Who do you save for? Your children’s college education, or your own retirement? This is a topic that is on many adults’ minds these days. It used to be that responsible parents put away money to (help) pay for their children’s continuing education. But these days some financial advisors are saying “whoa there, you need to look out for yourself in your golden years.”

The reality is, a lot of benefits you may be expecting when you become a senior citizen just night not be there. And one of them is employment subsidized healthcare. Fidelity has been doing an annual survey, and they estimate that a couple retiring this year (65 years old) will need to have $225,000 saved only to pay for health requirements during their retirement. That assumes they do not have employment subsidies and this is the amount over what Medicare will contribute.

So now a lot more parents are putting less into college savings. Many themselves did not have assistance and they figure “where there is a will there is a way” and their children can be motivated to find funding themselves if going to college is their goal.

There is nothing wrong with looking out for number one - yourself. That does not make you a bad parent. And if you can take care of yourself, it is one less thing your child will have to think about when you are getting older. So, tell them you are doing them a favor, they just don’t realize it yet.