Where you stand

I have children and want to prepare

If that is you, here is what this situation usually involves, in the order it usually comes up: the things worth checking, what each one is, and where the arithmetic for it lives. None of it says what to do.

1. Loans exist for college and not for retirement, which is the fact behind how most planners order the two.
2. A 529 grows free of tax for education, many states give a deduction for contributions, the money stays the owner's rather than the child's, and it can be moved between children; the landscape page has the rules.
3. A custodial account becomes the child's money outright at adulthood, with everything that implies.
4. Term life insurance is priced by the years and the amount of income it would replace; the landscape page shows how a policy is sized and what it costs.
5. A Roth IRA for a child with earned income can be funded by a gift as long as the income is real; the landscape page explains what counts as earned income.

Read these

Compounding, and why the early years look boring
An account is not an investment