How Much You Need to Save for Your Kids' College Expenses

Here's another item on Money magazine's list of 25 rules to grow rich by. Today's tip gives some thoughts on how much you need to save for your kids' college expenses:

Aim to accumulate enough money to pay for a third of your kids' college costs. You can borrow the rest or use some of your income to help out when your child is in college.

The advice acknowledges that parents are also trying to save for retirement at the same time and that retirement savings should be a priority over saving for college.

We've set both our retirement number and our college saving number and we're planning on doing a bit better than this. We hope to fund our retirement fully and also save half of the costs for our kids' college educations. Of course, it helps that we started saving for both of these many years ago and we're now seeing the power of compounding kick in to help us reach our goals.

For more thoughts on making the most of your retirement, see these posts:

• The Best Retirement Plan is Simple

• Key to Retirement: Planning Ahead

• How to Have a Successful Retirement Savings Plan

• Retirement Wisdom: Review Your Savings and Plans Annually

• Key to Retirement Saving: Start Early

• How to Double Your Retirement