<prompt> Human: Please dont judge my ignorance because although Im making money NOW, I spent many years as a poor student and Im trying to learn good money habits. Im a divorced mom receiving negligible child support, working 35 hrwk and making 180Kyr. I have a small mortgage payment and a moderate car payment. 130K in student loans at 6.5, and Im making quadruple payments on that sucker every month. No other debt. Anyway, I have a 401K account and Im contributing 5,500yr. I was wondering if I could open one for each of my 2 kids and contribute another 5,500yr for each of them. Then, I can just give them control of the accounts when they turn 18. My thoughts were I could pay them for helping with housework but just put the money in their retirement account. Then, I could file a tax return for each of them to document their earnings and deduct the retirement contribution. Is this a good idea from a tax perspective? Would they get any tax refund? Should I pay them exactly 5,500 each or some other number?Obviously Im claiming both kids as my dependents every year, which Im allowed to do per my divorce order. If anyone has advice to help me, it would be greatly appreciated. Assistant: Not with all that debt. Take care of yourself first including your retirement. Then your kids college education.Human: I am - Im making payments 2Xmonth for a total of 4X my minimum monthly payment. And from my understandings, a 401K can be used for education if necessary - but Im a fan of state schools and scholarships anyway. Assistant: 5.5kyear isnt nearly enough for retirement. You should be contributing way more before you think about your kids retirement. Once your retirement is secured you could always give them some extra money when they start working so they can afford to max out their 401k and IRA each year.Human: But I thought the best strategy was to pay off student loans before aggressively saving for retirement? Anyway, my question was about how to set things up for my kids, from a tax perspective.  <response>: You should be at those interest rates. But you shouldnt be thinking about your kids retirement until yours is secured. My point is that right now you cant afford 11kyear for your kids retirement. You shouldnt be setting up anything for them yet. 