I don’t need to think about Personal Finance or it is too early to think about it. Is this exactly what you always think? You are not the only one. Many of us feel that setting up Personal Finance targets for ourselves is too much of a task especially if one has just begun one’s career. Is’t personal finance and such fancy stuff only for the wealthy folks out there?
To be very frank I was also of the same opinion and never bothered to take too much care of my investments or savings. It’s true that when you are young (not that I am old now!) all that matters is – living life to the fullest and enjoying every penny that one earns, after all one has struggled a lot (life as a student is not easy, right?) to get this life of freedom. The opportunity to spend in whichever manner you want, without your parents or anyone else questioning you is not to be scoffed at..
As I said, I had the similar thoughts until I realized (somewhere along the way) while climbing the corporate ladder!) That I hardly have any savings or investments worth writing about. One fine day I decided to take advice from a friend who was employed with a bank. At that time words like finance /investment etc were all related to Banks alone. Anyways, my friend encouraged me to start saving and start soon. But the larger question lurched; what form should my savings be in? When I started talking to few others I realized that there are multiple ways in which one can save money for the future / emergencies etc.
The list of options at my disposal was so large that I obviously got confused; starting from Fixed Deposits, Insurance, Mutual Funds, Equity or the simple idea that my dad gave me – “send Rs.1000 to me every month and I will give you a steady interest of 6% per annum”! Well, the only way to beat the confusion seemed to be hiring a personalized wealth advisor.
I got in touch with an Independent Financial Advisor and sought his services in infusing some much needed discipline into my finances. Life was much simpler after that, we sat together on many a sunny afternoons and he initiated me into matters of personal finance. He helped me find out things about me that I didn’t know myself – my financial goals, my risk appetite etc. I also learnt a few tricks of the trade; how to trade in equities, for example. I ended up losing a lot of monies there, but that is a different story all together (please trade at your own risk). But proper guidance from a professional always works and it was not just a onetime advice. We met periodically to understand how the market was doing and which are the investment options I should take up.
I started off with a very basic SIP for Rs. 500 per month then this amount kept growing. I also kept depositing some amount in PPF account for the long term (did not know much about these fancy terms then but now I know!). Plus having a term Insurance was also important so I took that as well. All of this did not happen at once but in a systematic way over the years.
I may not be the best person to give guidance on how to invest and where to invest but all I can say is that starting to manage Personal Finance at an early age will make you feel proud of yourself! And if that does not excite you much then consider the fact that you will atleast end up saving a good amount of money every year and that could help with future expenses like your first car, house etc. or to handle any emergencies of life.
Happy Saving and more importantly happy planning!