The other day, a fellow mom asked me a question I didn’t know how to answer: where do you want Tristan to study? I think I stared blankly at her for what felt like a good minute haha, until she asked me a follow up question–have you looked into any schools for him? I kind of felt like a bad mom to be honest, because I had not even thought about schools or any sort of education plan for my son. Tristan is just one year and five months old, and right now we are working on his vocabulary and being able to pronounce “mom”, “dad” and “Lily” correctly. I have taken him to an hour’s worth of playtime at Gymboree and another hour at Active Fun, and that’s about it. I have not thought of any classes for him, nor have I been working on joining him in any playgroups.

I’m not sure how it is done in your part of the world, but over here babies have a pretty active social life (at least with my circle of friends as well as friends of friends). That’s why I was asked the question in the first place, which I really should’ve been ready for.

So of course, that night I did a bit of research on the different schools that might be a good fit for us and easily, I was able to find a few that I liked. These seem to be in line with our beliefs and principles, and I liked the campus and curriculum they offered. I was already patting myself on the back for doing such a good job and I was all, “this is so easy, what is the big fuss about finding a good school” when I nearly fell off my chair as I clicked on the rates of each school per semester. These amazing, highly rated schools were exorbitant, and I had no clue how we are ever going to afford sending our son there.

So then I brought it up with the Baby Barangay (my go-to mommy group), who then told me all about financially preparing for Tristan’s education needs. I clearly have no clue how to be a responsible parent, because this was all news to me! I always thought saving and finding the right investment for my son’s future was something I should worry about when Tristan is ready to go to school. But nope, they set me straight and told me that I should start as early as now, so when the time comes that I need to shell out money per semester, well, I am prepared for it.

My girls, Bianca Santiago-Reinoso, Cat Juan-Ledesma, Nicole Hernandez-de los Angeles, and Patty Laurel-Filart recently attended a seminar that tackled exactly this (I wasn’t able to come as I had work that day) and thankfully, they shared with me what they learned. The seminar was to introduce FUTURE SCHOLAR, an investment and life insurance plan offered by Philam Life that gives guaranteed education benefits and long-term growth potential. This ensures we are sure of our child’s education even if something unexpected happens in the future, because the plan will continue without me having to pay for future premiums.

This is what Future Scholar offers:

(1) Education benefits for my child, which includes two components: (a) Guaranteed Savings, or guaranteed cash payouts over the four years of Tristan’s education starting at age 18 and (b) Investment, which offers long-term growth potential through access to expertly-managed funds. This means not having to worry about my son’s college fund because I know it will be taken cared of when the time comes. Also, I love that I have options for the payout. I always thought these investments would be rigid and strict. It is great to know it can be flexible and personalized according to my needs.

(2) Plan continuation benefits, which means the plan will continue without me having to pay for future premiums if (knock on wood) I should pass away or suffer total and permanent disability. I listened up when the girls were explaining this to me. I mean, of course, every parent’s greatest fear is to have something terrible happen to you and no one will take care of your child. This gave me peace of mind, knowing that my son would be able to get a complete education even if I am no longer around.

(3) Choice of payment terms, which allows you to build your child’s education fund in five years or until your child reaches the age of 17. Again, I was happy to hear about how flexible Philam Life could be when it comes to these things. At least I could choose a payment scheme that is wont hurt our everyday budget–it can be light and easy, especially since I’m going to start while Tristan is only a year old.

(4) Optional life insurance coverage for you–an additional lump-sum cash benefit to help in your child’s education should I (knocking on wood once again) pass away or suffer total and permanent disability before my son reaches the age of 18. I know, you might say I shouldn’t think of these things. But then as a parent, I really should. Life is so uncertain, and having that security for my son if something should happen to me will make me sleep easier at night. This was a plus that the Baby Barangay was eager to explain to me as they knew I think about these things late at night (yes, I bug them about it haha).

So, okay. At this point I was already sold and was ready to sign at the dotted line. But the girls wanted me to understand exactly what I was getting when I signed up, so they explained how Future Scholar works:

Basically, I can choose to pay regularly until Tristan reaches the age of 17, or I can choose to invest as short as five years. It will all depend on my goals for Tristan, how much I am willing to invest and how long I want to do it. The girls told me I could decide on how my premiums will be allocated into guaranteed savings and investment portions of my plan, depending on my goal. Like, I can choose 50% guaranteed savings and 50% investment, 80% guaranteed savings and 20% investment, or 20% guaranteed savings and 80% investment.

Lets say I decide on a 5-Pay Payment Term with an Annual Premium of P100,000 and a Premium Allocation of 50%-50%. For an additional premium of P5,241 a year, I can get an optional life insurance coverage as an additional lump-sum cash benefit should anything happen to me before Tristan reaches the age of 18. And I get to enjoy these benefits:

After hearing all this, I was more than ready to sign up for Future Scholar (I mean, aren’t you convinced). It’s like all my worries and concerns have been answered! But more than all these benefits, I think the most important thing is that Philam Life is a trustworthy and credible brand. I know I don’t have to worry about the company suddenly going bankrupt (like other companies in the past) because Philam Life has been around for decades, and will continue on till our children have grandchildren, and on and on and on. Future Scholar puts my mind at ease, because I know Tristan will grow up with the best education no matter what happens.