High cost of education is eating away the savings of most parents and the cost of raising a child does not become any less expensive in any phase of their lives. Here are our findings of a nationwide survey of 1,712 middle-to-upper class parents. They fill out specific segments pertaining to the age-group of their children-up to four years, five to 16 and 17 to 21 in what is probably the first ever survey of its kind

Sucheta Dalal and Raj Pradhan

Read Real Cost of Parenting, our cover story.

Around 55% of our sample provided their average annual household income figures. Only 23.9% of these reported an annual household income of below Rs5 lakh; 28.6% were in the Rs5 lakh-Rs10 lakh bracket, another 33.3% earned between Rs10-Rs25 lakh, while as many as 14.3% earned over Rs25 lakh. It indicates that the respondents are mainly upper-income households with above-average awareness about sound financial products and investment choices as well as prudent borrowing habits.

To read more on this click here...