Recently, I happened to have attended the wedding of one of my client's daughter. On the day of the reception, when I went to his house to congratulate the family, the bride's father, my client, introduced me as the person who actually took care of the expenses of his daughter's wedding. It was a huge surprise to me until I discovered the reason: This client of mine had been with me for years. And from the very beginning of our relationship, when his daughter was still a school going kid, I had almost forced him to invest in equity-oriented schemes for securing his daughter's financial future. He had done that diligently and as a result he had enough funds to take care of the wedding expenses. After this phase of surprise, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of success and also a sense of satisfaction as a financial advisor.

Every child is special to his/her parents. As a financial advisor for nearly three decades, I have been professing a very serious approach to have a financial plan for every child. And what I advise my clients, I also practice myself – by having a long-term financial plan for my daughter. I remember opening a savings bank account for my daughter in 1990 when she was just a kid. The amount was Rs 2,000. Subsequently, I invested that money in a mutual fund scheme on her behalf.

In our society, there is a custom of gifting money to kids on various occasions like naming ceremony, birthdays, etc. All the money that she received as gifts went into that bank account first, and then from there into that fund. My idea was that over the next 20-25 years, a substantial sum will be accumulated in the scheme and when the time comes for her higher education, we could dip into the same. In case she doesn't need money for her higher education, then we will have some extra amount for her wedding, which should come in another few years after the time when she would need funds for her higher education. As per my expectations, when she got married recently, enough money had accumulated in that scheme.

Every parent should take this approach: All the money that a child gets during her childhood and growing up years should go into a bank account and then into some good scheme that can give superior return over the long run. The next step is to open a mutual fund systematic investment plan (SIP) and put at least Rs 1,000 every month. And this should start soon after the child is born. And the third plan of action is to take a term plan, which should take care of your child's financial needs in case of any unfortunate event. This three-pronged approach should be enough to secure your child's financial future.

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