Author: Lovaii Navlakhi
Planning for a secure future is not easy; everybody needs to plan for tomorrow. At every income level, there are steps that you can take to make more efficient use of your assets and savings. It makes better sense to map out a plan based on well defined goals and to define strategies to turn your goals into a reality. Being unplanned to meet your goals could leave you feeling stranded at the time with unmanageable expenses forcing you to take expensive loans in order to meet them.
Funding retirement because Indians are living longer, healthier and more active lives than ever before, this means you will live a good number of years after your retirement. Many will spend as much time in retired lives as they did in their careers. If a longer, more active retirement is in the works, then you need to plan out your retirement nest egg as you would require significant financial resources. Identifying the amount you would need to save by the time you retire will help you know if you can extend your retirement by a few years in order to enjoy it with the same or better lifestyle that you have today.
Higher education continues to outpace inflation especially at a time when the need for higher education has never been more important. Since the costs involved are huge and not easily manageable by most people, it would make sense to have a good financial plan ready to meet these costs. It also allows you to identify how you can secure your children`s future goals by investing in the right insurance/ investment product to protect these goals. You may feel secure in the belief that you will always earn an income and be able to save for your children`s education needs, but a sudden change in situation can hamper your child`s dreams.
Material Stuff we think is cool. If our grandparents or parents didn`t need financial planning, then why do we? Well, 20-30 years ago, the lifestyle was very different as compared to now. The world has changed tremendously and so has our lifestyles. Now, we have more ways to spend our money - earlier there was no satellite television, home theatre systems, mobile phones, PDAs, private medical care, internet, shopping malls, designer wear etc. The goals and aspirations of people in this generation are more ambitious when compared to the earlier generations. Achieving your goals easily would require more preparation from the beginning.
As we live longer, the total cost of medical care over a lifetime will also be more. Diseases that used to end lives are now treatable but expensive. You also need to plan for long term care after retirement. The importance of setting aside funds for healthcare cannot be over-emphasized especially as the costs are huge and can be a massive unexpected expense.
Pass on wealth to the next generation. This is increasingly difficult because it is likely that you will outlive your assets and have little to leave to your children. In many cases, the transfer of wealth is going backwards. Therefore, it is important that you plan your retirement requirements after setting aside the corpus that you wish to leave for your children.
Buy a home, car or take a vacation. Whatever the goal you are interested in; financial planning can make it happen.
The author is a managing director and chief financial planner at International Money Matters.
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