A reader asks: I want to invest money for my child’s tertiary education and realise that I have only one year to do it. I have R500 to invest monthly. Where can I invest such money for better returns?
Maya replies: As you only have one year you need to be conservative. Fundisa would be a good option because even if you only started investing from September, by the end of the year you would have invested R2 000 and the fund would pay in a bonus of 25% (R500).
By the end of next year you would have saved R9 000 plus received a bonus of R1 100 (the fund pays a maximum bonus of R600 per year) giving you R11 100 for your son’ education. If your son has an idea of where he is planning on studying you can check with Fundisa that it is on the list of approved institutions.
If paying for your son’s education will put you in a difficult financial situation, don’t forget that student loans are available, usually at attractive interest rates. You could agree with your son to pay the interest each month so that when he graduates he only has to repay the original value of the loan.
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