When speaking of the four great ways to invest in your children's future, one must start at home.
Childhood Training
Proper upbringing is an investment that will continue paying dividends into a child's future. Some basic examples may include:
* Doing household chores in turn for a small allowance
* Encouraging part time jobs to save for college or their first car
* Setting up their first savings account
* Giving to a favorite charity or at church
Educational and Health Plan Coverage
With today's unstable and volatile economic environment it would be wise to begin setting up a fund for the children's education. Be it for a four-year degree program or a voluntary certification course, having at least some funds in place will help make their road a little less strenuous when having to come up with tuition and other education expenses.
No one knows if any national health insurance will be in place when the time is needed. Therefore, preparing for a viable health plan for one's children is another way to not only attendate health expenses in the future but to be in a better position to confront them when they do occur. This can be done through company health plans or self-pay plans such as HMOs but health coverage is a must in any event.
Information Research
Today, through the Internet, parents can easily obtain the investment knowledge needed to make the best investments. By carefully researching each investment vehicle available and not moving too quickly, parents can fully formulate, within reason, what path to best take for their child's financial future.
Carefully researching the vast deposits of knowledge available on the Internet's "information highway" is a vitally important part of financial planning - and a prerequisite.
Setting Up A Financial Strategy
How can one know the best path to take if one does not know the destination? Having specific goals and the strategic planning to achieve them are essential especially during times of economic uncertainty. As they grow older, teach the basic differences of having short-term, medium term and long-range goals. Also, show them some common investment vehicles for each category. Some examples of different investment classes may include:
- Short-Term: US Treasury Bills or Notes
- Medium-Term: CDs or US Savings Bonds
- Long-Term: real estate and commodities such as gold
Childhood training, preplanned education / health plans, information research and financial planning are truly the greatest ways to invest in your child's future. Needless to say, it would be wise for parents to begin investing for their children as early as possible.
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