Dad Says His Daughter Will Not Pay For Her Own College Education — He Will Also Make Sure She Has A Home & Car By The Time She’s An Adult
He's working hard to provide generational wealth for his daughter.
Lopolo / Shutterstock A father revealed that he's building generational wealth for his daughter by not having her go into debt when it comes to her college education and beyond.
In a TikTok video, Tony Zhang, a finance and stocks content creator explained that when his daughter goes off to college and enters adulthood, she won't have to worry about money or being able to support herself.
Zhang's daughter won't be paying for her own college tuition and will have a house and car when she's an adult.
In Zhang's video, responding to a comment from a follower who claimed that his daughter should be responsible for paying for her college education, he heavily disagreed. Instead, he admitted that he plans to pay all college tuition costs and fees so that his daughter doesn't have to take out loans.
"By the time she's an adult, she'll have a home, she'll have a car, and hopefully, this is my goal, I don't know if I'll be able to accomplish it or not, but she will have a one million dollar stock portfolio," Zhang said. "The one thing I want more for my daughter than anything else is for her to be financially free as an adult."
He has no plans of letting his daughter graduate college with a "useless degree" and mounds of student debt that would most likely end up following her well into adulthood, as that's the case for many other Americans. According to Bankrate, more than 43 million Americans hold federal student loans, with a collective balance exceeding $1.7 trillion.
Additionally, from a Handshake data report, almost 70% of participants said their debt will influence the jobs they consider taking after graduation. Many students strive to find a high-paying job with attractive benefits to supplement their staggering student loan debt.
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Zhang doesn't want any of that for his daughter, he doesn't want her working in a corporate office job where she's struggling to make ends meet and living paycheck to paycheck. He explained that this mindset might be because he's Chinese and his culture is built on the idea that parents should be doing the best they can for their children.
"That's why I'm doing all the things that I'm doing. I'm investing in real estate, I day trade, I invest in stocks, I just started a commerce business last year. I want my daughter to be extremely wealthy when she grows up and I will do everything I can to make that happen."
Zhang broke down his family's budget and how much income he brings in.
He explained that his family makes roughly $230,000 a year from their 9-to-5 jobs, and on top of that, makes an estimated $200,000 from their side hustles. Zhang and his family live in Irvine, California, which is considered one of the most expensive places to live in the United States.
"We're a dual-income family. I make roughly around $10,000 gross per month," he revealed. Zhang's partner makes around $9,250 gross per month. After taxes and both of them contributing to their 401K, they have an estimated $12,500 left.
"My mortgage, property tax, interest in HOA is roughly around $4,200. I send my daughter to daycare, that's roughly around $1,000." Zhang noted that these figures change from month to month, but he and his partner spend around $1,600. They also have utilities, which include electricity, gas, and water, and spend about $335 in total for them.
Transportation, which consists of car insurance and gas, is around $400 per month, while miscellaneous spending, which can include any sort of random expenses that come up each month, ends up being around $600.
"We roughly spend about $100 on subscriptions per month. We contribute $1,000 to our daughter's college fund, and then we spend $100 on phone bills. After you take our total income, which, minus all our expenses, we're left with roughly around $3,000 per month."
Zhang also explained that he day trades as a side hustle, and made an estimated $180,000 from doing it, and after paying taxes on it, he was left with $99,000. So, after all, taxes are paid and expenses are deducted, Zhang's family is left with a net of around $130,000.
Zhang works hard to provide for his daughter to make sure her future will be comfortable.
Many people in the comments section believed that Zhang's daughter should have to pay for her own college and make her way in the world without the help of her parents, but why should parents just stop providing for their children once they turn 18?
It's such an American ideology that teenagers over the age of 18 should learn how to pull themselves up and make a way for themselves in the world without the aid of their family, and if they receive financial help they are labeled as "spoiled" and "privileged." It's fine if some parents don't want to pay for their child's college education or help them out once they graduate college and start looking for jobs, but there is nothing wrong with parents wanting to try their hardest to give their child a comfortable lifestyle.
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If parents have the means, then they should be able to do whatever they can for their children. It's unrealistic to conclude that once young adults graduate college they'll be fine and will be able to financially provide for themselves when inflation is on the rise, the housing market is a mess, and the job market is equally disheartening. Outside of America, adult children living at home with their parents or receiving help from their family is considered quite normal and the only abnormal thing is when adult children move out and start their lives separately from their families.
Zhang is working hard to create generational wealth so that none of his children, grandchildren, and future generations ever know what it means to struggle, and that's commendable. But, of course, this isn't the standard, and parents who can't afford to do that for their children shouldn't have to work themselves to the bone either.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.