#DoYourHomeWork Today !

Indians are known to be great planners. Be it planning for the next party, your next investment or your child’s education. With the ever growing inflation, education for your kid, is one of the priorities for most parents. Primary school & college education in India, have seen about 300-400 % hikes in the annual fees, in a span of 20 years. In a close knit community like ours, parents feel responsible for the child’s welfare till he or she “settles down”, which puts a huge obligation on them. With youngsters wanting to venture into unconventional careers, parents need to be prepared both mentally & financially.

Most financial institutions are now stressing on the importance of investing right. With the current savings interest rate being 4% & the fixed deposit rate around 8.5%, the savings will hardly meet the requirements to fulfill your child’s dream. The last resort & the most sought after by most parents is the education loan.

Recently, I came across an interesting read. Interesting, because it spoke about the important task for parents of planning for their child's higher education & career goals. This research article , #DoYourHomework by Axis Mutual Fund yielded some interesting results. Some of which are as follows:

• Most children are clear on what they want to do in life unlike in the past when they would obey their parents’ instructions or follow in their footsteps.
• Parents & children may not think alike when it comes to their ambition in the future.

Some more interesting insights are available on the website www.homework.axismf.com . A Homework App has also been created specially in order to make this more convenient.

I got an opportunity to be a part of an interesting event around this recently, where parents & children, showcased their creativity on the canvas, drawing what they want to be when they grow up, while the parents drew what they thought their child wanted to be when he/she grows up. About 50% of the parent-kid duo were aligned on the dream. Right from pursuing liberal arts to becoming a commercial pilot, the choices become as unconventional as becoming a paleontologist or a historian. Hundreds of parents & kids took part in such activities across India in the Crossword stores & Kidzania .

The canvas ready to be painted upon

With so much information out there, it’s really surprising ,how many of us thought of investing in an altogether separate scheme for the child, which only he or she can access at the age of 18. In the form of a mutual fund, on maturity is not accessible to the parent or guardian. The best feature of such a mutual fund is that, the earlier you invest, the more is the advantage.

So, if you’re a parent who is reading this, it’s time to start planning for your child’s future, their dreams & ambitions before it’s too late.