Skip to main content

Simple Steps towards your Financial Well being (for beginners)

Step-1: Become serious about your finances. Get answers to your basic questions on the internet. Get a very basic info about financial planning and investment options available. 'Discuss' with your elders, seniors and friends (beware: don't take 'ADVICE' from them, just have a discussion to start to get the feeling and views of managing finances. Your father or brother indeed is your well wisher, but may not be a subject matter expert. Everyone can sing a song but not every one is a professional singer, just like not every person who can hit the cricket ball in the street cricket is a professional cricketer). Also ask them if they have some financial advisors. Discuss with financial advisor/s you come across and decide who you feel you most helpful and knowledgeble. Take the next steps in consultation of that advisor.

Step-2: Creating an Emergency Reserve Fund of at least your 3 months Salary is your First Objective, as soon you start earning. This should take no more than 6 months of after you start working. Always maintain atleast 2 months Salary as reserve. 1 month's extra saving is for utilizing for starting Step-3&4

Step-3: once you have saved equal to your 3 months Salary, next immediate thing you will do is Insurance Planning. Buy Personal Accident Insurance, Term Life Insurance and Health Insurance (even if you have one provided by employer). These are must. Recommended to have a Critical Illness Insurance also, but you can do this little later also.

Step-4: Start Systematic Investment Plans (in Equity Oriented Balanced Funds and Diversified Equity Funds) for your Life (financial) Goals. Retirement, Long Term Emergency / Contingency Fund, Own Home Down Payment Fund are some of the default and common goals. Tax Planning / investments should get automatically achieved if you start SIP's in ELSS / Retirement Funds of Mutual Funds.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Hidden Dangers of Unregulated and Private Chit Funds

Chit funds have long been a part of India’s informal financial ecosystem. Blending aspects of savings and borrowing, these schemes are often woven into the social fabric of small towns, urban neighbourhoods, and even office circles. On the surface, chit funds seem like a convenient, flexible, and even trustworthy way to manage finances. But beneath this familiarity lies a significant risk—especially when the chit fund is unregulated , privately managed, and operated outside the bounds of formal finance. Investors lured by the promise of higher returns may find themselves caught in a web of defaults, mismanagement, and financial ruin. This article outlines the key dangers of investing in such schemes and why cautious, informed decision-making is essential. Understanding How Chit Funds Work A chit fund is a type of rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA). A group of people contribute a fixed amount of money every month. At periodic intervals, one member receives the total...

Side-effects of Bull Markets (esp. baseless ones) on Investor Behaviour

Sometimes, few (very few) clients ask me why I don't give them transaction access to their investments with me. They feel, it's their investment (money) and they have birthright to have transaction access to their investments. They feel, like their bank gives them internet & mobile banking, debit card, cheque etc and enables them to freely operate their account as they wish, I should also give full transaction access to their invesments. Few (very few) other clients feel, I should "co-create" their investment portfolio taking into account their understanding & assessment of geo politics & its impact on economy & market, their views on the 'trends' in the market, their view on how the pandemic is going to play out and impacts the economy & different sectors and so on. They feel this 'obviously' because of their vast experience of 2+ years in stock market, they have made great returns and found a knack of investing in the market. F...

SEBI's new Multicap Fund Directive - What should we understand & do?

Yesterday, stock market regulator SEBI has issued a new circular regarding multicap funds. According to the circular, in short, SEBI has mandated all Multi-Cap Equity funds to (re)allocate minimum 25% to each of Large Cap, Mid Cap and Small Cap categories of stocks, in less than 6 months time from now. At present multicap funds have much smaller allocations to mid caps and minuscule allocation to small cap stocks. This news has created a buzz in the market.  For sure this will result in lot of money moving from large caps to mid caps and small caps. Small caps will have higher inflows as multi cap fund hold very little small cap for now. So much sudden (over less than 6 months) flow in small cap stocks is a windfall. Small cap stocks category may not have that much depth to absorb so much sudden influx of money without causing unreasonable stock price appreciation, which makes the entire category more riskier. On the other hand, this should correct last 3 years  market anoma...