Ideally, you should shift the money to a safer avenue like a bank deposit or a liquid fund at least a year or two before the actual event

It is a great idea to start a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) in an equity mutual fund to create a corpus to achieve long-term financial goals like higher education of children, own retirement, etc. If you are a newcomer to the stock market, you can consider an SIP in one or two top-rated equity-oriented balanced schemes. These schemes invest in a mix of equity (minimum 65 per cent) and debt and they less volatile than pure equity schemes because of this portfolio composition. The debt part of the portfolio offers support in times of volatility in the stock market.

If you are familiar with the workings of the stock market, you can consider investing in one or two diversified equity schemes to create the target corpus.