How to plan for your children's education

Every parent desire the best education for their kids. As such, it is important to start early to plan towards achieving it. The earlier you start to plan and save, the more watertight and achievable the plan is likely to be. Here are some tips to consider when planning for your child’s education.

• Set your Educational goals: It is important to forecast the educational level (including the cost) you are willing to sponsor your child to: a master’s degree or PhD? It is also important to note that you should not feel pressured into embarking on educational expenses that you cannot afford. Society and peer pressure can sometimes push us to make bizarre financial choices. What kind of education do you want for your kids? what type of schools do you want them to go to? Is it your intention for your children to be educated abroad? The currency exchange rate is crucial for that, you will need to seek professional advice. Do you also include summer schools?  Or do you want them to have private home lessons like music, computer training and the likes? It is very important to factor in inflation in your plans. A 10% increase is a fair projection, it is better to over save than to under save. Put these factors when making your plans.
• Get ready to be fully Involved in their education: You need to actively monitor the education of your child, just paying for their tuition is not enough. You need to be ready to monitor the activities and the results associated with your child’s education, whist bonding with them.
• Consider the environment: When planning for your child’s education, you also need to consider the environment and people around you. You want your children to be surrounded by supportive people who love and care for them, and the best way to start them on that path is to involve great people in raising them. That way, they’ll always have someone to turn to when they need help, even if that person isn’t you.
• Have a backup plan: We all want to be there for our children when they need us and provide everything they need. However, sometimes things don’t happen the way we plan them. Unfortunate situations happen, and you may not always be there to take care of your children’s education as planned. For such situations, you need a back-up plan. Edu Plan Policy is a product that allows the policyholder to save towards financing the education of their children/wards. It also provides financial protection for a ward’s education in the event of demise or permanent disability of the policyholder within the policy duration.  You save towards financing your child's education and enjoy living benefits, including value for your dependents if anything happens to you. It also comes with a Life Insurance policy which offers free annual health checks, tax rebates and loyalty bonuses payable every 5 years in cash, as well as several other benefits upon demise. See below for the complete list of benefits:

 The Edu Plan Policy is available for purchase seamlessly on AXA Mansard’s website. www.axamansard.com. You can also reach out to any of our financial advisors or call 0700 AXA MANSARD to get started.