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When cash is tight, you have to make choices. Which is why if you are putting money away into your kid's school account while trying to also save up for a retirement, you may well wonder - What should be the priority? New Jersey Private Money Lenders

Certainly there are some practical arguments for making your savings precedence be school - and then retirement. All things considered, if you are a parent, you probably feel your youngsters' needs should come first. Assuming you had your kids before your mid-40s, school may be coming a lot faster than your retirement. You might also feel that if you have been cash poor and entombed in statements your whole life that you just can take whatever is coming in your not-so-golden years, but you're certainly not going to let your finances spoil your kids' chances at financial happiness.

All apprehensible arguments, but spoiler alert: Financial experts typically will constantly tell you that retirement should be your first savings priority. Saving for the kids' college tuition comes second. That is assuming you aren't rich and can't easily fund both targets, of course.

Still, if you are somebody who's financially struggling and feel you should pay for the child's school education before your own retirement, you might ask: Why is retirement the chief priority? If you have ever wondered why the experts recommend retirement savings over college, here's a rundown of the retirement-first arguments. New Jersey Private Money Lenders

It's possible for you to borrow for college; you can not borrow for retirement. Not that seniors haven't attempted to. This past year, the Employee Benefit Research Institute examined amounts from the Federal Reserve and found that the average debt senior citizens carried in 2010 was $50,000, up 83 percent from what seniors were carrying in 2001. But clearly, planning your retirement on the assumption that you just'll let your credit cards fund your golden years is a dangerous strategy.

Your kid also can head to faculty on the cheap - and still get a quality education - by attending community college for two years and after that transfer to a bigger university. It's possible for you to retire on the cheap, too, but you do not desire to do it too cheaply. If you are dumpster diving for food, that's not exactly an excellent retirement.

[Read: 5 Methods to Save On Your Child's College Education .]

Spending your resources on retirement may make more financial sense, from a numbers standpoint. And he's. But as he sets it, the interest rates for student loans, at least the ones your children will take out, are still less than what you can make by getting cash in investments for retirements.

However, everyone's fiscal situation differs, and what you may do, proceed carefully. Borrowing for student loans is pricey - and is becoming more expensive. The 3.8 interest rate that students are paying for federal loans is climbing to 4.6 percent this July. And if you're a mom or father, and you're borrowing money through a Direct PLUS Loan, available to parents of an undergraduate, the interest rate will be 7.21 percent July 1.

If you look at the numbers with exactly the same dollar amount, investing in retirement, you are going to be way ahead," Connors says.

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By prioritizing your school over your retirement, you could damage everyone in the long run. If you put all your financial eggs in the college basket like a 529, but you never really get your retirement nest egg in order, your kids may get their diploma, and they might get a satisfying, high-paying or financially stable job - exactly the result you expected for.

But imagine that as you approach retirement or leave the workforce early, something bad happens. Maybe you get ill, and you need to retire earlier than you dreamed you would. Then imagine your monetary problems festering. Suddenly, because your retirement funds are so anemic, you need a financial lifeline, and the only people you can turn to are.. your kids.

By having ignored your retirement needs for each of these years, putting cash toward their faculty at the expense of your retirement, you could potentially bring them down now. And even if you consider that you wouldn't turn to them, you are their parent. They may believe that they have no choice but to lend you a monetary hand - maybe at a time when their own finances were just starting to take off.

"In the long run, you are much better off allocating those funds to retirement so your children will not have to," Connors says.

[See: 6 Steps to the Retirement Lifestyle You Desire .]

"If you're on a plane, and the oxygen masks drop down, put yours on first, and then you are able to help the others sitting around you," Lindell says, mentioning the universal rule every parent is supposed to follow in the event of a airplane crisis.

Lindell says the rules apply here, too, so when weird as it may sound if you're a parent always putting your own children's needs before your own, maybe you are helping your kids in other ways if you are prioritizing your retirement account before their school education.

They may run into financial difficulties well into adulthood - say, when they're attempting to figure out how to pay for their own retirement and their children's higher education. If you're fiscally healthy and willing, you can help them, or maybe even put away some cash for the grandkids. But if you're in financial ruin because you only saved for their school diploma, you can not.