FOR MILLENNIALS Invest in Mutual Funds for Financial Freedom
The first step of
retirement planning is chalking out a financial plan by knowing how much to
save and invest early and regularly.
Till about 20- 30 years ago, a person never had to
think about his retirement planning. The reasons were many. Firstly, he would
always be working till the age of his retirement and secondly, he felt that his
working child would support him in his silver years. In worst case scenario, he
always had his joint family system to support him or his spouse.
However, things are a lot different now. With the
concept of a nuclear family setting in, the idea of a joint family or kids
living with their aged parents is fast diminishing. Secondly with an unclear
job scenario, most people don’t believe that they would complete their full job
term. This is where financial planning becomes all the more important.
START EARLY
Having time will help the power of compounding take
your side with all its might. When you are invested for a longer period of
time, your interest or dividend earnings are reinvested, thus helping you
generate a larger corpus over a period of time.
The investor also needs to make sure to invest a part
of his earnings in the mutual fund even when the situation looks tough. Once
you start with a plan, it is important to stick to it. Abandoning it midway
will set your retirement planning back by a few years.
The investor also needs to protect the family from
the risk of family bread earner not being around through a pure term policy
with an adequate sum assured, which is enough to sustain the family’s current
life style, when invested.
GOALBASED INVESTING
There are some basic rules for future financial
independence.
Firstly, one should be willing to set some clear
financial goals.
These could include short term, medium term as well
as long term ones. The next step is to have a clear idea about the current
financial position of the investor.
Depending on the same, once the goals are finalised
it would be easier to find out how much money is required to reach those goals.
This also helps to set the road map to reach those goals. This road map, along
with the risk taking ability of the person, would also define the nature of the
assets that would be required to reach those goals.
As per the nature of the goals and the plans to reach
those, the investor should acquire the assets. For example, for long term goals
like retirement planning or children’s education, systematic investment plans
(SIPs) in equity funds are the best options. Financial planners and advisors
say that for goals which are more than ten years in the future, it is always
advisable to go for SIPs in equity mutual funds. Also, regular investments done
over the long run can leverage the power of compounding as well as the
rupee-cost averaging process.
INCREASE CONTRIBUTION ON A
CONSISTENT BASIS
At the start of the financial planning, even if the
money being invested is small, as one’s salary income rises, he should also
increase the SIP contribution amount so that a large corpus is built over time.
Such an approach can ensure a better and secured financial future.
REVIEW YOUR INVESTMENTS ON A
REGULAR BASIS
The person should, at least twice a year, measure how
far he has reached in achieving those goals. Such reviews also help in timely
course correction in case of any divergence – defined course. The last but not
the least is to have a contingency plan for the most important goals. Make
suitable course correction, if required, after such reviews.
Although you can do any or all of the above yourself,
consulting a qualified and experienced financial advisor could be useful.
Times News Network 7AUG18
WHY SHOULD I INVEST IN MUTUAL FUNDS IF THESE INVESTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO
MARKET RISKS?
Swatantra Kumar explains: “Risk
comes from not knowing what you are doing,” is something noted American
business magnate, Warren Buffet believes in. The same is true for investing
too. If you are investing purely on gut feeling or on the advice of your
friends, then that certainly means taking great risk with your money. As an
investor, if you want complete safety of your money, you should be in
government bonds, fixed deposits, PPF and savings bank accounts, but the
returns from such instruments either barely meet or not meet at all the rate of
inflation. Investing in equity mutual fund is suitable for investors who are
seeking long term capital growth. It is one of the financial instrument which
can give you high inflation beating returns. If there is an increase in stock
prices, it would reflect in appreciation in the invested money. One can
accumulate good amount of wealth over a period of time.
TNN
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