How to save money for children's future in India: One of the major financial goals for any individual is building wealth for his or her child's future. However important this might be, people tend to make mistakes and end up not getting the desired results out of the investments they made for children's education or marriage. Here's how to get it right:

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1) Take inflation into account

The corpus for wedding or education needed today is unlikely to remain same after 10 or 20 years. Remember, inflation eats into your salary every passing day of the week. Hence, keep inflation factor in mind while calculating funds you would like to accumulate for child’s higher education or wedding. 

2) Go for equities

Since child's future is a long-term goal, invest in equities for better returns. Equities might be risky in the short-term, but almost always outperform all the other asset classes in the long-term. Yes, this includes gold and property. 

3) The right mix

Easiest way to go about is to opt for mutual fund schemes.  Also, there has to be a right mix of the financial products you choose. Invest larger portion in largecap mutual funds with a little exposure to mid-cap funds. "A more passive way is to choose Exchange Traded Funds and index funds, or a mix of both. Simultaneously, open a Public Provident Fund account in your child’s name," said Peshotan Dastoor, national sales director, Franklin Temple Investments.

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4) Invest systematically

Go in for Systematic Investment Plans (SIP) instead of lumpsum. Investing a certain fixed amount of money at regular intervals is easier than investing a large amount. "The essence of SIPs is that when markets fall, investors automatically acquire more units. Likewise, they acquire fewer units when the market rises. Therefore, the average cost per unit drops down over a period of time," Dastoor explained.

5) The re-balancing

One must keep reviewing and re-balancing one's portfolio in regular intervals. An easy way is to divide the fund balance into 36 instalments and then execute the Systematic Transfer Plan. "For instance, from a balance of Rs 10 lakh in an equity MF portfolio earmarked for a child’s needs, approximately Rs 27,000 will get transferred each month into debt or liquid fund over three years," explained Dastoor.