FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT FOR WOMEN
(PART 4 OF 4)
7. PERIODIC AND CAREFUL MONITORING
· Keep upgrading your knowledge of personal finance.
· Keep updating your own financial planner.
· Have a disciplined portfolio by sticking to an asset allocation plan.
· Monitor every investment periodically and carefully, for weeding out the non-performing ones and replacing them with ones doing better.
· Alter your debt and equity components as you grow older and with changing circumstances.
· Keep tabs on changes in rules and laws in taxation, banking, insurance and the stock market as they will impact your finances.
· You should know your tax slabs, filing deadlines, and also how the calculations are made.
· You should also know how much tax you will need to pay at what stage of an investment product’s life, be it a house, mutual funds, fixed deposits, gold or bonds.
8. STRATEGIC TIPS
· You should know how much you spend every month and have a budget.
· You should save 4-6 months expenses as an emergency corpus.
· You should know the premium you are paying for your insurance policy.
· If you are working and have dependents, you should be insured for 5-6 times your annual salary.
· You should know the investments of your father/husband where you and your kids are a joint holder/nominee.
· Saving for your retirement is more important than saving for your kids.
· The younger you are when you start investing, the lesser you will need to invest, given the power of compounding and the length of time till retirement.
· Single younger women have the ability to take on higher risk and can allocate a bigger portion to equity and equity-related investments.
· Your short-term goals could include education, a wedding, buying a car, going on a vacation, etc.
· Your medium-term goals could include financing your kids’ education and buying a home.
· Your long-term goal could be your kids’ marriage and your retirement planning.
· Fixed deposits, bond funds and liquid funds are better during periods of high market volatility.
· Growth investments like equities, property and equity mutual funds provide attractive returns when economic conditions are expected to be more favourable.
· Investment in real estate and gold is not sufficient for your retirement planning.
· Mutual funds make for good long-term investment instruments.
· Systematic monthly investments can help in building a sizeable corpus over the years.
· Mutual funds offer a wide choice and the initial and periodic investment amounts are also low.
· You can boost your increments during your annual increments and bonus.
· You should know the standard deduction of income tax for women.
· Include tax-saving strategies in your overall financial plan.
· For women closer to retirement, invest in less risky and safer investment options, such as liquid and debt mutual funds and fixed deposits, for a steady flow of income at the later stages of life.
· Analyze your investments every few years as goals could need to be re-prioritized with changing lifestyles, needs and age.
· Remember to pass on your learning to your kids, especially daughters.
· Financially savvy girls will become independent and secure women.