When you first start to save ?
Be regular with your investment. It is best to allocate a portion of your funds from your monthly income and make arrangements to transfer it immediately to another account, from where you can plan your fund allocation for each investment. Do not use the bank account that you utilise for your day to day expenses, draw money at the ATMs etc., for this purpose. Use a different account. This will help you organise your funds and quell the temptation to overspend.
A little bit of basic education is also needed for you to be in touch with what is happening on your personal finance front. Understand things that can affect your purse strings. Get a grip on fundamentals like inflation, tax rebates, tax laws and the effect they have on your monthly income and monthly budgets. Invest time in proper tax planning.
Be regular with your investment. It is best to allocate a portion of your funds from your monthly income and make arrangements to transfer it immediately to another account, from where you can plan your fund allocation for each investment. Do not use the bank account that you utilise for your day to day expenses, draw money at the ATMs etc., for this purpose. Use a different account. This will help you organise your funds and quell the temptation to overspend.
Watch where your expenses go. If at any point in time you feel there is a problem with reaching your monthly goals towards saving for investment, then rework your budget. Study the inflow and outflow of money on a day to day basis. At the end of every week and finally once at the end of a month, understand how much expense has gone towards these three aspects - shopping, eating out, entertainment, vacations/travel, medical expenses etc., which would be the most probable varying expense apart for your regular monthly expense.
If the expense was unexpected and not within your control try and maintain a more strict budget cutting down on some of your indulgences to adjust that amount toward the saving targets. If however you have been lax and thrown caution to the winds, breached the code of discpline, then go back to the basics and try to instill discipline in balancing your spending account.
However, do not be too harsh on yourself if it's a once in a while occurrence, after all we have but one life to live, so do live to the fullest but understand to do so a bit of smart money planning will go a long way to take care of a blissful retirement. So think if its worth and by all means spoil yourself a bit from time to time.
CXO Insights
