Basics of Financial Planning & Investing.

Problem is the Solution

The biggest problem in life is money, and the biggest solution in life is also money . 96% of the world population are not satisfied with their current financial situation. and the major reason for this is people fail to plan, plan for earning, plan for spending and plan for investing.

Owing to ever increasing cost, work pressure, life style diseases and social pressure we neither earn enough, nor do we invest enough and we are always short of money. Constant borrowings can push us to something called as debt trap.

The solution to this is a robust, structured, disciplined financial planning.

What is Financial Planning?

Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now. It is the process of planning your earnings, spending and investments to help them attain your financial goals, keeping in mind your risk appetite. Financial planning lists the goals you want to achieve and allows you to set in motion the investments you have to make to achieve them. For example, you may want to purchase a car after 3 years, for which you may need say around Rs 10 lakhs. To save Rs. 10 lakhs for the car, effective financial planning would detail how much you should invest and in which investment tool to ensure that you have the amount in 3 years.

Who Needs a Financial Planning?

If your answer to any of the questions mentioned below is YES! You need a financial plan.

• Are you a salaried person with no second source of passive income?
• Are you worried about your life after retirement?
• Are you the sole bread earner of your family with multiple dependents?
• Majority of your earning is going towards paying off your loans?
• You have several financial goals you want to achieve?

Again, if your answer to any of the above is YES! You need a financial plan.

How to do a good financial planning?

If you still reading till here, Congratulations, it only depicts that you are serious about your life and have an intent to change to a better one.

Let’s now understand the process of proven efficient, effective financial planning.

 Have Financial Goal: This is a foundation of a good financial planning, have a short term, midterm and a longterm financial goal and plan how much money you will need to achieve these goals. Importantly these goals must be realistic and close to your heart.

Start Early Start Small : the success of any good financial planning is in starting at early stage of earning and starting with the disposable amount available with you. Waiting for a perfect time and waiting for the right amount of money will always disturb a good plan.

Save and Spend: we usually follow a pattern of first spending and saving the difference, but the actual fun is in first saving the required amount and then spending the difference.

Consistency is the key: What ever you start , being very consistent and being disciplined to the avenue chosen by you, you will be making even a weak plan go strong.

Finding a suitable investment avenue: Every body has a different financial goals and different risk appetite, you need to find a investment avenue that suits your requirement and your risk profile. But diversification is the key here

We will be talking about the various avenues available in the market in coming articles, bookmark this website for many such articles.