A Money Roadmap

Monika Halan March 17, 2003 00:00 IST A Money Roadmap -0001-11-30T00:00:00+05:53

A global state-of-the-art system of finance is knocking at the doors of Indian households. Its objective: to help people move away from products-based investing to life’s goals-based plans. The tool is called ‘financial planning’, a sophisticated yet simple technique that organises your money life into a harmonious network of various financial goals and financial products.

Financial planning is the process of charting out the money course of your life. It is a two-step process: first, you protect your current financial position; two, you build wealth towards financial goals, keeping the tax impact of investment decisions in mind.

The financial planning approach takes a ‘big-picture’ look at your life-cycle of income, expenses, saving, investment, taxation, housing, insurance and estate planning needs. The financial planning approach asks and answers questions like: how much insurance do I need? How much do I need to save today to meet all my future financial goals? In which instrument(s) should I put my savings? How does my tax position get affected by my...