Are you future ready for your children?

Gone are the days when parents decided for their kids and their career.. With so much exposure available today.. kids are well aware of the innumerable career options they can choose from... As a kid all I knew was doctor, engineer or a teacher...

There is a wide range of ambitions available and kids are smart enough to choose what they want to become when they grow up..

To be honest I wasn't sure even until my graduation .. Today, we get an instant answer even from a toddler as we ask what they want to become when they grow up.

With times and varied options, another thing that has immensely changed is the cost of living and education. Years back we hardly had as many choices as we have today and in a way it was easy to choose from fewer options or just go by what parents chose for us. Dreaming big wasn't a choice for everyone as it involved big money.

Whereas, the scenario is different today.. Schools don't restrict themselves only to studies but provide an overall exposure to kids from different activities & hobbies apart from sports. Even parents leave no stone unturned when it comes to providing the best to their kids and fulfill their desires..

With so much focus on kids today... It becomes a necessity for every parent to do the homework in advance and plan the future well in time to be able to fulfill their children's aspirations.

My priority has always been my child and will always be...  Today I am investing in his childhood by being emotionally available to him and hoping to raise an independent and responsible adult as he grows up but is that enough for his future ?

Today I am preparing him to dream big and giving him wings to fly ... However, the bigger question is "Am I prepared to help him achieve his dream" or Am I gonna disappoint my child with my lack of preparation ??

Well, this was the question Axis Mutual Fund kept in front of all the parents .. during an exercise they conducted as a part of their brilliant campaign to generate awareness among parents on the need to plan for their children's future.

They initiated a research experiment to understand parents perspective of their child's future and how they plan to fulfill their aspirations. 

The experiment #DoYourHomework that was set out to check if the parents are on the same page with kids about their future aspirations brought about some interesting findings about today's generation..

I was glad to be invited for the campaign #DoYourHomework along with other parents and bloggers..

As I entered along with my 6yrs old... We were thrilled to see the arrangements that were made to surprise the parent child duo with some fun activity along the way..

 

As the event started, parents and children were made to stand opposite each other and handedover a big kit of colours ranging from sketch pens, water colours to crayons and the canvas was ready for us to sketch ...

 Children were asked to draw a picture of what would they like to become when they grow up.. While parents were asked to paint what they would like their children to  become in future.

Thats how we got started...

Well I thought, I knew my child inside out and what he desires to be as an adult.. but to my surprise it turned out to be a complete contrast. The experiment left me startled to see he has a different choice from what I thought about his future goal.

The results are here for you all to see for yourself....

I wanted him to become a cricketer where as he was so focused and drew an army soldier with the tank fighting for his country.

Well, it did come as a big surprise but made me proud too .. and I instantly decided it's not just a fun activity but an eye opener for me as well for many other parents who need to think beyond the conventional goals and be prepared for it.

Check out this  #DoYourHomeWork experiment that brought about intersting stories and ideas for parents to rethink about their children's goals.

With the kind of lifestyle... It's not easy to have enough savings for funding the professional courses. With the rising prices apart from the daily expenses... One tends to spend the savings too...

With so many plans and schemes available in the market, it's more than a confusion for the parents to choose the right plan and invest correctly.

In order to solve this dilemma of parents Axis Mutual Funds did a complete study involving 1000 parents from 10 different cities with kids in the age group of 4 to 12 years to understand how parents plan to be future ready to fulfill their child s dreams..

Here are the key findings -

# 83% felt education related expenses are the biggest apprehensions amongst parents.

# 75% parents mentioned they will support child's dream of career choice but would prefer them to pursue conventional career choices.

# 38% parents plan to sent their children abroad for higher education.

# More than 3/4th parents did not have an exact view of what would it cost few years down the line, looking at the significant rise in education cost every year.

# More than 50% parents agree that investment for child's education should start before primary schooling.

Looking at the facts above , it's very clear that savings alone are not enough to fulfill the career goals of children today and there is a need for parents to be calculatedly aggressive when it comes to Investment for the child's future.

Hence, An Investor education initiative from Axis Mutual Fund that inspires parents to start early in order to ensure the investment has good returns by the time child reaches the age of 18 and is ready to take up his/ her goal.

Here are the key elements of the Campaign-

1. The campaign has created  #DoYourHomework platform for parents reference to help them with the what, the how and the why along with an online test for every parent and child.

2. Chasing dreams - short story books for your children to know of different professions in order to relate their interests and find their future in them.

3. Colouring books " Spill the magic of colours in your world " for children to colour their dreams while they explore different career choices.

4. To add to the fun ,you get to #DoYourHomework at crossword bookstores across 7 cities and Kidzania, Mumbai as an initiative started during children's day till the end of this month.While kids get to explore their career options, parents get to do the planning and calculations for their dream goals.

It was a great event with lots of fun and insight straight from the panelists from Axis Mutual Fund who took us through a great presentation focusing on why parents need to plan for their kids future and convincingly answered all our queries related to An Investor Education Initiative 

Mr. Chandresh Kumar Nigam, MD & CEO Axis Mutual Fund said " it's a huge responsibility to create awareness about the fact that people need to 'Invest' and not just 'save' to address children's various goals".

 Follow in the steps to Do Your Homework -

1. visit www.homework.axismf.com or download the "Homework" mobile application to find out the future cost of education.

2. Plan systematically to make the most of your earnings and investments to ensure the first step towards helping your children fulfill their aspirations.

and be prepared both emotionally and financially to support your children's decisions.