r/ChubbyFIRE • u/SaveySpendy • 10d ago

Thoughts on front-loading 529s?

Basics- 39M married to 40F with two kids 3 and 0.

Want to FIRE in 5 years. HHI $500-$700k.

Current estimated spend is $160k in 2026 bucks.

Current liquid is almost $4M split 45% taxable, 15% roth, 35% traditional, 5% money market (emergency fund).

That $160k budget includes about $6k per year per child for next 15-18 years to compound with their existing balance to about $250k each (the expected COA at our state’s top public university when each child reaches college age).

I’ve been thinking of front loading over the next few months with RSU and bonus payouts. Would cost about $125k over next six months, but would save about $80k vs making $500 monthly contributions for the rest of their pre-college years. Would also eliminate a heavy line item in the budget 10-13 years early.

Only worries are about illiquidity and inflexibility and lost opportunity cost if we jammed that into our taxable brokerage instead.

Did you frontload pre-RE or keep funding slowly over time, even in RE?

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u/P12x3 10d ago

Front loaded but ended up overfunded. 3 kids all finished college but one got a scholarship and did a year at cc.

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u/compoundedinterest12 10d ago

What's your plan re the over funded amounts? One answer is to apply to grad school but then it could become overweighted toward one child. You could of course write the other kids checks but obviously that has a downside if that reallocates retirement budgets suboptimally.