7 essentials you need to save up for before your children turn 7

If you think the first six years were expensive. Think again!

You haven’t survived the worst of it, financial-wise once your baby reaches school age. The expenses won’t be stopping. (Unless you have an Einstein incarnation and you won’t have to pay tuition for the rest of your life!) Here are 7 essentials you need to save up for now before your child blows his seven candles.

1. A new room

Aww… but you’ll miss cuddling with your toddler. Get over it! At five or six, kids need to be independent. Having their own rooms will teach them responsibility and self-reliance, which they will need to survive school on their own. So start saving up so you can renovate, redecorate, refurbish the room next door.

2. Summer classes or workshops

These days, it’s not enough that you’re good in school. Kids have to be skilled in other things. They can enroll in summer sports program, Math enrichment classes, or creative workshops. These classes can be expensive, with you spending for not just the tuition but the clothes and materials. But hey, attending these classes is way better than playing computer games all summer long, right?

3. Birthday celebrations

Although this is not an essential, it might be good to have one every few years. Remember that your child has friends now and it will help him socially to hold a party or even just a simple get together. It does not have to something expensive. Just a party where your child can be with his best buds.

4. Tuition Fee

This, perhaps, will make up the bulk of your expenses, unless of course you have a genius there. Remember that tuition fees increase every year so it is important to not just save money but invest it so you can beat inflation. FWD Set for Life allows you to financially protect your loved ones and, at the same time, invest a small amount of money and make it grow.

5. Junior savings account

As early as 7 years old, children can already understand the concept of money and saving. Teach children to wisely manage their money by giving them their own savings accounts and helping them put money in it regularly. Search for banks that allow a child to have his/her own bank account. Some banks even have special incentives and freebies for junior bank accounts.

6. Health Emergency

Although you won’t need to complete a long list of vaccines, you still need to make sure that you have enough savings to take care of any health emergency. School age children are more prone to sickness because for one thing, they are more explorative and secondly, they interact with more people, who can potentially give them the disease.

7. School essentials

I am not talking about pads and notebooks but more like a desktop computer, a printer, scanner, tablets, mobile phones and whatever else they’ll need for their assignments and projects. Some schools even prescribe tablets in place of notebooks. Go figure!