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Financial Planning

  • When a six month Emergency Fund may not be enough?

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    An emergency fund is an essential buffer to tide over in unforeseen circumstances. You need a safety net when life throws those harsh bouncers at you. Most financial advisors advocate an emergency fund equivalent to 6 months living expenses. Living expenses here include only the necessary costs such as grocery, utility bills, EMIs, insurance premiums, children’s school/tuition fees, etc. While 6 months is taken as a rule of thumb, it cannot be a blanket solution as personal situation varies from individual to individual. Here are a few scenarios which if relevant to your financial life would require you to beef […]

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  • How can you create a separate Vacation Fund for frequent getaways

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    Think about regular recurring expenses and travel has become one. Frequent getaways are common today for the millennials to unwind. This is unlike the older generation which waited till retirement to plan an international trip or travelled just once in a year.  Today, short vacations are common, be it an adventure trip or just relaxing in a resort. These are undertaken 2-3 times in a year and the cost of these short trips start from a minimum Rs.20,000 each. If one stays in a more than decent resort, the cost can go up to Rs.50,000 for a family of four. […]

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  • How to Financially survive a Layoff?

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    With India’s top airline Jet Airways going bankrupt, thousands of employees were laid off. Layoffs today are for real. Be it in a small entity or a big business with giant market share. Whether a company is in financial distress or wants to cut costs or simply not satisfied with the performance of its employee, the writing on the wall is not obvious. One can never be prepared for a job loss. Not mentally. And 99 per cent are not prepared financially either. The thought of a pink slip would not even cross the mind when the going is good. […]

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  • Top Financial Mistakes Parents make with their Kids

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    Click to Enlarge While parents always have the best intentions for their children, their instincts at times do not prove correct to take the best decisions for their kids. Be it sheer ignorance or guilt or over-protectiveness, parents many a times commit financial blunders which can prove expensive in the long run. There are universal errors that parents with children of all ages make. The only difference is the older the child gets, the less time a parent has to correct it. Here are a few crucial mistakes which every parent should avoid: Buying Life Insurance for Child: When it [...]
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  • Why you should not let your Parents influence your Financial Decisions

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    Click to Enlarge Your parents are your well-wishers, no doubt. It is natural to take their advice at face value because you think they are experienced and cannot go wrong. While they don a lot of hats for you – parent, friend, teacher, etc., do not let them be your financial advisor. Chances are their views on money, career, housing will not be applicable to your life now. Although they would be wise in advocating the basic tenets of financial discipline – regular saving and investing, not all financial advice offered by them would be worth heeding. There are high [...]
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  • Financial Advice you should be wary of

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    Click to Enlarge Free financial advice comes from all corners whether you are starting out or well established. In personal money matters, people look to their families, relatives, etc for casual advice. Informal financial advice is also often dispensed during casual conversations between friends, work colleagues, etc. The advice is sought out of trust or relying upon other’s investing experiences. While the advice given is innocuous, it can be dangerous in harming your finances over the long run. Here are the types of financial advice you should ignore which usually come from near and dear ones: Advice that sounds too [...]
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  • What is your attitude towards money?

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    Click to Enlarge Mr.Patel aged 45 has never invested in the stock markets. He has been a silent witness to the spectacular run in the markets since 2004. The reason lies in a deep-seated notion about equity he has long held since his college days. This belief comes from the experience of his father who lost a big chunk of savings in the stock markets in the 1990s. The substantial loss disrupted the goals and clouded the family’s finances for a really long time. Since then, Mr.Patel thinks stock markets are a risky gambling den and if luck is not [...]
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  • Can you afford a second child? Here is how to prepare financially

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    ‘Two are better than one…for if they fall, one will lift up the other’ This cannot be more apt but for siblings who can be great companions for life. In this age of nuclear and short families, couples while envisioning the future of their only child, do contemplate having a second child as they would take care of each other after them. Some also get unexpected surprises. While a second baby, expected or unexpected is always welcome, it also means adding up to expenses. While one can never be really mentally prepared to raise a child, a little bit of […]

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  • Why making Resolutions for the New Year is pointless and a waste of time?

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    As the year 2017 draws to an end and you look forward to a new year, making new resolutions must be weighing on your mind. Everyone likes new beginnings and people look for special occasions to make a new start. They are naturally motivated, just like a child is excited to have neat handwriting in a new notebook at the beginning of an academic term. Observe the parks or the gyms in your vicinity on January 1 of every year. You will see they would be comparatively more crowded than the previous month. This is the result of the new […]

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  • Typical Career Mistakes to avoid or to learn from

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    Our careers fill about 30-35 years of our working life. That is a huge time frame to make big money. Just like every area of our life including personal finance requires planning, so does our career. There has to be a strategy, a vision which can provide the right direction to our professional life. While it is important to take the right steps for a successful career, it is equally important to not make mistakes. We all make a few typical mistakes in our profession. From some mistakes, we can learn so that we do not repeat them in the […]

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