<prompt> Human: My daughter is 15 days old. Her mom and I come from messed up families with bad financial histories. Through hard work and proper planning, we are doing well -- though it took over a decade to get on solid financial footing. I want to help my daughter avoid the stress and concern that my wife and I faced in the past. I am not very familiar with long term investing other than my 401k, so your advice on how to approach this would be very welcome.  <response>: I know you want to prepare for your daughters future, but the best way to do that is to prepare for yours.Your daughter will always be able to take out student loans if you cant assist her with her education. Shell have an entire lifetime to pay them back.You will not be able to take out loans for your retirement if you didnt save enough. You wont have enough time to pay them back.The best way to make a childs life less financially stressful is to not have to depend on her for help during retirement. Max out your 401Ks and IRAs and then start saving for your daughter specifically.Theres nothing saying you cant take money out of the IRA to pay for schooling, but it stays in your name. If you open accounts in her name, for all you know, your daughter will end up being a coke whore at the age of 21 and taking out every penny you saved for her and blowing it. Extreme example that wont ever happen, you say? Tell that to my cousin. She blew through 35 grand in a matter of months that my aunt had spent years saving for her. 