Planning for your children's Education

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Planning and proper implementation of the plan contributes to the success of any project. Anticipating uncertainties and shortcomings and having a ‘Plan B’ is also part of any project planning.

This is equally applicable to any individual’s life as well. Be it acquiring a house property, buying valuable assets or above all, creating provisions for children's education assume greater importance in all countries, where the primary, secondary and higher education is not sponsored by the State or is not subsidized by any Trust.

In such situations, it is the PRIMARY responsibility of the parents to create a corpus for the children right from their childhood, so that they need not look for funds from other sources. Even though the investments appear small at the beginning, they will grow along with time, if they are not withdrawn for other purposes or emergencies.

Any investment, if combined with insurance will certainly yield desired results at the appropriate time, and this is all possible if both the parents discuss this issue and take a decision. It is better to take advise from a Professional before evaluating the options.

An ideal planning would look something like this:

Product	To be taken at Age	For parents	For children
Health Insurance	Immediately – if not taken already	A minimum of Rs.3 lakhs – Family Floater	From birth
Life Insurance – Pure Term Plan	Not applicable	20 Times the Annual Income as per IT Returns	Not required
Health Insurance Top up	Immediately – if not taken already	Rs.5 lakh top up with 3 lakhs as deductible	Along with family
Unit Linked Life Insurance	Immediately – Select fund as per your risk appetite	Separate policies for separate goals	Immediately – as per educational needs
Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)	Immediately or at earliest possible time	Goal Based – for relatively higher returns	Goal Based – as per future needs
Deferred Annuity (Pension Plan – Unit Linked)	Earliest possible time	To coincide with retirement age	Not required

Contact your Qualified/Certified Financial Planner for further details.