U.S. Investors Slow to Stash Cash for Children's College.

Byline: Jim Norman

Synopsis: Fifteen percent of non-retired U.S. investors have met their goal of saving for a child's college education, and 38% have made no progress at all.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. investors attempting to save for their children's college education are having a tough time reaching their goal, with more than a third (38%) saying they have made "no progress" and 15% saying they have completed their goal.

The results lag significantly behind those of other major financial goals set by non-retired American investors, including saving for a home and building an emergency fund.

About one in 10 (11%) with a child under the age of 18 say saving for a child's college education is not one of their financial goals.

Among those who have this as a goal, the 38% saying they have made no progress is the largest number for any of five major financial goals measured in the third-quarter Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index survey, conducted Aug. 13-20. For the survey, U.S. investors are defined as adults with $10,000 or more invested in stocks, bonds or mutual funds, either within or outside a retirement savings account.

A report this year from Sallie Mae shows that more Americans are putting away money to help pay for their children's college costs, including an increase in money invested in the 529 tax-advantage program designed to encourage saving for education expenses. However, with the price of a college education continuing to rise, just over a quarter (27%) of investors trying to save for college who were interviewed in the Wells Fargo/Gallup survey can say they either have completed their goal of compiling enough savings for a child's education (15%) or have made a lot of progress (12%).

Seventy-one percent of non-retirees have completed their goal of saving for a home -- by far the largest percentage to complete any of the five possible financial goals, with 18% saying it is not one of their goals. The vast majority of those who say they have completed their goal are homeowners. Slightly fewer than one in 10 homeowners say they are still short of their savings goal.

Saving for a major vacation has the next-highest total, with 46% saying they have completed their goal, while it is not a financial goal for about one in five (21%) non-retired investors.

Almost all (98%) investors who are not retired are trying to reach the other two potential goals -- building an emergency fund of three or more months of...

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