Here’s a switch: Americans now see retirement as a more important savings goal than college for their kids. The score was retirement 53 percent, college 45 percent, in a poll by the College Savings Foundation, recently reported in the trade publication Planadviser. A year earlier, college had the edge over retirement, 53 percent to 51.

The survey itself came out in September, a period that now seems as distant as the Edwardian Era. But I suspect the trend hasn’t changed and maybe even become stronger, given the savage mugging our 401(k) plans have suffered in the meantime.

If you’re facing this difficult tradeoff (or wondering whether to finance a child’s wedding, first home, or new business), here’s some recent advice from the Consumer Reports Money Adviser newsletter that may help.  — Greg Daugherty

Greg writes the “Retirement Guy” column each month in the Consumer Reports Money Adviser newsletter.