13 Golden Rules For individuals to help kick-start your financial planning
by Cashiya Finance Finance & Loans | IndiaThese Golden Rules may come in handy for
those who are just beginning their financial planning. Youngsters who have just
started their career may get some direction on where and how to make a
beginning. For those who are in the middle of their career and don't yet have a
proper plan in place, thumb rules can also be helpful. But remember, they only
provide a general direction and may not necessarily give you the exact
picture.
First rule first
The very first rule of personal finance
says: 'Pay yourself first'. It simply means that out of your monthly income, a
certain percentage has to be saved before it is spent. 'Income minus savings
equal to expenses' should be the rule and not vice-versa.
For this to happen properly, identify your
goals, estimate the inflation-adjusted requirement and then find out how much
you need to save for them. Now make sure that each month funds move out from
your salary towards your goals, and manage your household expenses with
what is left. You, in a way, are first paying for yourself, i.e., your
goals.
How much to save
As a rule, 10 per cent of the post-tax income of
those starting their career at around age 25 can be the starting point. Over
time, as the income increases, shoring it up to 15 per cent can give you a good
head start and a buffer. As you grow older, and your income rises and financial
liabilities add up, make sure you are saving enough towards your goals.
In middle age, saving at least 35 per
cent of your post-tax income should be the benchmark, as expenses during this
period typically increase.
The 50-20-30 Rule
Confused about how much to save and spend each
month? Here's how to get started. It's the 50-20-30 Rule, i.e., 50 per cent of
your income should go towards living expenses, i.e., household expenses,
including groceries; 20 per cent towards savings for your short, medium,
long-term goals; and 30 percent towards spending, including outing, food and
travel. The idea is to create outflow buckets for better control. Individuals
may tweak the percentage according to their age, circumstances, etc.
The 20/4/10 Rule
This rule helps keep your finances under control
when you're buying a new car. Twenty stands for the down payment amount, as 20
per cent of the car price should be paid by you. It's, however, better to make
as much down payment as possible. Four stands for the number of years of
financing. Although lenders have a tenure of up to 7 years, it's better to
stick to 4 years. Ten stands for the ideal percentage of your net-take home
salary that should go toward car loan EMI’s.
Emergency fund
As the name suggests, an emergency can happen
anytime and needs immediate action. A
medical emergency may crop up at a time when the settlement claim is taking
time, or the ailment itself may have a waiting period. In such cases, one may
have to arrange for funds to tide over the situation. An emergency fund is not aimed at meeting your planned goals,
but it only acts as a safety net.
Although there's no fixed rule on how much
emergency cash one would need, ideally 3-6 months' household expenses should be
one's emergency fund. The amount should help you to combat financial
emergencies.
Life cover
You should ideally have a life cover which is at
least 10 times of your annual income. The actual requirement may, however,
depend on one's age, goals to be achieved, financial dependents, accumulated
wealth, etc.
The most cost-effective way of buying life
insurance is through a pure term insurance plan. It is a low premium,
high-cover protection plan where the premium goes entirely towards risk
coverage, i.e., to cover the mortality risk. Therefore, on surviving the term,
one doesn't get anything back as there is no savings portion of the premium.
But that should not deter someone from buying a term plan as risk cover through
life insurance as it is one of the basic necessities in one's overall financial
plan.
How much to save for retirement
Most financial planners suggest a retirement
corpus target which is about 20 times of one's annual income. Some feel that 30
times can be a better figure as it will take care of inflation. It gives you a
reason to work backwards and estimate how much you need to save from today till
you retire.
Also, it may work for those
whose retirement is years away than those who are retiring soon.
House price
By keeping three things into consideration,
i.e., the take-home income, the down payment amount and the home loan interest
rate, one can figure out the worth of the house that one can afford to buy. If
one is buying a home with a down payment of 20 per cent and the rest on a home
loan, and also keeping the income-to-EMI ratio in mind, the affordability
arrives at about 4.5 to 5 times of one's annual income. In other words, one is
buying a house which costs about five times of his income. Therefore, when real
estate prices go up, affordability becomes a concern, unless income also moves
in tandem.
Home loan
Before lending, the lender finds out the
borrower's existing loan commitments. Banks don't lend an amount on which the
EMI's will be more than 45-50 per cent of the monthly take-home pay. And this
includes any other existing EMI's on car or personal loans.
How much to invest in equity
It's often said that one must use the '100 minus
age' approach as far as investing in equities goes. So for a 30-year-old, 70
per cent of his investible surplus should be in equities, while the rest in
debt. As one ages, the allocation towards equities falls as it is considered
more volatile than debt. It could be a good way to begin but over time,
allocation into equities will depend on the tenure of your goals.
Net worth
Net worth is your assets minus your
liabilities, and your assets include not only your cash, investments and home
equity, but also tangible property such as jewellery and furniture. Your house
remains a contentious issue as far as adding it to the net worth figure goes.
So it's better to exclude it while calculating your net worth, unless you are
ready to move to a smaller house in future.
Diversification
When it comes to mutual fund schemes, investors
are known to hold a many as 30 different ones. Over-diversification may not
necessarily help in obtaining the right result for the portfolio. J.L. Evans
and S.H. Archer have shown in their research that most diversification benefits
are obtained with about 10 funds. Adding more funds still provides benefits,
but the gains seem marginal compared to the drawbacks of managing the enlarged
portfolio.
Rule of 72
To calculate the number of years in which your
investment will double -- it is known as the rule of 72 -- simply divide 72 by
the rate of return that you can generate.
So at 12 per cent return, you can double your
money in six years. No. of years = 72/12 = 6.
To know the time required to triple the principal amount,
the rule of 114 is used.
The amount of time needed to triple your money
would be = 114/12 = 9.5 years.
Rule of 72: Number of years to double =
72/expected return.
Rule of 114: Number of years to triple =
114/expected return.
Rule of 144: Number of years to quadruple =
144/expected return
Conclusion
There's no 'one size fits all' approach. Your
finances need to be personalized according to your profile & situations. Once you have made a start using these rules, you are on the right path for financial planning.
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Created on Jan 12th 2018 06:23. Viewed 787 times.