Martin O’Malley
The lesson: Save for college in a 529 account.
The former Maryland governor has said that he and his wife took out nine loans totaling $339,200 to cover their daughters’ college tuitions. Not all loans are bad, especially given the low interest rates we’ve had over the last several years, but experts say that to have borrowed that much, he likely hadn’t previously saved any money for their school bills. Putting money into a 529 account throughout their childhoods would have allowed him to borrow less money (and pay less in interest) to cover their tuition. Alternatively, he could have advised the girls to go to less expensive schools or to borrow money in their own names.
