Browse Tag: #retirementplanning

10 Money goals to accomplish before you turn 40

10 Things to accomplish with money before you turn 40

Money matters a lot in our life. Arguably money is the biggest facilitator in this world for a comfortable life.

midlife investments

When we touch the magical number of 40 years in our life, we can safely consider ourselves as quite mature. Mature in handling personal life, professional commitments and to a certain extent our finances.

Here is the list of 10 milestones or financial accomplishments we should aim to achieve by the time we touch 40. These milestones are also important as 40s are considered as peak performing years in one’s professional life.

  1. You should have a dedicated folio for your retirement savings with at least 10%-15% of your monthly net income going into it. If you are looking at 60 years as your retirement age then by the time you cross 40, you must have 10%-15% of net monthly income going into retirement corpus and that too with a raise in amount every year.
    This ensures that you are not stressed with your finances once you approach retirement age.
    6 Sins people commit when planning retirement

  2. Your investment folio should not have retirement as the only goal. By the time you cross 40, you should have identified financial goals in life and should have started goal based investing.
    A goal could be kids higher education, kids wedding, buying a vehicle 10 years down the line, upgrading your house from 2 bedroom to a 3 bedroom etc. A proper planning makes the execution easy.

    goal based investing

  3. Try and finish paying up your home loan / mortgage by the time you hit 40. At 40, you would already have completed a professional stint of about 15 years. 15 years are good enough to pay off the home loan and free up the property.
    If your home loan is still around, take immediate steps to pay it off ASAP as by doing this you can free up a lot of investable income which can be safely redirected to your retirement corpus.

  4. Clearly establish money and life goals for your later life. Plan your finances around your goals and make them happen. Life goals could be – at what age you wish to retire? Where would you like to settle? How do you look at post retirement life? How to tackle day to day finances when you are at the fag end of your life?
    It’s better to roughly identify such goals and start working on them. This will give you enough time to plan financially for these goals.

  5. Cover yourself adequately with life as well as health insurance.
    Note that more you delay, more premium you have to shell out. Do I need to say that the healthcare costs are skyrocketing. By the time you reach 40, you and your dependents must be adequately insured to tackle any emergency situation.
    Why you need insurance ?

    Why you need insurance

  6. You must try and have a side hustle by the time you touch 40. It can simply be a freelance consulting in the field of your expertise or it can be your hobby which you can monetize. The idea is to have some alternate source of income. This extra income can do wonders to your investment portfolio.

  7. By the time you hit 40, you should have the list of all investments made, all financial details of bank accounts, insurance, nominee details etc handy with you and with your spouse. You should also have regular discussions on investment and money matters with your spouse. This will keep both the spouse on the same page with respect to money.

    investment discussions with spouse

  8. By the time you hit 40, make it a habit to revisit your investments periodically. Not only revisit, but do readjust the investment from asset allocation perspective keeping in mind your life and financial goals. Also you may require to tweak your investments from the perspective of external factors like sudden change in government policies, global cues. Note that these external factors can quickly eat up your gains in your investments so make sure that you periodically revisit your investments.
    In addition to external factors, as you age, you have to tweak asset allocation too in order to align your folio with your life goals.
    Delaying investments can cost you dearly

  9. By the time you hit 40, you must learn the art of staying fit and follow a fitness regime. When you are young, you play a lot, you move a lot. Some of the young lads work out a lot. Once you cross 30, due to professional and personal commitments in life, the exposure to physical activity gets curtailed.  
    Ensure that you create a fitness regime and follow it religiously before you hit 40. Now how does fitness is related to finances? It’s an old saying – HEALTH is WEALTH. More fit you are, longer you can enjoy healthy life.
    Stay fit and be WEALTHY

  10. Last but not the least – Make a will and have a proper inheritance plan before you touch 40. Life is quite unpredictable. We don’t know the future and can not even predict what will happen tomorrow. However with a will and an inheritance plan of our financial assets we can streamline the things a lot for our dependents. By 40 you must finish this task so that you can be assured of a smooth transition of your financial assets in case of any eventuality.

    Preparing a will

Bottomline is that if you plan things well in advance, you won’t get surprises on the course. This is specially true with the financial planning. Since 40s are considered as peak performance years in your professional life, it is advisable to set few things right before you reach 40.

Happy Investing !!!

7 Things about personal finance that none tells you

7 Things about personal finance that none tells you

Everyone who is working knows a little bit here and there about personal finance. Most of us are aware of the fixed savings instruments, investment through insurance, provident fund, share markets. Though not in detail but at least we have heard or read about the names of these investment avenues through television channels, magazines, websites, newspapers etc.

 

personal finance

 

If you look at the definition of personal finance from YourDictionary, it says “Personal finance is defined as the management of money and financial decisions for a person or family including budgeting, investments, retirement planning and investments.”

 

I have started my journey towards personal finance around a decade ago. I have also made my share of mistakes during this journey. I sincerely feel if someone had informed me about certain key things in the beginning, I would have certainly not made some of the silly mistakes.

 

Based on my own personal experience, I am listing down few points which none will tell you about personal finance

  1. Building wealth will always take time:
    Building wealth takes time and persistent efforts unless you get some windfall or some inheritance. If you wish to be a millionaire, you have to plan it well and execute it well too. There are no shortcuts, and one needs to put in sustained efforts.

    Remember, there are no quick rich schemes on the way to wealth creation. My own experience so far says that the journey towards building wealth is fun if you learn to enjoy it.wealth creation in personal finance
  2. Early bird gets the worm:
    The sooner you start taking control of personal finance, you have better chance of wealth creation. We all know the concept of compounding. An early start towards personal finance can make compounding work in favor of you which in turn will help you in amassing wealth.

    Also when you start early, you have the time factor working in your favor. When you give time to your investments, they can grow comfortably and with lesser risk.
  3. Look ways to increase income if you want to save more and invest more:
    Passive income such as income from house, income generated through doing freelance jobs in your field of expertise and through freelance consulting adds up and go a long way in creating wealth quickly.

    Also, a better paying job increases your chance to save more, invest more and move quickly towards wealth creation.
  4. Budget and cut out the excess spending:
    This is one of the crucial step in wealth creation. If expenses are more than income, one will always be in negative month on month. With the help of a budget, once you start listing down your expenses, you will be surprised about the crap expenses taking place in your day to day life.

    I was surprised when I started listing my expenses sincerely. I must accept that budgeting has helped me a lot in freeing up the additional money for investments.

    Here is how you can start working with a simple budget
            
  5. Consumer loans are killer:
    Though they look cheap, consumer loans are big dampener in your wealth creation journey. The “easy monthly installment” syndrome forces one to buy more and more. The thirst to gather more and latest never ends because the loans are handy and CHEAP.

    Try avoiding consumer loans as they are a big hindrance in your journey to wealth creation.
    Read: Consumer loans & personal finance
           
  6. You can not build wealth with a salaried job:
    Yes, you read it right. Most of us somehow pull ourselves out of bed each day and go to job. Because job is the only source of income, you must go as there are bills to be paid for the upmarket home you bought last year or for the swanky new car you purchased. If you do not go to the job, how you will generate money to pay the cost of groceries, household expenses?

    With only one stream of income, it’s tough to build wealth. One must work on creating multiple sources of income. Be it some freelance work in your field of expertise or an additional income from an additional floor of your house. Multiple income sources work favorably when you are out creating wealth.
  7.  Learn the basics of investing and work on your investments:
    No matter how the term “investments” is terrifying to you as a layman, one must start learning the basics of investments. Remember, it is not a rocket science. Surely it will take some time to learn the “know how” but you must do it as it will help you in managing your own investments. You should know and work on your investments as it is your own money which is being invested. If you leave it on someone, they may not be honest in working with your money because of the conflict of interest.Financial agents, bank employees, investment advisers are most likely to recommend what works for them, not what works for you.

    READ:
    Start investing in Mutual Funds
    Goal based investing
    When to start investing in stock markets

your money matters in personal finance

 

Once you make these points a habit, you will reap the benefits in the time to come. If you can work around on certain pitfalls mentioned here, the journey towards wealth creation would be slightly more smooth and joyful.

 

Happy Investing !!!

How to achieve Financial Independence? Explained in simple language

How to achieve Financial Independence? Explained in simple language

Almost everyone in today’s era wish to have financial independence. At least most of the people I have met wish so. Isn’t it?

However most of them have no idea how to become financially independent?

financial independence

 

Oh yes, I have heard this term many times in TV talk shows and have also read about it in the newspapers. It sounds too complicated to me. Can you explain to me what is Financial Independence in a simple language?


Financial Independence is a state which is achieved when you have earned and saved enough money so that you do not have to work anymore to support your lifestyle for the rest of your life. In short, you do not have to work to earn money. Don’t get confused. You still can work even after achieving financial independence. You can do whatever work you like, you can work just for pleasure. Financial Independence means you no longer have to slog that 9-10 hour shift everyday in order to pay your monthly payments, credit cards etc.

 

Wow, this sounds great. Can you throw some light on how can I be Financially Independent?

There is a simple time trusted formula with few set of rules for achieving Financial Independence.

  1. Your spending should always be less than your earnings
  2. Increase the GAP between your income and savings – Earn more
  3. You must invest what you save judiciously

If you follow the above 3 step formula, none can stop you from achieving financial independence.

high-income-1

 

Hmm… looks simple per say but how to implement this into practical life?

Ok, let’s take each step one by one

 

  • You must always spend less than what you earn:
      1. It’s quite possible to spend less than what you earn. If you are able to control your spending habits, you will be able to achieve this equation. First tool to achieve this is Budget. A simple budget can save you from many things. It will tell you where your money is going without you making a note.
      2. Don’t splurge in buying that big house just because you can afford it. Buy the right size house. Home ownership can be a quite expensive affair.
      3. Don’t buy big automobiles. Remember, your car is not your asset. Monthly payments on big cars will never let you move towards financial independence.
      4. Be little frugal in your living. Cook at home, eat out less frequently. This will not only save you money but also save your health in the long run. Stay fit and be WEALTHY.

 

  • You must strive to Increase your earnings:

 

      1. Importance of education can never be denied. If you are well qualified academically, you have a better chance to land a high paying job. Keep working towards increasing your income by augmenting your qualifications, certifications. This will boost your ability to save and invest more towards your main objective, which is financial independence.
      2. If you are good at something, try to earn some income from it. For example if you are good at graphics designing, use your spare time to take up some freelance projects which can earn some side income for you.

 

  • You must invest wisely:

 

    1. Savings are important but savings alone will not make you financially independent. Invest wisely so that your money grows at a healthy rate
    2. Use a mix of equity, debt and use diversification so that your investments remain recession proof.
    3. Invest from day 1 of deciding that you want to achieve financial independence. Do not wait for the right time to invest.
    4. Avail tax exemptions to minimise the loss of money to taxes.
    5. Structure your investments properly and practice goal based investing

 

If you are able to achieve a healthy saving and investment rate month on month and manage your investments properly, you can be financially independent sooner than you expect.


We at WealthSamurai always believe in a healthy savings rate and proper investments as the best tool to take control of your financial life.

That’s really a helpful. But how do I know the details like where to invest, which stock, which fund to buy?

 

Once you start tackling the three points mentioned above you will get more insight into the micro equations like where to invest, what amount to invest, what percentage of diversification is required etc. But important is to take the first step towards financial independence and keep going.

 

Happy Investing !!!

 

6 Sins people commit when computing retirement corpus

6 Sins people commit when computing retirement corpus 

“I will think about investing for retirement when I am a few years away from it. Let me live life to the fullest till then. I want to enjoy my life” – said a bubbly young software engineer staying in the same township where we stay. He is fresh out of college and just started working for an Information technology major.

 

retirement planning


Most of the young Turks working with handsome salaries have the same thing to say. Financial experts say that one must start investing from month one of getting a job. This can save you from unnecessary stress at the fag end of your work life.

The biggest issue with the shortfall in retirement corpus is the delay in investing. Most of the people forget this. They consider the exercise of early investments in their career unnecessary and run short of money in their sunset years.

When you are running a marathon, you have to perform consistently throughout the run. You can not start after 30 minutes and then run faster to take place on the podium. This will end up in a big disaster. If you delay in starting the race, you will never be able to finish it on time. Same is applicable when we talk about creating retirement corpus.

I am going to discuss six issues which people miss out while planning their retirement corpus. These issues are applicable to most of us who are planning to accumulate a decent size retirement corpus. If these issues are tackled, they will help one immensely in planning a perfect retirement corpus.

  1. Not considering inflation:
    Inflation is an important factor while working on any goal based investment like retirement. To keep it simple – if my grocery budget was ‘X’ some 10 years ago, today it is ‘3X’ then I have to keep in mind that it could be ‘8X’ 10 years down the line.

    If you do not consider inflation while planning for retirement corpus, you will end up having less money accumulated when you hit the retirement age. This will result in you outliving your retirement corpus and will surely be a disaster.    inflation
  2.  Underestimating the expenses in retired life:It’s a common perception that expenses will fall once you are retired. You do not have to maintain a formal wardrobe, commute expenses will not be there, you will be free from monthly payments / EMI etc.This may not be true. The medical expenses skyrocket and same is true for the travel and travel related expenses. And as your dependency increases on others, the expenses related to household help will also increase exponentially. So you must consider this while accumulating your retirement corpus.

    a good retirement plan
    Thumb rule for any retirement plan – Remember your money has to outlive you

  3.   Delay in investing for retirement:It’s a straight equation. If you do not start investing early, you will end up with inadequate money in your retirement corpus. Even if you accelerate your savings after realizing this at a later date, still you will not be able to generate adequate corpus. Late start will deprive you from the benefits of compounding.

    Albert Einstein is purported to have once remarked that the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest. If you start early, use compounding effectively, the end result could be a huge avalanche of money. The key is to start early and remain into the game.Do not delay your investments

    The Magical power of     compounding

  4.  Not riding equity markets for better gains:
    The thumb rule is that during initial years of professional life have a good exposure to the equity markets through Mutual funds, direct equities etc. But once you approach retirement age, bring down the equity exposure and park money in debt.

    Make sure to ride a good equity wave for around 25-30 years. This long period will give you excellent returns and will also spread out your risk with your investments the equity markets as the long duration will take care of ups and downs of the equity markets.equity markets - bulls and bears
    The Magical power of     compounding
  5.  Not evaluating and taking advantage of TAXATION:
    Most of us fail to take tax advantages on investments. The money we lose in doing so can be substantial over a period of few years. This results in waste of money and one has to toil few more years to make up the losses.Few points to ponder
  • Income from fixed deposits is taxed as per your tax slab. 
  • Income from recurring deposits and any other fixed deposit scheme is taxed as per your tax slab.
  • Income from savings account is taxed as per your tax slab
  • Income from equity mutual funds when invested for more than 1 year is tax exempted
  • Income from equity / company shares over 12 months is tax free – long term capital gains are not taxedTake stock of the taxation before you invest money for your retirement corpus. You can save loads of money only by investing in proper instrument.

    taxation6. Reckless spending habits can wreck havoc in your retirement planning:
    One should stick to the safe withdrawal rate once the retirement kicks in. Drawing recklessly can drain the corpus much sooner. Remember Thumb rule for any retirement plan – Your money has to outlive you.The solution is to budget. Budget is one of the major steps in road to financial independence. If you master the art then you can be assured of sealing the money leaks in your month on month expenses. This way you can make your retirement corpus last longer.

    budget
    A simple guide to make budget

    To conclude, we at WS always believe that it is your life and your money. Only you have to plan it as none else would be interested in doing it for you without any personal interests. So take charge of your life, plan out things, work on a proper retirement plan and early financial independence so that you can spend your golden years in peace.

    HAPPY INVESTING !!!

A high income does not guarantee a RICH YOU

A high income does not guarantee a RICH YOU

Almost everyone among us aim for a higher income. We all work very hard towards achieving the fat pay package which we always dream of. For most of us, it’s a straight equation – more the income – more the bonus and we can be rich throughout our life and can retire rich in peace with loads of money.

high income

 

 

Unfortunately with respect to finances, the equation is not so straightforward and simple. Had it been so straightforward, guys with high salaries would have become filthy rich and all of them would be happy by now.

More money, more income is sadly not the answer to financial woes of human beings.

Don’t get me wrong!

Here I am not denying the importance of the high income for an individual. A high income gives you a head-start in planning personal finances for you. It also gives you distinct advantages in the process of building wealth.

Here are the 5 indicators which points that you can not be rich even with the high income

  1. You are trying to keep up with joneses : This one is a major pitfall. While uncontrolled spending can leave anyone broke, keeping up with joneses will never allow any high income household to become financially responsible. whether  we are working in corporate jobs or living in a tony neighborhood, there is a lot of peer pressure which compels us to own latest cars, expensive homes, latest gadgets, to party every weekend etc. Easy credit availability by the banks also fuels this mentality and the advertising ensures that you feel outcast if you do not buy the latest gadget or the fastest car.financial peer pressure

    Do you often succumb to Financial Peer Pressure?  

  2.  You think investments are to be done only when you are nearing retirement : Many individuals are highly qualified in their respective streams. They did well in studies, mastered the art of their trade and earn a lot. Many are doctors, engineers, designers – earning high incomes. But they seldom pay attention to investments just because of ignorance. Their incomes are high, their expenses are high. Their monthly income is usually equal to their expenses. Since their expenses are met month on month, they do not think of investments. Also they do not feel the need of taking consultancy on the investments.

    When it comes to decision making about finances and investments, most of us like to postpone it to some other day. This stands true not only for decision making about investments but also for evaluating existing finances. Unknowingly, one ignores an important fact that there is a REAL cost which is associated with the delay in investments. Most of us tend to get away with this as there are no immediate visible effects of these delays. Nor we proactively calculate the potential damage it can cause.

    If you keep delaying, you need more amount as investment at a later stage to achieve desired funds. The early you realize this, better it is for you. You must know how to use the magic of compounding to your advantage.    delaying your investments

    Delaying investments can cost you DEARLY 
     

  3. You keep accumulating depreciating assets : When you have a high income, it’s easy to reach your financial goals of life and retire rich with sufficient money. Unfortunately most of us start pouring money towards depreciating assets. We tend to spend money on the asset class which loses its value quickly. We fail to identify these money drains and our money keeps losing its value over time. 

    By the time we realize this, it’s usually too late and a lot of money had already gone into the drain.

    Latest cars, high end furniture, multiple vehicles, latest gadgets, luxury brand accessories are some of the items that comes under this category.    Car is not asset

    Your Car is not your ASSET ! 
    Financial success : It’s not about the Stuff you gather     

  4.  Your fixed expenses are very high: If you compliment high income with less expenses, the leftover is the investable surplus. This investable surplus can be systematically invested to build wealth.

    If the income is high and so the expenses, you will not be left with investable surplus. The lack of investable surplus will never let you accumulate wealth. The major expense month on month is the fixed set of expenses. Expenses like home loan / mortgage payments, monthly payments towards car and any other vehicle, utility payments etc.

    A bigger house translates into a higher monthly payment for mortgage, higher utility bills, higher maintenance cost, higher home association charges. Same stands for cars. A bigger car translates into a bigger monthly payment, a bigger insurance premium, a bigger maintenance cost, a bigger wear and tear costs.

    One need to identify fixed monthly costs and try to keep them at minimum. Buy the right house you need, do not overspend. Same stands true for your vehicle. 

    Overspending - hurdle in personal financeOverspending – the biggest block in financial freedom
    What are money leaks? How to find out your money leaks and plug them?)
     

  5.  You do not budget and you think that you are managing money well : Poor spending habits, uncontrolled expenses can be a disaster to your finances. They can even put you in a really bad situation financially.

    But if you are not budgeting and not tracking your expenses, it can also cause a big disaster to your finances. It can not only put financial stress on your retired life, but also your day to day finances can get affected badly.

    Tracking expenses becomes more important when your income is high. In case of high expenses, it’s good to track expenses and find money leaks. If you do not track expenses and budget, you can easily blow up your monthly income and will never come to know where all your money went. This will not leave you with any investable surplus to build wealth and achieve financial independence.

    So, take charge of your money. Do not count budgeting and writing expenses as a burden. If you start budgeting and writing expenses, you can avoid many common issues and problems related to money which you are facing in your day to day life.

    Simple Budget
    A simple budget can save you from 5 big troubles

    Here is how to make a simple budget? 


    Always remember

 

 

  • Money alone doesn’t bring happiness but it sure can help
  • You only have to take care of your money and ensure that it grows – none else will do it unless they have their own personal interest attached to it
  • Money can not solve all your problems. Yes but it can help you sail through most of your problems

 

Happy Investing !!!

 

Seven Baby steps towards financial freedom

Seven Baby steps towards financial freedom

Do you know how marathon runners are trained?

If someone thinks he should run a marathon, and goes for the run very next morning what will happen? It will be a disaster for him. Right?

baby steps to financial freedom

 

A marathon runner must start small initially with 1 kilometer, 2 kilometers run and so on. He has to gradually attain the 42 kilometers mark. He has to gradually build stamina, develop endurance, have many practice sessions before he hits any competitive race.

All this happens over a period of time. This can not happen overnight. Hope you all agree with me on this. A runner has to set small milestones first like a 5 kilometer run, 10 kilometer run, a 25 kilometer run and so on. Once all small milestones are reached, a runner can confidently go for a full length 42 kilometer marathon.

Same is with financial planning. If you are at ZERO level or you have just started journey towards setting finances in order, thinking about financial freedom will look impossible to you. Journey towards financial freedom is a long journey. You have to create numerous milestones which will make the journey also interesting and you will always be motivated throughout the journey. Achieving these small milestones will also give you a sense of accomplishment in the course of the journey. Not to forget, these milestones will also keep you away from backtracking.

Below are some important milestones you can create in order to stay focused and not to lose interest while journeying towards financial freedom. The order is important as you can not run a full marathon without conditioning yourself for a half marathon. Isn’t it?

 

climb to financial success


Step 1
Start making a budget. Write down all expenses month on month. It is important. It will help you in knowing your spending  pattern.This will also give you an idea about your investable surplus – the money which you can utilize for investments moving forward. (How to make a simple budget)

Step 2
Save about 6 months of expenses in cash or liquid funds. This amount should be easily accessible to you. This is your emergency fund. This is meant only for emergencies like some medical attention or in case you lose your job. This will keep you afloat when you do not have any income to take care of expenses and will help you in not falling in debt trap during any personal emergency.

Step 3
Gradually but steadily pay off all your consumer debt. Consumer debt is considered as a bad debt for an individual. Debt for TV, appliances, vehicles, furniture etc falls under consumer debt. One these debts are tackled, you free up a large monthly investable surplus.

Step 4
Start saving for retirement. Most of us will not receive any pension or annuity. Keep somewhere around 25%-30% of your monthly salary as your investment for retirement. Make a good balanced folio and start investing. Your folio can be a combo of Debt, mutual funds, PPF etc.

Step 5
Start investing for your kid’s education. You can dedicate an equity linked mutual fund for this. Also you can open a PPF account when your kid is born and maximize investment into it every year. A combo of PPF and an equity linked mutual funds can do wonders for your kid’s future.

Step 6
Pay off your mortgage/home loan. This will remove a big burden from your head. It is good to feel debt free. But this is little tough as usually the amount is quite high. But I strongly recommend you to do this as paying off mortgage will free up a huge chunk of money for you as an investable surplus.

Step 7
Keep re-adjusting your portfolio once in a couple of years and enjoy life. Keep reading, pursue your hobby, keep traveling but remember that your money has to outlive you.

These are small steps. You can start any time, at any age. Important is you make a START.

Happy investing !!!

Why you need Insurance ?

Make sure you are adequately insured:

Definition of insurance: A promise of compensation for specific potential future losses in exchange for a periodic payment.

The definition clearly says it all. However, the companies which offer insurance provide a bouquet of products. Whole life insurance, term insurance, endowment plan, ULIPs, health insurance is some of the product categories. However, each classification may have one or many products with slight variation

Why you need insurance

 

Why you need insurance?
You never know what is going to happen in near/distant future. If someone is the only earning member of a family and due to health reasons, he is unable to work, or due to sudden demise of the sole earning member, family goes in no earning mode.

  •  Who will pay the EMIs of home loan, vehicle loan?
  •  How the monthly household expenses would be taken care of?
  •  How to pay kid’s school fee & tuition expenses?
  •  How to pay expensive nursing care? Hospital expenses are skyrocketing these days.

    Leave apart human life, what if your vehicle needs emergency repair? If the repair cost runs into few thousand of rupees and you do not have contingency funds at hand for this repair, it will be pain for you to arrange the sum and repair your vehicle right?

Answer to above questions in case of unexpected happening is INSURANCE. Insurance make sure that there are no financial hardships to family if something goes wrong.

Do your own research – A little bit of homework is a must

Do not assume that you need to buy insurance policy because your friend who is a salesman in insurance firm told you to do so. First identify purpose of buying insurance. Insurances can be of few types

  • Life insurance: The only purpose of life insurance is to provide safety net to the people if the person taking insurance dies a premature death. This is for the ones who have people financially dependent on them. This gives them means to offset financial losses in case of their demise. The best or rather ideal route here is to take term insurance policy. This is the least expensive solution and serves its purpose well. There are many online calculators available for calculating premium by various service providers online.Other life insurances like whole life policies / ULIPs are also available but they are usually not worth due to the cost associated with them. The investment returns from these products are poor compared to investments in other options.There is no benchmark formula, but general thumb rule is that take insurance cover equal to your liabilities plus 10 times of your annual income. So if you have a home loan + vehicle loan of INR20 lakhs, your insurance cover should be of INR20 lakhs plus 10X your annual income. 10 times of income will give your family a sustained monthly income to cover the expenses for family members
  • Health insurance: If you go back a little in history and compare historical cost of medical treatment, it doesn’t take rocket science to arrive at conclusion that the cost of medical treatment has gone up considerably. And keeping the trend, it will keep moving upward. You must insure yourself to cover the cost of medical treatment. There are host of factors on which the health insurance premium depends. But it is worth comparing offerings from different service providers and to take the best plan based on your requirements. Health insurance will safeguard you from cost of medical treatment and will save tons of cash for you. Also, a healthy family of four, husband, wife and two kids should have a INR8 lakh family floater health plan to cover emergency medical expenses.
  • Vehicle insurance: Vehicle repairs are expensive. Imagine a situation where your vehicle meets with an accident. The vehicle becomes immobile and you need to fine a tow truck. Then the cost of repairs which can break your back. As per the government rules, it is mandatory to take insurance and people usually opt for a third party cover in order to cover any litigation cost arising post accident. But you must opt for a comprehensive plan as there are a lot of costs associated with repairs once your vehicle is involved with an accident. Again loads of online calculators available and based on your needs, opt for the best plan that suits you.

There are other insurances also like home owners insurance, renters insurance, asset insurance, travel insurance but the most important and must have ones have been covered earlier.

If you are not insured and some mishap occurs, your financial plans will go haywire. Also taking proper and adequate insurance is one of the building blocks of financial freedom and wealth creation. Not taking insurance or not taking adequate insurance can make a serious dent in your investment portfolio.

Bottom-line is that one has to make sure that he/she is adequately covered through insurance, both for life as well as health.

Compound Interest – Let your money work for you

Don’t always work for money. Instead make money work hard for you

“Let your money work for you”

 

compound interest

 

I think we must have read / heard this saying many times in life. This is quite a famous quote often used by investment advisers. This is related to power of compounding which is very powerful tool if exploited properly.

If you are someone who wish to have good returns on your investments, wish to retire early, wish to have financial independence you need to exploit power of compounding and make it one of the pillar of your overall financial independence strategy.
I will just give a small example to reiterate the faith in this strategy. For assumption, I have taken 10% as returns on investment which is quite possible in today’s scenario.

If you save INR1,000.00 per month for 12 months, at the end of the year you will be left with INR12000.00

Year 1
You will earn 10% interest making total amount INR12,000.00+INR1,200 = INR13,200

Year 2
You will earn 10% interest on INR13,200 and total amount would be INR13,200+INR1,320=INR14,520

Year 3
You will earn 10% interest on INR14,520 and total amount would be INR14,520+INR1,452 = INR15,972

Year 4
You will earn 10% interest on INR15,972 and total amount would be INR15,972+1,597=INR17,569

Year 5
You will earn 10% interest on INR17,569 and total amount would be INR17,569+INR1,756 = INR19,325

So in 5 years, your initial investment of INR10,000 turned to INR19,325 – You have almost doubled your investment without doing anything
Now, to show the outcome of consistent investing, let’s take a scenario where you invest INR1,000 per month for 5 years that is 60 months and let’s see the result.

Year 1
You have invested INR12,000 and your total amount after 12 months stands at INR12,665

Year 2
You have invested INR24,000 so far and your total amount after 24 months stands at INR26,645

Year 3
You have invested INR36,000 so far and your total amount after 36 months stands at INR42,076

Year 4
You have invested INR48,000 so far and your total amount after 48 months stands at INR59,110

Year 5
You have invested INR60,000 so far and your total amount after 60 months stands at INR77,911

If you continue this investment for 15 years your INR1,000 per month investment becomes INR4,14,774

If you continue this investment for 25 years your 00 per month investment becomes IR13,19,273


————Here the magic unfolds ————

 

If you replace investment amount by INR5,000

If you continue this investment for 15 years your INR5,000 per month investment becomes INR20,73,872

If you continue this investment for 25 years your INR1,000 per month investment becomes INR65,96,367

So your INR5,000 per month investment for 25 years @ 10% per year will yield you INR65,96,367

This is simply a huge amount and can give you a big shot in your retirement Kitty.

You can use any compound interest calculator and tweak rate of returns and amount to see the magic. You will be surprised.

Idea is to find an avenue which gives you maximum return on investment for your risk appetite and to stay invested for a long time (>15years) to reap the benefits of compound interest. Compound interest works miracle with large sum invested for a long duration. The best part is it’s a passive income for you as your money is working for you.

Start as early as possible -> Make regular investmsnts -> Stay invested for a long duration -> Reap the benefits of Compounding

If you delay by a year, you will loose lot of money. Don’t think that you will loose only first year’s interest money if you delay by a year. You will loose interest of the final year if you delay. Do your basic math and you will come to know the losses.

No doubt great Albert Einstein has summed it up correctly

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.”

 

Your money is your money!

As title says, “your money is your money“. None other than you would be able to manage it better. Others, who claim they can manage better, have their conflict of interest since they would be doing it for their livelihood. When they earn commissions for suggesting you the investment tools, they can never be honest with you. Here I am talking about the insurance agents, investment advisers and host of bank officials who always push you with some “REAL GOOD” plans

I am not pointing fingers at the financial planners, but at times, they cannot be believed due to conflict of interest clause. Their “BEST PLAN” might be the “BEST PLAN” for themselves but may not suit your needs.

A common man, who is working his way up in his career, is an educated person. He has basic knowledge of this world, how to live, survive, commute, plan things. Why not take charge of the finances instead of outsourcing it to someone who is unlikely to give you honest advice. We as employee help our companies to grow by managing their balance sheets, why not help ourselves by managing our own balance sheet of household finances & investments?

So remember, your money is your money. If you outsource your money management to someone, he will be more interested in sucking the commissions out of you by suggesting funds/avenues which gives him better commissions instead of suggesting you honestly where to invest. So take charge, control your finances. And believe me, with little knowledge you can be easily at the driver seat.

You alone will be the best person to guide your investments which is ultimately going to lead you to a financially stable retired life.