The best heritage any parent can give their children is a good education.

A good education equips them with skills and prepares them to face the challenges of life. However, to ensure you children get the best education comes at a very high price and many sacrifices.

That is why financial experts advise one to start saving for their children’s educate early to make it a reality.

The experts argue that because many people start investing for your child’s education in old age, they end up using their personal savings or retirement benefits to fill the gap.

This affects the financial health of the family. It does not matter whether one is a low or a high-income earner, one all needs to start as early as possible.

With the cost of education going up often, the burden of providing for children’s education becomes even more challenging, especially as they grow older. "Therefore, putting aside funds to for this purpose as early as the child is born can help you build a substantial amount of savings before the child begins school,” experts say.

Remember, a good savings scheme is flexible and has a clear plan and goal. So, as conditions change over the years, tailor they kid’s education savings scheme to cater for new needs.

This, however, may require you increasing the monthly deposits into the fund or investing in more savings programmes. Review the investment and savings plans periodically, especially on an annual basis to ensure they are relevant to the current education needs of the children.

Some of the savings options

David Mitali, the operations officer at Rwanda Stock Exchange, advises parents to buy shares in the children’s names and continue reinvesting the returns in more stock or Treasury bonds, and other investment schemes that guarantee good earnings. 

"Investing in stocks or bonds does not require a lot of energy or effort. One only needs to monitor the performance of the shares and wait for dividends at the end of each, which they can reinvest in more stocks,” he says. However, one must choose firms that have good outlook, or choose high-yield bonds to benefit more. Get advice from financial planners to help you draft the future savings plans, like investing in long tenure bonds. The children should also get involved in the scheme so they learn important lessons about money, including savings and investment culture, Mitali says.

Children’s savings account

Opening up a savings bank account for the child’s is another avenue through a parent can save for their child’s education, Mitali adds.

There are many options provided by local banks. Bank of Kigali, for instance, has junior account that parents can use to save for the children’s education, according to the bank’s website.

This also helps children to learn the habit of saving. Equity Bank has super junior account that provides you with a medium for investing in your children’s future.

Generally, there are many options through one can invest for their children education. However, caution must be taken when choosing the kind of investment one should use as some of the schemes may not provide you good returns and hence affect your annually savings targets goals.