Financial freedom — having sufficient savings, investments and cash flow for emergencies to manage the lifestyle an individual wants for themselves and their family. It is a crucial goal for many people. This also means budgeting to increase a nest egg that will let an individual retire or pursue any choice of career they want. This gives the liberty to be not controlled by the need to earn a certain amount every year. Here are 5 steps to attain financial moksha on the occasion of Mahashivratri.
Without any financial emergencies, or escalating debt due to overspending there could be a constant burden that can keep them from reaching their goals. When a major crisis—such as an unexpected health crisis, or a pandemic—completely disturbs all plans, additional holes in safety nets can be disclosed.
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Problems occur to almost everyone, but there are 5 habits that can put an individual on their path towards financial moksha.
Being Financially Independent
Being financially independent means having access to enough income, savings or investments to live off for the period that crisis stays. This gives an ultimate power to meet one’s obligation without depending on a paycheck. 5 steps to follow so an individual can move towards financial moksha.
1. Set Life Goals
Everyone has different life goals, their financial planning should be around their goals and desires. They need to be specific and narrow down the amount and deadlines. The more specific they are in terms of setting up the deadlines, the easier it gets to plan for it. They need to get specific with their financial goals.
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Jot down these the objectives:
- What does an individual lifestyle require
- How much they should have in their bank account to make that possible
- What age is the deadline to save that corpus
The next step would be to count backwards from their deadline age to their current age and establish financial mileposts at regular intervals between the two dates. Jot down all corpus and deadlines carefully and put the goal sheet at the front of their financial binder.
2. Make a Monthly Budget
Preparing a monthly household budget and sticking with it. It is best to guarantee that all bills are paid and savings remain on track. It is also a daily routine that ensures the goals and actions revolve around the temptations to splurge and tackle it.
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3. Pay off Credit Cards in Full
Credit cards and other high-interest consumer loans are counterintuitive to wealth-building. It is important to make it a point to pay the full due amount. Student loans, mortgages, and similar loans usually have lower interest rates, paying it off may not be an emergency. However, paying these lower-interest loans on deadline is still crucial and important for CIBIL's score as well.
4. Build Automatic Savings
Start putting away some part of earnings into building an emergency corpus which will also grow with time, while also giving a stable return. Government-backed schemes that give fixed returns with high liquidity may be a suitable option depending on an individual’s age.
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Ideally, the fund for the emergency corpus and the retirement fund should be taken out of their paycheck the moment an individual gets it.
5. Live Below Means
Acing the frugal lifestyle means developing a focus on living a good lifestyle with less. Less is more, the philosophy behind it.
A minimalist lifestyle is not a challenge. It simply means learning to differentiate between the things an individual needs and the things they want and making small adjustments around it.