HOW TO SAVE FOR YOUR KIDS COLLEGE TUITION IN JUST 5-7 YEARS
Xiuxian Du (Steven Dux)
Day Trader | Mentor | Gamer | I teach people to maximize their profits in the stock market.
SENDING YOUR CHILD TO A PRIVATE COLLEGE COSTS ABOUT $35,000. THAT’S JUST FOR TUITION ALONE. WHEN YOU ADD ON ROOM AND BOARD AND OTHER SUPPLIES
That’s for one child going to college for one year. Assuming they get a four or five-year degree, the total cost of them attending college can rise to $200,000.
If you have two, three or four children… sending all your kids to college may become quite costly.
Which, as a parent, might be a hard pill to swallow.
You want to give your children the best life possible.
You want to give them everything you had growing up, and more…
Yet as college fees rise and the cost of living rises with it, how can you possibly send one child to the college of their choosing; let alone two, three or four!
There is a way.
But it isn’t the standard method most people talk about.
Most experts advise you to create a 529 College Savings Plan as soon as your child is born. This way you can set aside money each month that appreciates over time. By the time your kid reaches their 18th birthday, hopefully you have enough to send them to their dream college.
The problem is, both the cost of living and college tuition continues to rise year-on-year. So that $200,000 today may need to be nearly $250,000 by the time your kid starts their first semester.
So, how much do you need to save per month for the next 18 years? $630!
That’s right… $630 per month. On top of rent, insurance, bills, savings, retirement and putting enough aside for your annual vacation. $630 per month that sits in a bank account for nearly two decades!
Here’s how it breaks down (assuming you get a 6% annual return on your 529 Plan per year).
- Year 1: $7,816
- Year 2: $16,144
- Year 3: $24,923
- Year 4: $34,276
- Year 5: $44,206
- Year 6: $54,749
- Year 7: $65,941
- Year 8: $77,824
- Year 9: $90,440
- Year 10: $103,834
- Year 11: $118,054
- Year 12: $133,151
- Year 13: $149,179
- Year 14: $166,196
- Year 15: $184,263
- Year 16: $203,444
- Year 17: $223,807
- Year 18: $245,427
$630 per month for the first eighteen years of your child’s life should leave you with enough money to send them to their dream college.
Of course, maybe they won’t want to go to college.
Maybe they’ll choose an in-state school.
Maybe they’ll get a scholarship…
The issue with this is, none of it is in your control. The only thing that is in your control is to set money aside NOW so they get to choose when the time comes.
Because what if:
- They excel at their studying and get accepted into a great school out of state?
- They want to study medicine or some other degree that takes longer than four years?
- Scholarships are no longer available like they are today, nearly two decades from now?
I’m not a parent yet. But I hope to be one day.
What I know for certain is that I want to give my family the best life I can.
I speak to people who are parents and they tell me about the immense motivation having children gives you. If you’re reading this, a parent already, or maybe a kid on the way… I imagine you know this feeling well.
The drive to give them the foundation they need to live a happy, safe, and successful life.
The focus on YOU creating wealth NOW so you can pass it down to your children and grandchildren.
The ability to step up for your kids when they need you the most, even if it’s years from now…
But $630 per month…
That’s a lot of money.
And that’s for ONE kid!
What if you have two… three… four? What then?!?
If you’re a parent, I imagine this keeps you up some nights.
I’m not a parent yet, and I still think about this stuff!
Because as important as your child’s future education is, you still want to live a good life now, right?
Yet as I covered in a separate article, the cost of living today is high!
(and it keeps on rising year on year!)
What if there was another way?
What if there was a way to save enough money for two, three, four or even five kids?
What if you could do this on the side of your primary income, so you still have money NOW?
AND… what if this didn’t take the next eighteen years, but instead just the next 5-7 years?
It may sound impossible. But I assure you it isn’t.
A few years ago I was at rock bottom: emotionally and financially.
I faced the prospect of having to return to China and leave my American dream behind.
Then I found what I’d like to share with you today…
In the time since I’ve built a $5+ million portfolio. I work just a few hours each day. I travel as often as I like and live the sort of life I used to only dream about. I don’t share this with you to show off, but rather to show you that “this” is possible.
I’ve seen firsthand parents save 100% of their kids’ college tuition in just a few years.
Is it a quick-rich scheme that requires no hard work? NO!!
To have this you have to work hard (maybe harder than you’ve ever worked before).
Yet once you lay the foundations for this, you can lay the foundations for your family’s dream life.
THE DIFFERENT WAYS TO SAVE FOR COLLEGE (AND THE NEW WAY I RECOMMEND)
There are several ways you can save for your children’s college tuition. We’ve already mentioned one: a 529 Plan. This method (along with the ones below) are tried and tested. They are a great way to save money. Not just for your children’s future, but your own.
Please don’t think I’m warning you against these methods.
They are a great way to supplement your savings.
The problem with each of these is that they provide modest returns (at best) and you have to play the long game. As you saw earlier, even if you start saving the moment your child’s born, you still have to set aside $500+ per month if you want to fully support them going to college.
And if you have two, three or four children… this can soon add up to nearly $2,000 per month!
Even if you have a household income of $150,000 per year, this is difficult to manage.
Not if you want to save for retirement, vacations and have anything leftover to live a good life today.
Which is why I’d like to introduce you to the way I’ve built a $5+ million portfolio in recent years.
Rather than a 5-10% annual return, this way can yield a 100%+ return!
Better yet, you can achieve all this with just 2-3 hours of work per day.
Meaning it doesn’t have to come at the expense of your full-time job.
So… what is the answer to your College Saving dilemma? Day Trading.
Maybe you’ve heard of Day Trading before.
If you have… maybe you haven’t heard great things.
If that’s the case, I encourage you to keep an open mind as I offer a fully honest and transparent view of what Day Trading actually is (and how it can help parents save for their children’s college tuition).
I don’t offer you a miracle cure with this article.
As you will see, this is not for someone who expects an easy handout.
But if you’re willing to learn how to Day Trade the right way, listen to the right advice and put in the hard work upfront so you can trade 2-3 hours per day in the future… this could be the solution you’re after.
WHAT IS DAY TRADING AND WHY IS IT THE ANSWER.
It’s a form of investment that shares a lot of the same philosophies as traditional “buy and hold” investing.
Buy and hold investing is the sort of investments you see on Wall Street, and no doubt seen in the movies (you may have even read books by billionaire investors like Warren Buffett and Ray Dalio).
The main difference with Day Trading is that you buy and sell stocks in a short timeframe (typically a day). The goal is the same as traditional investing: Buy Low and Sell High. Although all this happens in a short period; usually with small profits for each trade, which yield compounded gains over time.
Before the internet arrived and created an electric platform that anyone in the world could use, financial investors and bankers often traded this way.
Day Trading isn’t new.
It’s been around for decades.
But until recently, most people couldn’t access it.
That’s no longer the case. So long as you have access to the internet, you can Day Trade.
It’s an amazing opportunity that’s made a lot of people a lot of money.
However, the downside to this is that it’s attracted a lot of internet marketers who like to prey on people.
This is why Day Trading often gets a negative perception.
It’s not because of Day Trading per se, but the scammers and fake gurus. There are too many people out there selling courses on How To Day Trade (even though they don’t know how to do it themselves).
It gives people a lot of hope but none of the tools they need to succeed.
This is one of the main reasons 94% of new Day Traders fail during the first year of trading.
(although it isn’t the only reason, as I’ll show you soon…)
Once you avoid these Fake Gurus (I’ll show you how to do that later, too) and learn how to Day Trade the right way, you’ll soon see this is one of the most sustainable ways to invest your money.
The reason for this is that you don’t need to be rich to Day Trade.
Whereas if you want success in traditional investing, you need A LOT of existing wealth.
Let me explain…
Research from Dalbar Inc shows how the S&P 500 Index averaged just 9.85% a year between 1995 and 2015. And the average equity fund investor earned 5.19% during this time.
So the best returns you can hope for in traditional selling are 10%. This is fine when you’re investing millions of dollars. But if you only have a modest amount to invest, the numbers simply do not add up.
What’s more, the most powerful investors dictate how the markets work. Their vast wealth impacts the entire market, so you’re always at the mercy of what they’re doing (and the economy as a whole).
You have little control. If the markets go up, you will get a modest return.
If they go down, they can wipe out half of your wealth overnight.
And unless you have a team of interns doing the number-crunching for you, there’s little you can do to control any of this.
So if you have vast wealth already or manage a massive hedge fund worth billions, buy and hold investing is great. Whereas if you’re like most people who only have $5,000 — $10,000 to invest, the only way to build a profitable portfolio is through Day Trading.
HOW MUCH YOU CAN MAKE DAY TRADING
Before we get into how much you can make Day Trading, it’s important you understand HOW this happens in the first place.
A big part of this process centers around those big hedge funds and tycoon investors like Warren Buffet.
Big investors like these simply do not get involved in Day Trades. There’s a simple reason for this: if you buy too many stocks in one of these companies, you end up owning it.
That’s not what these big investors want.
And because they deal in big numbers, to make those 10% returns work, they have to deal in volume.
So Day Trading simply doesn’t make sense for them.
This is an opportunity for everyone else because it creates a level playing field. Unlike with Blue Chips, the trades you make while Day Trading are based on predictable patterns and formulas.
Not everyone knows what these patterns are, which is why it’s important you follow the right advice. Once you do, you can learn how to spot patterns that yield an 85% success rate that repeats 10… 15… 25… even as many as 35 times per year.
Fundamentally, Day Trading centers around proven, predictable and measurable patterns like these.
And unlike traditional investing, you always have more control over the trades you make.
Not at the mercy of billionaire tycoons and the continuous dips that the markets take.
So, what could expect to make while Day Trading?
Let’s look at the numbers, assuming you start with an initial investment of $10,000.
(which is what I advise my students to do)
If you find a trade that works 85% of the time and averages a 35% return (and you repeat this same trade 12 times in a year with an investment of $10,000 per trade) the 85% of wins will earn you $35,000 whereas the 15% of losses will lose you $7,000.
This leaves you with a total of $38,000 … a profit of $28,000 (or a 280% return).
That’s based on ONE trade that repeats 12 times per year. If you find a trade that repeats 24 times… or 36 times per year, the size of your portfolio can quickly increase.
And, as you build your portfolio, you can begin to run multiple trades that yield similar results.
This is how I did it, turning an initial $28,000 investment into $1.3 million within 18 months!
It’s how I’ve built a $5+ million portfolio in under 5 years. Now, before we go any further, it’s important that I state these success rates are NOT common. I’m good with numbers and my background in engineering has helped me figure out how the Day Trading Markets work.
Because of this, I’ve found some very successful (and repeatable) techniques, formulas and patterns.
So the chances of you making $5+ million over the next five years aren’t likely.
(although not impossible)
Yet if you find a mentor who knows what they’re doing, learn how to day trade the “right” way and find a few proven techniques and patterns, you CAN (and likely will) build a six-figure portfolio in under 2 years.
Compare that to the 529 Plan that takes nearly 20 years to make $250,000…
… all while you’re placing $630 of your salary into it each month…
It’s clear to see why Day Trading could be the solution you’re looking for.
But success like this doesn’t simply happen.
The reality is, most people FAIL during their year trading.
Let explain why they do…
WHY MOST NEW DAY TRADERS FAIL (AND HOW NOT TO)
I’ve written a separate article that details WHY 94% of new day traders fail in their first year.
I encourage you to bookmark it for later because it can save you a lot of time and money.
Here, I’d like to focus on two of the main reasons:
- Bad Advice!
- Wrong Decisions!
The reason Day Trading often gets a bad name is that there are internet markets who prey on new traders. They overwhelm them with information. They make empty promises. They give them a lot of tools, but none of the right ones to build success.
So what happens is:
- A new trader spends thousands-of-dollars joining a new program…
- They invest thousands-of-dollars into the markets (when they’re not ready)…
- They lose most (if not, all) their money…
- They tell everyone that they were scammed!
The reality is, most people fail because they follow the wrong advice. It’s important you find proven techniques from legit mentors who have seen success themselves. Without this, you WILL fail!
Make sure anyone you follow validates their results and shows you the trades they make.
If they don’t share this information, they’re hiding something.
And you will likely become part of the 94% of first-time traders that fail!
The other reason new traders fail comes down to their Decision Making.
More specifically, how they often make them based on their “gut feeling”.
I fell into this way of working when I first started.
I used to base my decisions on 90% emotions and only 10% logic.
I would think about what my ‘gut’ told me and ignore the data if I had a good “feeling” a particular stock would go up. This is what most people do and it’s why they fail!
These days I’m the complete opposite: 90% logic and only 10% emotion.
I listen to the data. I work off the numbers. I keep faith in the predictable patterns and formulas I find. Once you do this it’s almost impossible to fail. Where everyone else buys too late or sells too soon, you minimize your risk by basing your decisions on the data in front of you.
Most people struggle with this; even experienced traders.
If you avoid this, you’ll likely become part of the 6% that WINS BIG!
HOW TO GET STARTED IN DAY TRADING THE “RIGHT” WAY
If you want to learn more about the basics of Day Trading and how to get started, I encourage you to watch my interview with Ryan Higa for his Off The Pill Podcast (that has 20+ million subscribers).
I have LOTS of other videos on my YouTube Channel that walks you through the Day Trading Basics and what to do when you first get started…
To complete this article, I’d like to share some of the BIGGEST Do and Don’t Tips I offer my students.
DO INVEST TIME UP-FRONT!
When I work with a new student, I encourage them to spend the first year Learning and Testing. This means that you won’t make a lot of money during your first year (if any at all). This can put a lot of people off, but laying the foundations like these sets you up to have an amazing second year!
In time, you can make thousands each day… all from just 2-3 hours of trading in the morning.
BUT… this does not just happen. During this first year, expect to study the markets for 4-6 hours per day.
That’s 4-6 hours of studying, too.
Learning about the markets…
Exploring new techniques and patterns…
Figuring out what to do and what not to do…
And making A LOT of Paper Trades.
DO MAKE PAPER TRADES
Part of your first year should involve a lot of Paper Trades.
Paper trades involve using a fake stock account to make trades with fake money.
It’s important you do this during your first year because the reality is you NEED to practice. More importantly, you need to find strategies that work, time and time again. You can either try to discover these on your own or learn more about some of the eight strategies I use over and over again.
But before using any type of strategy with real money, you need to figure out the exact mathematics of what percentage these strategies work. To achieve this (without losing all your money), you need to make Paper Trades; and lots of them!
DO NOT RUSH THE PROCESS
Start small. Even after my students lay the foundations during the first 6-12 months, I encourage them to keep making small, manageable trades.
Find a technique that works and stick ith it.
Find 1-2 patterns that work, and focus on these.
The less you do, the more money you’re likely to earn.
I know that sounds strange, but it’s true.
DO NOT BECOME A FULL-TIME DAY TRADER!
Not everyone should become a Full-Time Day Trader.
I explain why in this article (be sure you to check it out and bookmark for later).
In time, maybe you will leave your job and focus on Day Trading. But in the beginning, I’d encourage you to not make this your goal. Within a few years, Day Trading could become your primary income stream.
But that doesn’t mean you have to leave your job.
You can achieve these results in just 2-3 hours per day.
Leaving your full-time job leaves you with a lot of free time.
If you spend this time Day Trading, you can soon do too much.
As I show in this article, that’s not a good thing…
WILL DAY TRADING HELP YOU SAVE FOR YOUR CHILDREN’S COLLEGE TUITION?
The simple answer is, YES!
But as you now know… it isn’t as simple as that.
Finding success with Day Trading is not easy. Most people do fail.
There’s a reason why most people fail. And it’s easy to avoid.
So long as you put in the work upfront, remove emotions from your decisions, and find a good mentor.
This last one is what saves you the most time and money.
It’s important to learn from someone who has been there and done it.
Learn their techniques.
Follow their patterns.
In time, you can find your own.
But don’t try to do this in the beginning. If you do, you set yourself up for failure.
I hope you’ve found this article valuable. I’m not a father yet, but I’m driven to be the best one I can be when the time comes. Part of this involves providing for their future. Maybe I’ll have children who want to go to college. Maybe not. Maybe they’ll get into an Ivy School or want to study abroad…
I want to be prepared for whatever situation.
I imagine you do, too…
Day Trading can help you achieve this in 5-7 years. Not for one kid, but two, three or more!
If you would like some help to get started in Day Trading, here are your next steps:
- Subscribe To My Youtube Channel: this is where I share practical training on how to trade, as well as behind-the-scenes insights into the trades I make.
- Join My Newsletter: I write these emails for people who want to learn the basics of Day Trading and the practical steps they should take to get started.
- Join The Freedom Challenge: this is my flagship program for traders who want to level-up and learn about the techniques I use, how to use them, and what to do to turn Day Trading into their primary income stream.
Save your $630 per month. Use that to make the most of your life today. Instead, use some of your savings to build a six or seven-figure trading portfolio that sets you up for the future you’ve always dreamed about.