Friday, 25 October 2013

Saving for Education - Financial Planning

Source: Saving for Education

Introduction to Saving For Education

Before your child even starts school, you would probably have spent a small fortune on many childcare programmes. This may continue into his/her primary and secondary school days, depending on his/her enthusiasm and persistence, as well as your pocket. Of course, when your child enters university, you have to fork out another big fortune on his tuition.

Financial Planning - Why Save For Education?

In Singapore, tuition fees at the three universities are currently about $8,000 to $15,000 per year (except for dentistry and medicine courses that are much more expensive). When it is your child's turn to enter university, this sum could have ballooned, with inflation and rises in fees. And if you send your child overseas, the bill, including school fees, living costs, air fares and other expenses, could easily amount to more than $70,000 a year.
Some parents regularly put aside a sum for their children's education, either into a savings account or an insurance plan. Others expect to rely on their CPF savings which can be withdrawn under the Education Scheme. However, note that CPF funds can only be used for local studies and have to be repaid with interest within 10 years. And there's also a risk if you can't sustain the saving due to unexpected incident like loss job, accident, huge medical bill.
How are you going to support your child? Want to consider insurance, but do you know how? Following article will help you understand an insurance plan for your child in no time.

Financial Planning - What's An Education Saving Plan?

It appears that these days, "insuring" the children's education is very necessary for many parents. An education Saving Plan is essentially an endowment plan better to put money into the Saving account of Bank, where the owner pays premiums for the term of the policy, which may be from only five years, and receives a lump sum at maturity. Some of the policies pay out a sum of money once every few years, for example five years. This payment comes in handy if you require some funds during the term of the policy, eg, if you want to send your child for those extra courses (piano, computer, etc).

Medisave Grant for Newborns to cover the hospitalization and certain outpatient treatment expenses

Source: Medisave Grant For Newborns

Introduction to Medisave Grant

All Singaporean children born on or after 26 August 2012 are eligible for a Medisave grant of $3,000 in their Medisave Account, which will be given in two equal tranches. The first $1,500 will be deposited in your child's CPF Medisave Account about two to three months after registration of birth, and the remaining $1,500 will be deposited a year later if your child continues to be enrolled in MediShield or a Medisave-approved Integrated Shield Plan.

Uses of Medisave Grant

This grant can help parents defray the costs of your child's hospitalization and certain approved outpatient treatment expenses incurred at any participating restructured or private hospitals in Singapore. In another hand, a congenital anomalies (Common examples include a cleft palate, hole in the heart and Down's syndrome.) requiring long-term medical treatment could cause a huge bill. As the Medisave grant for newborns is meant to support basic healthcare expenses and the use of Medisave is subjected to withdrawal limits, using the grant to fund the expensive medical cost will deplete the child's Medisave account quickly.
Source:http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/CPF/my-cpf/have-child/HC3.htm

Affordable Medical Insurance

There are some affordable medical insurances (Premium as low as 200-300 SGD per year deducted from CPF) that can help to cover a portion of the medical expenses ( Up to unlimited amount per lifetime) when the need arises. The use of the child's Medisave grant for Integrated Shield Insurance is subject to each family's own decision. However, we encourage parents to purchase Approved Integrated Shield Insurance for their children if such coverage is suitable for their family's needs and situation.
Parents may wish to check for more information on Healthcare Protection for Your Child.
If you want to receive more information on Healthcare Protection for your child, please fill up the information and a financial advisor will contact you to give you advice.

Click to Contact Financial Advisor that Can Give You Advice on Medical Insurance