u/SteelMonger_

I have two kids, one is four and the other is coming soon. My wife and I don't make a ton of money and we have debts to pay so we can't afford a lot right now.

My plan is to put money into a 529 account for each kid starting now and then when they turn 18 (or when they start earning income) transfer the money to a Roth IRA to jumpstart their retirement savings. Additionally I am planning to put $50 per month into a UTMA for each kid to save for a car, down payment on a house, or whatever else they need to get a good start when they become adults.

The amount I would be putting into the 529 would be enough to reach the 35,000 max that is transferrable to the Roth IRA. Assuming a 7% growth it would be about $90 to the first kid and $70 to the second kid each month.

Is there a better plan for spending $260 per month?

Normally debt from student loans does not go away when declaring bankruptcy, right? So is there something that prevents you from paying off those loans with some god awful credit card or payday loan and then declaring bankruptcy?

Many people will say to save up 3-6 months of expenses/income as a safety net before making purchases and that is good advice.

I did not do that and I have ~60k in debt on a HELOC. It makes much more sense to me to pay down that interest accruing debt (7.25% last I checked) than to build up a savings account that earns basically nothing in interest.

Am I missing something, or should I continue to pay off the HELOC and use it in an emergency?

I am new to home milling and a friend from work is giving me a mill he bought back in the 80s that he literally never used. He said the brand is Kitchenetics and it's simply called "the kitchen mill".

Does anyone know anything about this brand or model? I can't find much info online other than the old models are quite loud and they apparently switched brands to blendtec.

I have a nutrimill classic on the way from Amazon but if the old Kitchen Mill is better I'll just cancel it. Any advice is appreciated.