Americans are about evenly split over whether saving for their children's college education is more important than saving for their own retirement.
About 43% say saving for college is more important, and 43% say retirement is more important, according to researchers at Country Insurance & Financial Services, Bloomington, Ill.
The researchers based their results on a survey of 3,000 U.S. adults responsible for a child's education.
Young parents and survey participants with a household income of less than $40,000 were more likely to favor college savings over retirement.
Only 31% of participants ages 18 to 29 said saving for retirement is more important than saving for children's education, and 56% said saving for children's education is more important.
Participants in the 30-39 were about as likely to say saving for retirement is more important as they were to say saving for college is more important.