Here are some of the most important investment tips and tricks you can adapt to help you save better and smarter for your child’s education.
Thinking about the rising cost of education can be quite intimidating. With the rising cost of private education in the country as well as abroad, a critical goal for all parents is to save for their children’s education. While planning to invest in their future, here are some simple investment tips you can adapt to help you save and invest better.
1. Take into account the rising cost of education
One of the most important investment tips when it comes to saving up for your children’s education is to take into account the rising cost of education in the country. Starting from the cost of attending school to higher education, all are rising very rapidly and you need to take this into account when planning how much you will save and invest for your child’s future.
As per the research done by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) average private expenditure for general education has increased by 175% to over Rs. 6,788 per student. In Delhi itself, the cost of general education has increased threefold since 2009. In fact, even government schools are not immune to hikes in prices. A few years ago Kendriya Vidyalaya increased fees three-fold from Rs. 4,500 to Rs 12,000. When we talk about higher education the figures are even scarier, with the average cost of an MBA estimated to be around Rs 50-60 lakhs by 2025 and an average engineering degree estimated around Rs 25-30 lakhs. Hence, you need to take into account this rising cost when estimated the real value of what you are saving today.
2. Invest in a child education plan
If you are looking for a systematic way to invest into your child’s education, a child education plan might be one of your best options. A child education plan is a combination investment plan that enables you to financially secure your child’s future as well as finance their education. Such plans protect your children in case of your accidental demise and ensure that their future is well-protected, while also building up a corpus which can be used to finance turning points in their lives. Most education plans provide a policy premium waiver to a child, giving them a lump sum amount after the death of the parent. The company continues to invest money on behalf of the policyholder after the death of the parent, ensuring that no matter what, your child’s dreams and future is bright and secured.
For instance, the Future Generali Assured Education Plan enables you to save systematically for your child’s education until they are 17 for their higher education. This is a guaranteed income plan which enables you to receive guaranteed payouts when your child reaches different education milestones. In fact, the plan offers you complete peace of mind even in the unfortunate case of your untimely demise by securing their educational future by making investments on your behalf.
3. Evaluate and cut down on unnecessary expenses
Saving smartly is one of the key ways you can achieve your finanical goals. While drawing out an investment plan for your child’s education, ensure that you track all your monthly expenses and cut out any unnecessary expenses you may be incurring. You can do so by tracking all expenses for a few months and seeing which expenses you can do without. This will help you save smarter and quicker.
4. Start saving as soon as possible
Another obvious but very important tip is to start saving up for your child’s education as soon as possible. A key advantage of starting to save up early is that you will easily have 10-12 years to save up for higher education, which tends to be very costly. Starting early will not only give you peace of mind but also give you a wider variety of investment instruments to choose from as you will have a lesser yearly burden of investment. You can opt to invest in a range of medium risk to higher risk investment instruments as you have a longer time horizon, which might help you save up at a faster rate.
5. Keep checking to ensure you are on track to saving up
Finally, another very important tip is to remember to come back and review and analyze your investment plan to ensure that you are on track to saving up for your children’s education. One of the biggest mistakes that you could make is not monitoring the investments you are making and how these are measuring up to the rising costs of education. It is very critical to review your plan on a regular basis to take into account changing market conditions, risk profiles and priorities.