The best gift you can give your child

You enjoy it when your tiny tot is dressed up in a doctor’s attire and roams around the house strutting with the toy stethoscope. You gleefully let him give you an injection with his ‘needle and syringe’. He says he’s your doctor and you feel nice being his patient. Don’t you want this to come true in real life in the future? Wouldn’t you want to feel happy in his success? Of course, yes. You would want to see him being successful in whichever field he wants to succeed in. Irrespective of whether he wants to become a doctor, an engineer, an architect or a Vice president of an organization, you’d always want him to excel in his chosen profession. But what does he need apart from hard work to fulfil his dreams?

Your financial support!

He may need your financial support when enrolling himself in a top B-school or if he desires a foreign education or if he wants to get an MBBS or an MD degree. Whatever may be the situation, you’d want him to acquire education of the highest order so that he can fulfil his dreams. Are you equipped to support him financially for his education? There is no way to know, but ignorance will not be bliss here, it will be catastrophic. There will be nothing more disappointing for you and your child than not being able to get the education that he desires and deserves due to lack of funds.

Opting for an education loan at the last minute may only cause a lot of distress.

How do you plan today for his education?

You can invest in various options available in the market. Like FDs and Mutual Funds. However, one is more tempted to liquidate his FD before time. When it comes to mutual funds, it’s entirely market linked, you wouldn’t want your child’s future to be depending on the market.

A safer option is to invest in savings plan available in the market. Such plans provide guaranteed returns and the benefits are upfront. So at the time of maturity, you get a confirmed amount. They also provide loyalty additions in the form of bonus. These plans give you tax benefit and a life-cover too.

How do you start saving from today?

Savings plan provide both monthly and annual premium payment mode. You can start with a premium amount as low as Rs 19,000 p.a. or Rs 2000 p.m. However, you should understand how much sum assured you will need in future and plan accordingly. You may think these are small savings but these small savings start compounding every year and you can build a good corpus for your child’s education.

Provide your child with a financial support that he will need to meet his educational goals.