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Parent Circle is published by Nalina Ramalakshmi, Director, Shri Harini Media Pvt. Ltd. All editorial material including editorial comments, opinions and statement of facts appearing in this publication, represent the views of its respective authors and does not necessarily carry the endorsement of the publishers. Information carried in Parent Circle is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed. The publication of any advertisements or listings is not to be construed as an endorsement of the product or service offered.

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According to billionaire investor Warren Buffett, the perfect amount to leave children is “enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much

that they could do nothing.” Of course, the billion-dollar question is, “What is this perfect amount?”

Yes, we as parents all want to ensure the financial security of our children in the future. Most parents are prepared to sacrifice and do what it takes towards this end. Today, investing in education means investing in their future and families spend a substantial amount of money on their child’s education- be it for a top rated preschool or for an overseas education.

Traditionally, we Indians have invested in gold and silver, saved for our children’s weddings, provided them a house or some land and built an inheritance, however small, ensuring that our children had a financially secure start. Now times have changed and though we continue to plan for these investments, we also have other priorities such as taking vacations, investing in hobbies and even planning for our own retirements. Hence we need to take financial planning seriously. With a plethora of investment options available today, we need to make some well-informed financial decisions. Our cover story “Planning Financially for your Children”, will help you sort through some of the options available in planning your financial investments.

February 14th is Valentine’s Day, a day associated with love and romance. Our Valentines special features: “Pamper Yourself”, talks about the importance of loving and taking care of yourself first and “Romancing the Spouse”, discusses the importance of strengthening spousal relationships in building strong families. As we talk romance, how do we deal with teen romances? Our article “Teen Crushes”, explores this important topic.

We are continuously innovating our website. Check out our online videos relating to some of the articles we feature in our magazine. Please visit us at our website www.parentcircle.in and give us your feedback. You can now subscribe to our magazine online.

A Valentine’s Day thought: Love your children; love them unconditionally. Nalina Ramalakshmi

Parent Circle / February 20122

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CIRCLE OF LIFE Volunteer for a Positive Exchange

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What I Love Most

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Planning Financially for your Children

Parent Circle / February 20124ALL RESOURCES LISTED IN THE WEBSITE CURRENTLY PERTAIN ONLY TO CHENNAI

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Letters to the Editor

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Please send in your letter with the subject line “Letters to the Editor”, before February 15, 2012, to editorial@parentcircle.in or send them to PARENT CIRCLE, 3rd Floor Shri Renga Vihar, 8/14 First Cross St, Karpagam Gardens, Adyar, Chennai 600020, India.

I am 80 years old and have 9 grand children between the age group of 5 and 18. The article “Salutations to the Sun, Surya Namaskar” published in Dec 2011 issue is informative and very useful for the young as well as the old. This practice will stimulate the brains and the bodies of all – irrespective of age. I hope more such useful articles appear in the future issues. V SUBRAMANIAN, Chennai

The article ‘Swing Away your Teen’s Blues’ in the January 2012 issue was quite informative and interesting. Perhaps a couple more of real life experiences would have further enriched the article. The article Mom's Morning Rush was very interesting. Applying the lean manufacturing concept at home is quite an innovative idea. The 5S is applicable in every room in a house and more so in the kitchen. Children learn from their mother and the way she keeps the things in the kitchen!

As for the cover story on home schooling - what happens to the child after the 10th or 12th standard? Does he/she goes to college or pursue distance education? What about the job market for such people? The article could have highlighted these points. V JAGANNATHAN, Chennai

My little daughter – five and half years old - brought home a copy from her school (PSBB) and my eyes fell on the article “Autism: Rewiring our Perspective”, written by Ms Rekha Supriya (December issue). This is an excellent article, very sensible and meaningful. This article would help not only parents of autistic children, but also many teachers who may encounter such children in their class rooms in regular schools. I know of many teachers who are lost when they come across such children. We are displaying this article in our school notice board. Apart from the content which is very good, I also like the layout and design. ATHMA RAJ, Chennai

Parent Circle / February 201212

close to `22.25 lakh in 18 years at 10% inflation. Will a young couple have the wherewithal to save for this?

Indian parents are deeply stressed over the rise in gold prices. With a sovereign of gold costing around `23,000, gifting one’s daughter 100 sovereigns of gold for her marriage is more of a pipe dream for many parents. Also consider that some of the ‘best’ caterers are charging upwards of `125 per plate for marriage functions. Is it the end of 3 day marriage celebrations with a gathering of 1000 people (for the middle class, at least)?

THE MODERN CHALLENGES The modern challenges facing today’s parents start even earlier. Just the LKG admissions cost anywhere from `25,000 to `50,000 in an ‘average’ school in a Class B city. Metro schools cost more and so do ‘premium’ schools.

Added to the above ‘basic’ needs, there are the other needs related to social and peer pressure facing children that parents feel they need to satisfy.

It could be a laptop requirement from the school for students of Class 5 and above. Or it could be that foreign vacation that the parent cannot afford, which is routinely indulged in by his son’s classmates.

It could be that your daughter wants an Apple iPhone4s, because all the ‘cool’ girls in her Class XI carry smart phones. While they update their Facebook page every minute, she has to wait to get home to her PC to update her Facebook page.

FINANCIAL PLANNING Financial Planning for our children has two parts. The easier to solve is the financial part, the more intense and difficult one is the behavioural part. The financial part of the financial planning is as follows: 4 To set goals on what is to be done in the future. 4 Assign values / estimates at today’s cost. 4 Forecast (there will be large margins of error here) the expected cost in the future.

T here is an old saying in Tamil which challenges one to “Build a House and Marry off

a Child” – a financial implication that starts when the parents are in their 40s. Today, the challenge starts as early as when the child is in preschool; when the parents are still in their twenties or early thirties. Never in India’s history has ‘quality’ education been so expensive and daunting.

THE TRADITIONAL CHALLENGES The traditional avenues that any parent is concerned about, while planning for expenses relating to children, are for their higher education (college and PG programs) and their marriage. With inflation hovering in double digits, the expected cost of higher studies for their children, leads to a mental paralysis for any parent. A quick calculation in a spreadsheet shows, that based on today’s cost of `4 lakh for an engineering education, one requires

The Need for Financial Planning

BY KARTHIKEYAN JAWAHAR

coverstory

www.parentcircle.in 13

4 Start saving/ investing to reach the targets 4 Fine tune on a yearly basis (more or less, or as often as the situation demands).

Just some knowledge of basic mathematics and use of a spreadsheet should be able to take anyone comfortably through this process. The data related to returns forecasting and inflation related data can be taken from Google and mutual fund sites. (Go to www.parentcircle.in/articles-a-information/itemlist/category/34-articles.html for a detailed article on how to do calculations using the spreadsheet. This will help in your budgeting and reviewing exercises.)

BEHAVIOURAL ASPECTS OF FINANCE Though the above process is (relatively) easy, each of the steps has behavioural aspects that could make or break the planning and execution. The key is to set ‘realistic’ targets /goals, with the least amount of stress. The problem is that there is no absolute standard here – everything is relative. Things such as ratios (spend 10% of your income for children, 30% on your housing loan, 10% on food, etc) also do not work, as they are all dependent on the income levels and commitments that one faces (do you live with your parents/in-laws, do you work away from your home town [travel costs], what are your existing loans, what are your hobbies, etc).

The realistic goals again depend on one’s aspirations, society (peer group) and self-image. Today, one faces questions such as - Is it ok to spend `20,000 for a birthday party? Is the school that charges `1 lakh per year in the 1st standard the right school for my child? Do I need to spend `3 lakhs for my daughter’s ‘Arangetram’ (first stage

appearance in singing or dancing)? Should my child study abroad? The answer to all the above questions is “It Depends!” It depends on the family’s situation now and what we need to sacrifice now, and later.

STATIC INERTIA The last thing that anybody would want to do on any given day is to fill a boring application form for an investment or insurance. Even if we cross the problems of setting goals, to actually implement them is something that faces a lot of static inertia, even if it is for our children.

STICKING TO A PLAN Have you had emergencies where you had to pull out an investment? Everyone has. The difference is that the severity of the emergency will vary. The emergencies may be - My father is in the ICU; my son’s school fees needs to be paid; its Christmas/ New Year shopping season; I absolutely need to have this new car/bike/mobile phone/laptop/TV/home theatre; my mother-in-law is visiting.

The other two major reasons why many do not stick to plans are: 4 Slick financial products sales people who make you change a plan because it has completed its 3 or 5 years minimum term, and he now advises you to buy a plan in the new company that he is in. This way, you lose and he wins. 4 Market fluctuations – When we plant a tree, do we pull it out every month to check if the roots have grown? And if the growth of the tree (above the ground that is!) is slow, do we give it more fertilizers and

protection or just pull it out and plant a new one?

Then why do we need to check if the child’s fund (which is planned for a 15 year term) has grown or not every month? If the market is down, do we need to invest more or do we close a fund and get out with a loss?

THE WAY AHEAD The challenges for financial planning today are very different from the ones faced by our parents. Parents need to invest time and effort in thinking ideas through; financial planning also needs a basic knowledge of economics trends and financial products in the market. It will not do to let things be and face things as they come.

The best part though, is that every parent can do a proper financial plan for their children and come out successfully. The first step in this process is to realize and accept that there is a need to systematically plan and execute.

Only we are responsible for our children’s financial future.8

Parent Circle / February 201222

Devina Hemdev, married for 12 years and a mother of two, ensures she gets ‘bonding time’ with her husband despite their heavy work schedules. “We go on holidays and dine out regularly just to nurture our couple equation. We do whatever it takes to stay on track,” she says. Staying constantly connected with the spouse is very important according to her, as people change with age.

“The children of emotionally bonded parents are usually happy and well-adjusted. The post-children era for parents will be smooth if they have nurtured their couple relationship. Good parenting is not about putting our children or our marriage first. It is about nurturing both everyday. Our children will grow up and leave before you know it. What will they leave behind: an empty nest or a couple of lovebirds?

The choice is yours,” says Saras Bhaskar who is a family counsellor.

BALANCING ROLES Couples are slowly waking up to the fact today that their own relationships have to be nurtured as much as nurturing their children. Saras Bhaskar, says that ninety per cent of the couples she counsels put children ahead of their marriage. Husbands get caught up in their careers, providing material comforts for the family. Wives meanwhile assume the role of homemakers and mothers to the exclusion of everything else. They end up living under the same roof as strangers.

BY KAVITHA SHANMUGAM

It is not just teenagers who date. Homemaker Preeti Thomas, a hands-on mother of three boys

and her busy real estate entrepreneur husband often go on dates together. Married for twenty years, Preeti often reschedules gym workouts and Thomas his meetings, to grab a quick coffee together, to go for a walk on the beach or to catch the morning show at the local cinema.

“This is our time together, when we escape our roles as parents, as a boss or daughter or son and see the world as a couple,” says Preeti. Both are extremely conscious about bonding with one another, despite pressing work.

Says Preeti, “If we do not communicate with each other now, we are bound to end up as strangers at 50. The best part of our lives will be over. We won’t have good memories to share.”

Like her, 37-year-old entrepreneur Devina with her family

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