Should you save for retirement or children's education?

“There you are,” she said, as soon as I came back to the room with a view, after meeting a friend.

“Yeah.”

“And what's with that irritated look?” she asked.

“Well, I met him after five years for 45 minutes and all he could talk about is various techniques of losing weight.”

“Ah, getting touchy,” she said. “Are we?”

“You tell me,” I replied.

“Basically, I wanted to irritate you a little more.”

“Really?”

“Yes. One of my colleagues is in a tricky situation money-wise and she doesn't know what to do about it.”

“Tell me,” I replied. “

“There is this colleague I talk to quite a lot while having lunch in the office. She is a single parent, walked out of a bad marriage, has come up the hard way and has two kids to look after.”

“Okay.”

“And she is in a little bit of a tricky situation.”

“What too much debt?” I asked.

“No. That way she is very well versed with the right things to do and the wrong things to avoid when it comes to personal finance.”

“Then?”

“Basically, she has figured out that she doesn't make enough to be saving for the higher education of her children as well as her retirement.”

“Hmmm.”

“All these personal finance books and articles talk about the importance of saving for your retirement and the higher education of children.”

“Yes, that they do,” I replied.

“They assume that everyone is making enough money to be saving for both retirement as well as higher education of children.”

“Yes.”

“Which may or may not be true,” she replied. “What happens in case of people who are not making enough money to be saving for both the things?”

“Good question.”

“Do you have an answer for that?” she asked.

“Not a straightforward one.”

“Shoot.”

“What are the chances of your colleague's income going up in the days to come?”

“She works in the administration department and does all the basic things to keep the office going, from attending calls at the reception once in a while, to ensuring that our meetings when they happen, have everything that we need.”

“Hmmm.”

“She is very efficient at getting all these odd jobs around office done. In that way, the demand for an honest office worker will always be there, but I don't see her income increasing big time.”

“In that situation, she should save as much as she can, with an understanding that the savings are primarily for her retirement and not for her children's education.”

“Oh. There is no other way out?

“See, school education is also very expensive these days. On top of that, I am sure she is paying for tuitions and other activities to ensure that her children don't fall behind.”

“Yes, she is,” she replied.

“I guess the idea should be to support them until their 10+2 or even their graduation if they graduate from a government university, where the fee is reasonable.”

“Hmmm.”

“The moment they get into an expensive professional course, they will have to be on their own, and take on an education loan.”

“But that sounds so cruel,” she said.

“It isn't,” I replied. “From what you have told me, she is giving her children a very good education, and making sure that they are ready for the challenges that life throws at them later.”

“That's true.”

“Also, there is one more important point.”

“Which is?”

“Your colleague has always led a very independent life.”

“That she has. Walking out of a bad marriage for any woman isn't easy.”

“The ability to live an independent life also comes from the fact that she has had some money saved up at all points of time.”

“Yes.”

“And given that, if she wants to continue living the independent life she has, she needs to save for her retirement.”

“Yes. It makes sense. Just that in the Indian context, it sounds very selfish.”

“That it does,” I replied. “But so be it.”

(The example is hypothetical)

Vivek Kaul is the author of the Easy Money trilogy