I don't have a good comparison since the public school district I grew up in contained several schools in the top 100 in the nation.
- swiley 7y ago
  That’s why included the homeschool co-ops, they tend to be a lot cheaper although they usually expect parents to do a lot of volunteer work. There’s not just a monetary cost to moving to a nicer school district, often that can mean a lot more driving which means absorbing a lot of risk (accidents, maintenance) and burning more fuel and time.