what if your parents set aside a cow

[keannu]

What does "what if your parents set aside a cow" mean? Does it mean that parents' cow overlaps your cow, so your cow will become of no value?

8p)One function of money is that it serves as a store of value. This allows people who have money now to spend it at a later time. For this reason, there is no necessity to spend your money immediately; you may postpone spending it now and spend it sometime in the future. In this way, money is a claim on future goods and services. Any form of money that holds its value over time could satisfy this function of money. Gold seems to hold its value well, but some goods do not. You might save a cow for a year or two. But what if your parents set aside a cow when you were born to pay for your college education?

[BobK]

It's an example of something that doesn't hold its value for a number of years, in the way that gold can. The phrasal verb 'set aside' has no spatial reference at all.

b

[SoothingDave]

"Set aside" as in "reserve."

A prudent person "sets aside" a portion of their paycheck, to save for their future needs.