When my first child was born I thought I would do something immediately to assist in the funding of education expenses to protect us from the possibility that we could not afford the eductation expenses all at once as the children got older. When first baby was 6 months old

When the baby turned 2, I put another $1000 into the fund and another $1000 when she turned 4. I also put in another amount of approx. $1300.(Total investment approx4,300) The current value of the value of the investment May 2006 is $17,000 and I have not had a worry with schol fees at any time.School fees at her private high school are about 3000 pa plus $1500 for the uniform.

I now have 4 children and I put exactly the same amount in a new investment for each child in the same managed fund with the same additions eg 2, 4 etc and the total value of the 4 portfolio's is nearly $50,000. Fortunately with my eldest child with only 3 years of highschool to go I will not need to draw on any of the investment for her. It will be available for university should I want or need it for that otherwise it is something that I will be able to give them at a later time for a  once only boost for a house,  wedding or some other good reason.

When my second child was born, that was at the start of 1994. I had the $1,000 ready in February 1994 and sent it to the fund manager immediately. 1994 was just about the worst year on record for investment markets and the $1000 fell to about $840 by the end of 10 months however it has not made a differnce now after 12 years so put the money in and dont get scared out. It is worth remembering that we also had bad years in 2000, 2001 and 2003. My youngest childs investment was made in 1999 and his investment looks very good after 4 good years and three bad years. Managed funds are available anywhere in the world but make sure they are share based funds and a reputable manager.

You do not need to take excessive risks as you have time doing the work for you.  My investment amounts look pathetic now and they were reasonably pathetic then however I had time on my side and it worked out very well.Where I live the most expensive schools are treble the fees of my school however my investment would have still covered 2 years of fees when she was first going to attend high school. If I wanted to go to one of the more expensive schools I could have put in a little more money. $2000 investments rather than $1000 investments would have just about solved the problem.

If you start saving early you do not need to use a lot of money. The later you start the more you need to put aside so get going early. In the joy of having the new born try to get something hapening then. Sometimes people give you money and rather than buy the 58th stuffed toy try and add it to an investment like this. This really is an investment in your childs future.

I know when my children have children if they want to do something like this I will be happy to match their contribution with one of my own if they want me too. If you cannot afford to do something like this and you have a grandparent wanting to help in some way then this is an idea that they may be happy to embrace for the benefit of the child. It doesn't take a lot of money and every little bit helps.