‘We have no college savings of any kind,’ says ‘Exploding Unicorn’ comedy writer and father of 4

‘We have no college savings of any kind,’ says ‘Exploding Unicorn’ comedy writer and father of 4

Saving The Breakwells.Courtesy James Breakwell Key Points Comedy writer James Breakwell has 1 million followers on his Twitter account, @XplodingUnicorn.

The father of four daughters has made a career out of sharing amusing things his children tend to say.

“The cost of college, at least for a while, was going up at something like 11% a year, and there was no place we could save that was going to keep up with that,” he told Grow.

James Breakwell is famous for being a dad. The father of four daughters (ages 11, 9, 7, and 6) first gained notoriety for his Twitter page, @XplodingUnicorn , where he jokes about the absurdities of parenthood.

Parenting wasn’t always the focus of Breakwell’s career. As a young comedy writer, Breakwell began blogging and tweeting about everyday life — to little avail at first. When he became a father, though, he found a topic that seemed to stick with internet audiences.

“I started writing jokes about my kids — the things they said, or things inspired by what they said, or the things they could have said — and just built it up that way,” he says. “And that’s what people responded to. And all of a sudden, I went from the guy who wrote about everything to the guy who wrote about his kids. And I was kind of, overnight, this daddy blogger.”

In the years since, Breakwell has published six books and three webcomics in addition to managing Exploding Unicorn across several social media platforms. His Twitter account currently boasts a million followers.

Between juggling all that and, you know, parenting, he sat down with Grow to discuss how he teaches his kids about money, what he hopes they learn as they get older, and his views on saving for college.

The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. ‘We have no college savings of any kind. It seems like a fool’s errand’

Grow: What’s been your and your wife’s approach to saving for college ?

Breakwell: We have no college savings of any kind. It seems like a fool’s errand. The cost of college, at least for a while, was going up at something like 11% a year, and there was no place we could save that was going to keep up with that.

I’m one of seven kids. My parents didn’t have any kind of college savings for me. My wife is one of four. Her parents didn’t have any kind of savings for her. I think they ended up helping her out a little bit. But she mostly had scholarships, and I went to college full-ride, room and board.

So essentially, the market forces are going to dictate where they go. I think it would be great if they could go to online college and live at home to save money. I would strongly discourage going to graduate school or any kind of a course that keeps you just endlessly in college forever. I’m a big fan of getting in, getting out, and getting a job.

Video by David Fang

So they’ll go to the best school they can for what their scholarships will allow. And if there’s a small gap, we’ll try to help out in there. But there is no blank check sitting around to go to Harvard or Yale or whatever else there is. They’ll just do the best they can to manage, just like everybody else around them.

I think most people don’t have a few hundred thousand dollars sitting around to pay for college. And if they have to take out loans and pay them back, they just have to make smart decisions about picking a career that you actually earns enough money to pay that back. Ideally, they will not come out a million dollars in debt. If it looks like they’re going down that road, I think I would just recommend they skip college altogether and go some other route. ‘The primary time cash changes hands in our family is when the Tooth Fairy comes’

Grow: I caught a tweet of yours where you joked about never handling cash these days. How does that work when it comes to teaching your kids about money?

Breakwell: I give them an allowance every week. It’s electronically transferred from my bank account to their savings accounts. I’m not sure it really means anything to them. I never carry cash on me. The primary time cash changes hands in our family is when the Tooth Fairy comes. My 7-year-old, some of her […]

source ‘We have no college savings of any kind,’ says ‘Exploding Unicorn’ comedy writer and father of 4

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