Three kids. Zero college debt. Not because David and Maria were wealthy, because at 35, while they were still working their debt snowball in Stage 3, they made one decision that changed the next eighteen years.
They opened a small 529 plan for each of their three kids, right then, before their own finances were fully sorted, before they’d officially reached Stage 4. Was that early? A little. Was it too late to matter? Not even close.
Starting at 35: Is It Too Late?
A lot of parents hear a story like this and think, ‘We’re already 40, our oldest is already 10, we missed the window.’ You didn’t. Here’s the compound interest chart nobody shows you: even a modest monthly contribution, started at 35 instead of at birth, still compounds meaningfully over the ten to fifteen years most families have before their oldest starts college.
$200 a month, invested from age 35 to 50 at a reasonable market return, won’t get you to six figures alone but it makes a real, substantial dent in the total cost, especially running for three kids on staggered timelines. The chart isn’t about hitting a magic number. It’s about the gap between starting today and starting ‘someday.’ Someday costs you every month of growth you didn’t capture.
The Three-Goal Formula, Applied for 15 Years
David and Maria followed the same core principle covered in this week’s insight article, a real coaching session on the advanced stages of financial planning, Baby Steps 4 through 6. For fifteen straight years: retirement contributions came first, nonnegotiably, working up to and holding at 15% of income. Surplus dollars went wherever the return was highest, sometimes the mortgage, sometimes retirement, based on actual interest rates, not gut feeling. College funding ran through dedicated 529 plans for each child, funded consistently but modestly, never at the expense of retirement.
They also learned the tracking lesson from that same coaching session. Their first spreadsheet showed a phantom monthly deficit of over a thousand dollars, while a simplified tracking method revealed a real surplus of nearly two and a half thousand. That’s the difference complex, error prone tracking makes versus a clear system. Fixing the tracking, not just the goals, is what let them find the money to fund all three priorities simultaneously.
The Result: Three Kids, Zero College Debt
Fifteen years of consistent, unglamorous contributions later: three kids, three separate 529 accounts, and not one dollar of college debt between them. No co-signed loans. No paused retirement contributions. No decade lost at 60.
This isn’t a story about a windfall or an unusually high income. It’s a story about starting at 35 instead of waiting for ‘the right time,’ and running the Three-Goal Formula consistently for fifteen years without skipping retirement to overfund college, or skipping college to overfund retirement.
What Made the Difference
Three things, really. First, they started before they felt ready, a small 529 contribution while still in Stage 3, rather than waiting for full financial stability. Second, they never let one goal cannibalize another; retirement stayed at 15% every single year, even during leaner months. Third, they revisited the plan together annually, adjusting the allocation as interest rates and circumstances changed, instead of setting it once and forgetting it.
Your Move This Week
Run your own compound interest projection, whatever age your kids are right now, whatever amount you can start with. It’s not about hitting a specific number today. It’s about closing the gap between starting now and starting ‘someday.’
Not sure which stage you’re actually in, or whether college savings is even your next right move? Start with the free Financial Health Assessment. It takes a few minutes and it tells you which work is yours this month.
Want the complete framework behind David and Maria’s transformation, plus a real conversation about your specific numbers? Get Be Money Strong and book a free consultation.
Bryan Halverson is a financial coach and the founder of BeMoneyStrong.com. He has helped hundreds of families move from Stage 1 Crisis Mode to Stage 6 Legacy Mode using the 6 Financial Stages Framework.
