Be your own financial planner

Goal-oriented approach

For over two years now, through this column we have been sharing with readers various concepts and principles of tax and money management. The basic idea being that while a major part of our life is devoted to earning a living, prudent financial planning will ensure that the money earned is appropriately conserved, earmarked and spread over the time span of one's needs.

To some, financial planning may sound esoteric. However, it is nothing but arranging your finances in light of your future goals. A goal-oriented approach almost certainly ensures that you achieve your objectives without having to compromise on your standard of living or in the worst case, some of the goals themselves.

Therefore, the thing to do is to put everything down on paper, in terms of cold numbers. This way, you have graduated from having a hazy idea about your requirement to being fully seized with at least a broad ballpark figure. Also, quantifying helps make the picture clearer by removing any subjectivity.

Image: Businessman and a businesswoman discussing blueprints in an office.

Text: A N Shanbhag
Images: Getty

Also see: Financial planning is teamwork