Education is undoubtedly the key to success in every endeavor in today’s
world. Many a parent is pouring their monies into making sure their children
join the elites. But the problem that is arising these days is the cost of
funding their children’s education. The problems get worse when those parents
have not made any provision for such future cost. Below are the ways that
parents must use to stop such situation in their lives.
Determine how much it
will cost
Taking your child’s education as an enterprise will help you to plan
ahead. Children are in continual growth and as a parent you need to meet every
cost that goes with their growth. This means you must plan how much it will
cost you to see your ward through college. You can do this by researching on
the fees those schools charge today. You knowing how much they charge today and
projecting into future will help you determine the cost.
Identify the strategy
that suit you best
After you been able to determined how much it will cost you , the next
things is to look for ways you will adopt to help you achieve that objective. Mostly, in investment like
this, there are two major strategies that you can adopt. These are; you can
make full down payment (lump sum payment) into the set account or use monthly
or daily investing. These strategies are very optional base on your financial
status.
The various means to
apply your strategy
Money market and Certificate of Deposit: this means require that you buy
a certificate/coupon for a period of time. They come with penalties if you want
to withdraw (redeem) it before the stipulated time. The money market has different
redemption dates – from 3months to 6months and a year and more. The certificate
of deposit has a specific period upon purchase.
Savings Account: you can also consider saving in your bank. This is the easiest of all the ways to keep
money for the future. This account allows you to earn interest on your money
but they are usually very small.
Stocks/Shares: Buying
stocks/Shares from any stock market will help you save for your child’s
education. They are long-term in nature and they require more years to realize
its returns in full. But in the interim, you will see the movement of the price
of the stock. There are several stocks to choose from on the stock exchanges.
Mutual funds: the easiest means to invest for your child’s education is
to choose mutual funds. Mutual funds give you great dual benefit, thus, easy
withdrawal and professional management. The mutual funds allow for all the
strategies I stated above. Mostly, they
do not require huge amount of money to start investing in them.
Life Insurance: This investing
product is not of exception to those mentioned. In this type of investment you
put away specific amount of money into it for someday. Though, these monies can
be received when going on pension. Some of them allow you to borrow against
your investment and these borrowed monies can sort out those educational cost.
Should your child be
left out of the equation?
I personally think children are our greatest asset whom we will entrust
our estates to and they need to know enough to apply in their lives. Statistics
shows that children who partake in their educational funding take their studies
serious. You must get your children
involve in their educational funding. This can be done through little savings
they will be making out of their allowances, odd jobs or gifts they receive.
Let them use those monies to buy some of their educational needs.