While not trying to make my children 'rich', my wife and I do believe in funding for their educational futures. I do not believe that you can afford to wait to begin their funding until the children are 10-12 years old.
We actually do fund $500.00/month for each of our two children's college education. With this said, I also fund my retirement at the highest allowed amount (I don't want to be without retirement $ while my kids are at or finnished with college).
My wife and I do not make a ton of money (think the lowest of 6 figures combined), but we make sacrifices to fund these accounts (think frugal, not cheap
), i.e.: no cable tv, not many nights out (2x/year), wife cuts my hair, no problem buying used clothes, etc.. My $0.02.