Diane A | Fairfax

Early in my pregnancy, I went to the doctor concerned that something was wrong. “No worries,” said the doctor, “they both look just fine.” “They???” said my husband and I, with relief, awe and a bit of trepidation. And so began our twins adventure. It has been wonderful, exciting, crazy at times, and doubly expensive. Sixteen plus years later, with Joseph and Marien now juniors in high school, we are facing a new challenge: college for two. We started funding their Virginia [inVEST] accounts when they were two years old (everything seems to revolve around twos in our house), with a jump start from my mother before she passed away. We make a regular monthly contribution, and put in more when possible. Could we put them both through Harvard at full fare rates? No. But we have saved enough—and earned enough on the investments tax-free—to afford to send them to excellent colleges, in state or elsewhere. It still will cost us something (unless they get those scholarships we dream about). But we won’t have to empty our retirement funds and work until we are 85 to pay for it. And our children won’t be paying off student loans until they are old enough to be sending their own kids through college. That makes our [inVEST] strategy a huge success. Now, we just have to worry about our kids’ grades, SAT scores, staying out of trouble and driving safely....