An awareness on the need for overall planning and setting goals at early stage of life can do wonders. The early stage, ideally, is when you start your career, get married and begin family journey. At this stage you need to assess the available resources, and plan for where you want to take yourself and your next generation – i.e. your children.
Here you do not have to necessarily align to the ‘family planning’ mantra which means ‘small family is happy family’. The objective is simple – estimate your ability to manage the family and decide the size as far as you are able to elevate your next generation to the next level – wiser, smarter, more educated, financially more stable, socially more evolved or all of these. You can have 1, 2 or as many children as far as you are able to groom and support each child to move to the next level.
Planning steps
When you start earning, you analyse your current situation on following lines. If you are married, this planning is best done along with your life partner.
- Do you have parents? Do they have any savings or ongoing earnings to support their daily needs and medical expenses? Are they fully dependent on you?
- Do you have any siblings where you are responsible for them till they complete their education, start earning or get married?
- What is your education? What is your current profession or business? What hardships you are currently facing? What do you think is the desired state in your profession or business where the hardship can be fully eliminated or at least reduced? Can you work hard to reach to that desired state?
- How do you plan to raise your children? How can you ensure that they do not have to face the hardship you are going through or have gone through in the past? What do they need in order to eliminate the hardship? What level of education you should aim?
- To achieve the desired state for your children, what kind of financial plan you should have in place?
- How will you manage the fitness of your family?
- How will you plan to ensure you are financially self sufficient and not dependent on your children when you retire?
Considering all above responsibilities, what size of family you plan to have?
Plan for right education
What kind of educational facilities available in the area you live? What are the schools and colleges? What profession you aspire for your children to take up? What education you need to arrange for them to reach to the aspired profession goal? In addition to the basic school and college education, have you checked for the wide range of government courses which team on the job skills important for getting a job or starting a business? Visit ‘Useful Resources‘ section of this website for details of government schemes.
Maintain good fitness and health
Are your parents suffering from any key illnesses? How you can safeguard yourself from similar illnesses? Do you know what kind of nutrition and exercise plan you need to have to achieve a decent fitness condition? Are you leveraging the exercise facilities around your house? Are you able to spare time for exercising? How do you plan to educate your children towards right health and fitness?
Plan for finances
How much of money you are earning? What are your running expenses considering your own family plus your responsibilities towards parents and siblings if any? What are your larger financial needs like children education, marriage, retirement? How do you plan to save money for those long term goals? Are you investing your savings in right assets which can help fulfil your goals?
Visit ‘Useful Resources‘ section for information and links which will help in above planning. Please feel free to write to us if you have any questions, have a suggestion.
And yes, visit ‘Inspiring Stories‘ section of this website to search stories of families who managed to elevate their next generation. You will certainly find a story relevant to your current situation.
And lastly do share any inspiring story you come across around you including your own!