‘The objective of parenting is to raise kids to not need you eventually!’ – Andre Agassi
I believe that traditions and festivals are what help families build strong relationships between different generations. When customs and traditions are followed, year after year, children (and adults) will always remember these special moments and carry these values forward. This time of the year is all about family and especially for me as a working parent, I get an opportunity to spend more time with my kids.
The festive holidays give me a chance to understand what they think, what they want and feel. They want to explore the entire gamut of options available to them. Gone are the days when I was told to join a specific singing or dancing class as a kid. Now, my kids tell me what they want to do.
Now, there are positives and negatives around this too. The positives being, they no longer need a lot of spoonfeeding. They are determined and follow few things passionately. On the negative side, they are very short of attention, and though they follow certain things with keen interest, they lose those interests pretty quickly.
My son joined a swimming class after pursuing me for 4 months; later on, he changed his mind and wanted to join a cricket class. He is growing up fast, and a switch from a swimming class to a cricket class is manageable, but what about the future? Is it good or bad? Well, I believe whatever career choices my kids would be choosing down the line, it should be left to them. They might fail multiple times, but in the end, they will learn from the failures and grow up to be better human beings.
As parents, what we can do is to offer them guidance and give them some direction. The other important thing that we need to do is support them through their failures and successes. The support needs to be both emotional and financial.
Emotionally, I make sure I sit with my kids and talk to them about how their day was, even if its briefly. Financially, I needed a plan which had the following benefits:
- Must not ask to invest a lot of money every month
- Should help me to grow my money over the years
- Need to assure that even in my absence my kids are financially protected
- Must help my kids choose the career of their choice and money should not be a problem for the same
I started researching online and went through various life insurance providers’ websites. I also researched on various platforms for feedback regarding different financial plans for children. Post that I zeroed in on a child plan from ICICI Prudential Life – ICICI Pru Smart Life and have started investing a small amount every month in the plan. The plan offered me the following benefits:
- Growth of money: For fulfilling all my kids’ dreams; the plan offers me the growth of money.
- The flexibility of choice of funds: Depending on my kids’ career choices and my financial conditions, the plan provides me with the choice to choose between various types of funds like debt, equity or a combination of both.
- Partial withdrawal: In case of any emergency, the plan allows me to withdraw a part of my money.
- Tax benefits: With the premiums I pay, it helps me to enjoy tax benefits. My plan offers tax benefits up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs under section 80C of the Income Tax Act.
- Life cover: When I became a parent I realised, not only is it important to grow my money, it is equally important to secure those investments from uncertainties of life.
ICICI Prudential Life’s- ICICI Pru Smart life has made sure that my kids’ future is secured and protected. The plan will help my kids explore more career choices and fulfil their dreams.
Each year I make sure that with all the memories, the festive season also gives me time to understand the needs of my kids, and helps me work on a plan to fulfil those needs. My advice to you is to utilize this extra time to understand your kids’ future goals and to start planning for the same.
This post is in association with ICIC Prudential Life Insurance
Mansi Zaveri
KSP Team
