Axis Mutual Fund, one of the leading asset management companies, has launched a unique initiative – #DoYourHomework, to create awareness amongst the parent fraternity about planning for one of the most important goals in their lives - children’s education & their future.
Children today are more aware about different careers, which at times go beyond the conventional choices. Children also have a strong point of view on what they want to do in life, unlike in the past when they were more likely to follow their parent’s footsteps, says Mr. Chandresh Kumar Nigam, MD & CEO, Axis Asset Management Company Ltd..
Children’s education and education-related expenses are considered the biggest apprehensions amongst parents, in fact even surpassing other aspects such as their own retirement planning, EMI towards loans, etc. Parents acknowledge that education related expenses are going to increase significantly, however they do not have an exact view on how much it is going to cost.
It is here that #DoYourHomework initiative, a rallying cry is a larger call-to-action for parents. ‘We believe that today parents have to not just do their homework in terms of finding out what their children want to do in future and provide the support, but also find out the overall expenses and plan towards the same, Mr. Nigam said adding: ‘It is imperative for parents to bridge the gap between their children’s career aspirations and financial requirement to help achieve their children’s desired career goals.’
With this in mind, we set about creating an investor education campaign to create awareness amongst parents on the need to plan for their children’s future.
Mining the Insight
We met parents and their children to explore this space. We wanted to understand parents’ perspectives about their children’s future and how they plan to fulfil their children’s aspirations. Children were also interviewed to understand their views on dreams and aspirations.
The qualitative research was followed by a large-scale research to validate our hypothesis. This study was conducted with the help of Nielsen across 10 cities covering 1000 parents who have children between the age group of 4 & 12 years.
The studies threw interesting insights.
- Children are aware about different career options today which go beyond the conventional choices and they have a strong point of view on what they want to do in life, unlike in the past when they were likely to follow their parents’ footsteps.
- Children’s education and education related expenses are the biggest apprehensions amongst parents. So while 83% parents voiced this view, their apprehension about ‘retirement planning’ and ‘EMI towards loans’ was relatively low at 39% & 22% respectively.
- Parents clearly acknowledge that children today want to follow their passion & areas of interest and their role is to support their children’s choice.
- More than 3/4th parents are of the view that education costs are going to rise significantly over the next few years. And not surprisingly, most of them do not have an exact view of how much it would cost.
- It was also observed that many parents are not fully prepared to handle the high fees. And in case of foreign education, it becomes all the more difficult since one has to take into account living expenses in addition to tuition fees.
The Big Idea Through the studies, we reached a common ground:
Today children have innumerable career options. While the choice is theirs, parents need to support their children –be emotionally & financially prepared to fulfil their children’s aspirations. We articulated this thought through a rallying cry –
Do Your Homework The Campaign Elements An interesting experiment was initiated with a group of parents and their children. Children were asked to draw a picture of what they would like to become in future while parents were asked to paint what they would like their children to become in future. They were told not to interact with each other during the course of the activity.
A lot of interesting stories emerged from the experiment. At the end of the experiment, parents and children were asked to reveal their ideas. And to everyone’s surprise the pictures were contrasting. Children expressed their eagerness to pursue conventional as well as unconventional careers and their parents saw their children pursuing professions different than what their children articulated. The entire activity was captured on video which was released on YouTube with the message – Children today have innumerable career options. Whatever they choose to become, you (parents) need to be prepared. The video has been watched more than 350,000 times on YouTube and more than 200,000 times on Facebook & Twitter.
- The #DoYourHomework Platform
The platform homework.axismf.com enlists the Why, the How & the What for parents’ reference. Basis the research findings, we have created a module which enables parents to find out education costs for various careers across various countries both in the current and in the future, and also suggests the ideal amount one should invest in order to meet the future requirements. The platform also hosts interesting content around planning and investments. An online parenting test is underway.
As they say, learning should be fun, we curated books to inspire the children to explore the various careers by way of reading short stories on various professions, trying their hand with coloring or solving crossword puzzles on various professions.
- #DoYourHomework at Crossword Bookstores & Kidzania
We thought it would be fun if we make parents do their homework while their children would be celebrating Children’s Day and all the festivities.
With this in mind. We have tied-up with Crossword Bookstores & Kidzania. We would be asking parents if they are on the same page as their children when it comes to their careers. Parents and their children will be initiated into the painting experiment and they will also be shown the education calculator and informed about planning.
The Crossword activity would be taking place in 17 stores across 7 cities, and activity at Kidzania would be in Mumbai, starting from 14th Nov (Children’s Day) till the month end.
- It’s a DRAW – an activity game for parents & kids
In order to aid parents to discover the unknown hidden treasures about their children, we created an interesting activity-based board game, titled ‘It’s a DRAW’.
- #DoYourHomework on Social Media
Opening the digital avenue for the parents, we have planned an activity encouraging the parents to do this fun experiment with their kids at home. The parents can share their experience (images) through our social channels using #DoYourHomework. These experiences will then be crafted together in a video.
- #DoYourHomework on Digital Media
The media outreach for the #DoYourHomework campaign is an impressive one which reaches parents across the three major social networks Facebook, Twitter and Youtube in addition to precise targeting on Google Display Network across parenting websites.
- All-in-all, #DoYourHomework is a great conversation starter to talk to parents about one of the most important life goals – Children’s education & their future
- After all, children are our country’s biggest asset and they are the ones who will shape the future
- We want parents to estimate the future cost of education at an early stage and start planning towards the same by investing in mutual funds
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About Axis Mutual Fund Axis AMC has completed five years of operations and within a short span has over 11.5 lakh active investor accounts. It currently has a portfolio of 50 schemes across asset classes and a presence in over 75 cities. Axis AMC is a joint venture between Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank and Schroders ‐ one of the largest asset managers in UK.
Goals shown are for illustration purpose only and there is no assurance that the goals represented may be achieved.
Statutory Details:Axis Mutual Fund has been established as a Trust under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882, sponsored by Axis Bank Ltd. (liability restricted to Rs. 1 Lakh).
Trustee: Axis Mutual Fund Trustee Ltd.
Investment Manager: Axis Asset Management Co. Ltd. (the AMC).
Risk Factors: Axis Bank Ltd. is not liable or responsible for any loss or shortfall resulting from the operation of the scheme.
Mutual Fund Investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully. Photo Caption: Children participating in Axis Mutual Fund – Do Your Homework Initiative Children participating in Axis Mutual Fund – Do Your Homework Initiative 
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