5 things to do when you are expecting a child

Gear up for the most exciting time of your life with five important steps to take together.

So you’re about to become a parent. Congratulations! Life is about to change for you in so many different ways, you’ll often wonder how you ever got by without your precious baby in your life.

But the idea of becoming a parent and being responsible for a tiny, defenceless human being is also a sobering one. Till this moment, you and your partner have had to look only after each other. You could afford to be as extravagant or as thrifty as you wished, you could go entire weekends lazing about at home eating takeout dinners, you could impulsively decide to go out with friends on a road trip…but now your life is about to change dramatically.

Don’t be daunted, be prepared. Life as parents is full of challenges, but you can pass with flying colours if you follow a few tried and tested life lessons from other successful parents. Follow these:

1. Improve your health. Your child will learn all his behaviours by your example. If you are unhealthy and prone to junk food and lack of exercise, your child will follow suit. Expectant mothers must be very careful about their diet and daily exercise to ensure a healthy delivery. Even after the baby is born, continue the same diet plan so that the parents and the baby can benefit from eating leafy vegetables, seasonal fruits, sprouts, etc. Also include regular walks and an hour of yoga every day to get fitter.
   
2. Start saving diligently. Now that you have a new life to plan for, it is important to be responsible with your finances. Instead of impulse shopping and maxing out your credit cards, you must set aside money every month as savings. Over time, you can convert this savings into a bank Fixed Deposit (FD) to grow the corpus further. You can also open a PPF account to ensure that you save regularly and earn interest on your money. This money will help you buy a house, pay for your child’s education or even get you a stable retirement.
   
3. Make the right investments. Instead of relying on your monthly income to see you through the future, it is prudent to invest your money to create wealth. Savings alone will not be sufficient – you need to invest in equity shares or debt instruments to maximise your money. Get a mutual fund manager to oversee your portfolio and invest in the right instruments to create a large corpus.
   
4. Buy a medical insurance plan. A family floater health insurance plan will take care of you and your growing family’s medical expenses, should the need arise. Invest in a good family floater mediclaim policy that also offers maternity insurance – this latter element will come in handy to pay high hospital costs at the time of delivery. A sound medical insurance plan should cover the entire family – you, your spouse, your parents and your children.
   
5. Open a savings account for your child. As a parent, your child’s future education is your number one priority and you must start planning for it now. Education becomes increasingly expensive every year, and your child might someday dream of getting a degree from a foreign university. Ideally, you should get a child plan that will help pay for his higher education. Concurrently, set aside savings for your child every month to pay for incidentals in the future. Even better, teach your child to save a part of his pocket money every month, and take him to the bank to deposit his savings in his own account. This will inculcate the habit of saving money early on in life.