[TigersEye]

Ok. Smokes are $3.50 in my neck of the woods. 2 packs a day for 10 years is roughly $25K if you wold just stick it in the mattress. Half of that if only one spouse smokes.

Half of $25k is $12.5k. Subtract the $1 per day you suggest and that is reduced to $8,850. Even with interest from a tax deferred program that won't amount to much when it comes to paying about $40k per year for college tuition. You've just made your assertion in post #306 even more ridiculous sounding.

You should have stuck with my figures based on two smokers and $5 per pack which is much closer to the national average. Do you usually undercut your own position when debating?

[EVO X]

Do you usually undercut your own position when debating?

When I've used aggressive estimates in the past I've been told it is a pant load, etc. So I used the stuff it in your mattress figures. I am not sure what your argument is. Are you saying that the low ball figures of $12K to $25K doesn't amount to real money?

One can run the numbers using any online savings calculator and come up with some really impressive scenarios. A heck of a lot more than the figures I gave.

[Wheee The People]

when it comes to paying about $40k per year for college tuition.

???? Or how about $9,000???

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/add-it-up/4494.html

• About 65 percent of students enrolled at four-year colleges or universities attend institutions that charge tuition and fees of less than $9,000 per year.
• Fifty-six percent of full-time students enrolled in public four-year colleges and universities attend institutions that charge published in-state tuition and fees between $3,000 and $6,000.
• While private four-year institutions have a much wider range of tuition and fee charges, only about 5 percent of all students attend colleges with tuition and fees totaling $33,000 or higher per year.
  

  And a tax exempt 529 college fund will return about $50,000 after 18 years. Feel free to run the numbers.

  http://www.bankrate.com/brm/calculators/college/investing/529calc.asp#calc