There is no time in your child’s life more bittersweet than the time for them to fly the nest. You’ve raised them for this particular part of life, but that doesn’t make it easier. Any parent feels both joy and sadness that their child is mature enough, ready enough to fly on their own – but again, it’s not easy.
The good news is that there is plenty that you could be doing to get your child’s future secured before they even get close to flying the nest. Pre-planning on your part makes for an easier life on theirs, which is why you have to do as much as possible as early as you can. You think you have years: the days are long but the years? Those are short!
Start With A Will
Almost every adult gets to a certain point when they begin to think about their own future, and that’s when they decide to set up a will. Approaching Bannister Preston to plan out your estate is possibly one of the best things that you could do for your children. When you set up a will, and you plan your estate, you are planning to ensure that your children are secure. You are setting up where you want all of your things to go, to whom you want to benefit from your entire life’s work, and you’re securing their future, too. When you die, your children will be able to pay the bills, the mortgage and college, too.
Save For College
Do you know how many children you want to have? Either way, you need to know how many college funds that you have to start looking into. You have eighteen years to get enough money put by for their education. The best advice you could be given is to plan for Harvard or Oxford – the prominent colleges – and then aim to save enough for those. This way, you’re encouraging your children to shoot for the moon, and they’ll know you had that faith in them from a very young age. If they don’t end up in a college that big, you then have the funds to pay for their education and support them through their time in dorms.
Decide On A Guardian
Your children will need a guardian noted in your will. You can name guardians who can physically look after your children, as well as a guardian who can look after their assets. When you name them in your will, you put them in a position of great trust, knowing your children are going to be looked after when you die.
Open A Savings Account
You may have a college savings account going, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have an account on the side of that for the kids. Put together a bank account that you can use for things like driving lessons, their first-ever car, perhaps enough for a deposit on their first home. Opening a savings account is going to help you to put by the cash that you need for them as they grow, and it’s a great way to ensure that they have a solid start to adulthood.
Talk Openly About Finances
Money is such a taboo subject that this may feel like a terrible idea, but it’s not. Money should never be a topic that’s too hard to talk about with your children, and it’s going to be something that you need to teach them anyway. Children don’t get to learn about money at school unless they specifically take classes in finance. So, you need to be the teacher when it comes to money, and your children are going to thank you later when they know how to balance a budget sheet!
Take Out Life Insurance
If you want to do something wonderful for your children, take out a life insurance policy. You will be able to take out one that’s enough to cover the cost of the house in case of your untimely death, and you can ensure that your utilities and other expenses are covered for a few months, too.
Your children are the future, and you need to do as much as you can when they are young to set their future for them. They need to know that life is as secure as possible and that they can turn to you in times of trouble. The way that you act now is going to change their life – start soon, and you won’t regret it.
