Financial planning for child’s future: Here’s all you need to know

Securing a child’s present and future is the foremost priority for every parent. Investing early can help in growing and building sufficient corpus for children’s education. Also, investing for a differently-abled child requires a different kind of strategy.

The Money9 Helpline hosted SEBI Registered Investment Advisor, Jitendra Solanki to resolve queries related to building a corpus for child’s education and future from the callers.

Edited excerpts

Sharmishtha Ghosal, Kolkata: I want to make my child’s future secure. I have invested in a LIC endowment policy that will provide a return of Rs 50-52 lakhs by the time he turns 18. I am also investing Rs 4000 via SIP on mutual funds. Is this investment planning enough to enable to achieve this goal?

Solanki: You need to first do an analysis of your investment plan and map that with your goals. You have to first decide how much corpus you will need for your child’s education when he attains the age of 18. If your investment is meeting the requirement then it is fine, but if not then you will have to decide upon additional investments to meet the goal.

Pr G: How is SBI smart scholar ULIP? I don’t have a term plan. I already purchased SBI smart scholar ULIP and I am paying for the last 6 years. My child’s age is 7 now. I am investing in mutual funds too. My premium of SBI smart scholar is 50,000 yearly.

Solanki: When you invest in the same type of 3-4 mutual funds then you need to consider the factors like which one is more liquid, where you can build a better portfolio, where there will be lesser cost etc. This analysis will help you decide if you should invest in mutual funds or ULIPS. I personally believe that one can get good returns in mutual funds as various schemes are available. It also helps in diversifying portfolios. A term plan is also important, so first take a term plan and then invest in mutual funds.