Saving for private highschool..

[Olive]

cool i might check it out!

ETA our cheapest private is currently $10k a year for yr 12

[Mak]

We've taken a different approach and been putting additional fund into the mortgage with the idea that we can redraw the extra when needed. Not sure if I have missed an additional benefit of these accounts tho??

[Roryrory]

Mak we've decided to put more into the mortgage too. In place of school fees LOL! (with the view that the local state school can provide a good education and kids would probably do better with a house (or equivalent amount of cash) when they hit early adulthood

[beansbeans!]

We have an ASG account for both our girls. I cant reccommend them enough.. Yes its a chunk every month (for both girls its $107/mnth), but its high interest, its a safe investment, but I also like the way they encourage kids to succeed.

[Mak]

It is interesting hearing different ways of managing things - agree Rory, we're reasonably lucky with a great selection of schools around who knows what the kids will be keen on/interested in doing so we figure we're hedging our bets a bit without committing to a particular path at this point!

[Olive]

we do have a great high school a few suburbs away but seeing as where not in that zone, it wil be hard to get the girls in

[Nai]

We are hedging our bets We have an ASG account and we are also looking at the local High Schools. Our zoned one has been slowly but steadily improving and hopefully will be really good by the time the girls go. However we have not ruled out renting out our house and moving a few suburbs away to a different zone to get the school we want.

[AnyDream]

We've taken a different approach and been putting additional fund into the mortgage with the idea that we can redraw the extra when needed. Not sure if I have missed an additional benefit of these accounts tho??

Mak that was the strategy suggested by out financial planner too. Because of the way home loan interest compounds, the amount of interest you save by doing this reduces your loan much faster and you end up with more $$ to play with sooner.

[Olive]

i might look into that too mak!

OP the school id like the girls to go to is around $20k yr for yr 12

[misty]

We've taken a different approach and been putting additional fund into the mortgage with the idea that we can redraw the extra when needed. Not sure if I have missed an additional benefit of these accounts tho??

That is actually a pretty decent approach - two birds, one stone. At the moment, most mortgages have higher interest rates then most savings accounts (of course there are exceptions), so it can make sense financiallly to do it this way. If you were the type of person to redraw to spend on other things, and were afraid of dipping into the money meant for schooling it may make more sense: so it really does depend on the individual.

Personally we are looking at paying off the house we live in ASAP, because that will free up money that can then be put towards High school education. We already pay decent sized fees for primary school, but are able to manage that (at the moment) from our disposable income. Thank God that they discount for each child after the first (and #4 will be free) because otherwise we couldn't afford it.

[~Raven~]

We've taken a different approach and been putting additional fund into the mortgage with the idea that we can redraw the extra when needed. Not sure if I have missed an additional benefit of these accounts tho??

This is what we do too. You need to make sure you're disciplined enough to not redraw it

[Ginger]

i think thats a great idea what you have done Olive.

just as a side note, have you checked out B.....k college? very impressive.

[Olive]

not yet but im swaying towards it...need to go look at it