Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund • Hacker News Board

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#21

Post by emodendroket » Sat, Jul 15, 2017, 2:24 PM UTC

manbearpigg wrote: post #8

A fully qualified engineer will be in a much better position to provide valuable products and services than an 18 year old noob. I guess it's better than a gender studies degree, but believe it or not, undergraduate education is not completely useless. I learned a hell of a lot.

Even a gender studies degree would have a lot of value. A lot of people who get university degrees, myself included, end up working in a completely unrelated field, but that doesn't mean the education was worthless.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#22

Post by hacksonx » Sat, Jul 15, 2017, 2:26 PM UTC

manbearpigg wrote: post #8

A fully qualified engineer will be in a much better position to provide valuable products and services than an 18 year old noob. I guess it's better than a gender studies degree, but believe it or not, undergraduate education is not completely useless. I learned a hell of a lot.

It's not completely useless ... Yet, but with the shift the world is taking (globalisation, *robotisation and move to renewables) it will be. Some engineering degree too will put not have a place in the future.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#23

Post by caseysoftware » Sat, Jul 15, 2017, 2:30 PM UTC

jaclaz wrote: post #5

I don't know. Basically this means more or less that on the day your son (or daughter) becomes 18 you put on the table 2,000x100 US$ bills in a few neat stacks and ask him/her whether he/she likes it better to: 1) Study (hard) for the next 5 years (possibly in a remote city), living with one or more co-students in a tiny apartment and receive - say - some 500-600 bucks each month for petty expenses OR: 2) get - here…

Quite often investment is delivered in tranches where a chunk of the funds are delivered at different stages as milestones are met. Just like you don't get all the entire student loans at once, you get them year by year assuming your grades/extracurriculars meet the criteria.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#24

Post by urethrafranklin » Sat, Jul 15, 2017, 2:35 PM UTC

equivocates wrote: post #12

Serious question: what do your kids know about running a company?

Serious answer: it's not about his kids, it's about him living vicariously through them.

Oh, and building his twitter/thinkfluencer brand

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#25

Post by weirdstuff » Sat, Jul 15, 2017, 2:40 PM UTC

nopzor wrote: post #18

jccooper wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but what's important from college is not education, but credentials. The credit given for having a failed company on your resume is significantly less than for a BA of any sort.

I thought the credentials showed that you had completed the (purportedly valuable) education?

This is less and less the case, as weird as that sounds. I'm finishing my degree not because I'm learning anything, but too many managers (and academics) have point-blank told me they just want to see that I've been "initiated".

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#26

Post by osrec » Sat, Jul 15, 2017, 2:52 PM UTC

I love this idea, but you need to nurture the entrepreneur in your child before giving them the money. Like a lot of people here, I have a decent degree from a good university; I can confirm that it hasn't given me much more than a foot in the door for my next interview. Most of the academic knowledge I gained, I could have learnt by myself (in fact that's what I did, even at university), and a lot of it is now redundant. In some ways, I feel a university education was a fairly bad use of my time and money. After uni, I got a "good" job, was hugely unsatisfied, saved some money and then started my own company. I cannot stress enough how difficult it can be to find direction when doing your own thing. As a kid you're used to living within a fairly bounded, directed framework. When you have to define your own direction, it can unsettle you. Make sure your kids are comfortable with finding their own way - it's not just about making them independent, but also about developing an intelligent work ethic (which I believe is the key characteristic of a good entrepreneur), and being comfortable in the midst of uncertainty.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#27

Post by vonkale » Sat, Jul 15, 2017, 2:53 PM UTC

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #19

jaclaz wrote: post #5

I don't know. Basically this means more or less that on the day your son (or daughter) becomes 18 you put on the table 2,000x100 US$ bills in a few neat stacks and ask him/her whether he/she likes it better to: 1) Study (hard) for the next 5 years (possibly in a remote city), living with one or more co-students in a tiny apartment and receive - say - some 500-600 bucks each month for petty expenses OR: 2) get - here…

> Study (hard) for the next 5 years I don't think colleges in US can be as hard as universities in some european counties. Especially where universities are free. I would be curious to hear if there are some exceptions.

In my country (Finland), government actually pays for studying and universities are free. My experience studying abroad is that actually the curriculum and studying is mostly the same all over the world. I think there might some outliers in the TOP10 universities in the world, but the major differences are in the student population, connections and reputation. I think only maybe 10-20% study really hard anyways. At that point in life most people would have more than 100 usable hours easily, but most of the students do minimal work necessary and do something else.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#28

Post by sotojuan » Sat, Jul 15, 2017, 3:03 PM UTC

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #19

jaclaz wrote: post #5

I don't know. Basically this means more or less that on the day your son (or daughter) becomes 18 you put on the table 2,000x100 US$ bills in a few neat stacks and ask him/her whether he/she likes it better to: 1) Study (hard) for the next 5 years (possibly in a remote city), living with one or more co-students in a tiny apartment and receive - say - some 500-600 bucks each month for petty expenses OR: 2) get - here…

> Study (hard) for the next 5 years I don't think colleges in US can be as hard as universities in some european counties. Especially where universities are free. I would be curious to hear if there are some exceptions.

What's the point of this comment? It's off topic at best and an excuse to debate about European vs US colleges at worst.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#29

Post by bitJericho » Sat, Jul 15, 2017, 3:06 PM UTC

There's a third option. Self educate. Take 200,000. Buy all the tools and equipment you need to do what you love. Do what you love for 5 to 10 years and you'll have more than enough experience to be successful in your industry.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#30

Post by goldfeld » Sat, Jul 15, 2017, 3:17 PM UTC

Sounds like a horrible idea full of assumptions and pressure, as opposed to offering an exploratory period of life that is college (socially and intellectually), a nice option for those who can afford it.

Not everyone has to be coaxed into entrepreneurship, it's an evil of our consumerist age. Your kid would probably rather participate in society at large than in your suicidal runway idea of a romanticized youth of modern times. "Starting something" with no experience at all is almost guaranteed to mean burned cash, family resentment and a bunch of hard lessons. Why not send them to military school and spare cash and suffering?