How to Setting SMART Financial Goals – Complete Guide?

By
Hemant Beniwal
68

Someone rightly said, “An investor without GOAL is like a traveler without a destination.” But setting financial goals is not an easy task so let’s simplify the whole process of financial goal setting – smart way, You can check what are financial goals, few financial goals examples & finally you can download a financial goal planner worksheet which will help you in converting your dreams into reality. Also, note returns cannot be your goal in investing.

How to Setting SMART Financial Goals - Complete Guide?

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How to Set Smart Financial Goals

Recently in one of the Soft skill Learning workshops, people were asked a question, that what they would like to see of themselves in the coming 5 years and 10 years in their professional lives. The majority of the answers that came were very vague in nature like I would be a good manager, a human being, successful or I will develop leadership skills, etc. Best brains were not able to picture their own future or could not set a goal today that they would achieve in the coming years. I think the same happens when we confront a more valid question about our financial goals.

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What are Financial Goals?

If I ask you what you will like to become financially in the future, the majority will say just one word RICH, but how much rich? Rich with what, assets or cash? 2 houses or 1 farmhouse or Rs 2 cr for retirement or Rs 50 lakhs each for the wedding of two daughters? This is common when we are not clear of our financial goals. And clarity comes when we actually plan financial goals and understand them. Financial Goals are set first and then a road map is created to achieve them. But again the basic question – how do I set my financial goals?

How to Setting SMART Financial Goals

Check – Importance of Financial Planning

Financial Goal Setting – the Smart way

Any goal, financial or otherwise will become a Smart Goal when you add the following features:

Smart Financial Goals are SPECIFIC

As mentioned above, being “Rich” is a goal but not a smart financial goal. If I put it like this that I wish to plan for my retirement, so that I am financially independent – it becomes more specific. The statement specifies “richness” and the time by when you want to achieve the goal. But again this is not a smart goal. Something is missing. Let’s see what more it needs to become a smart goal.

Smart Financial Goals are MEASURABLE

Besides being specific one should also be able to assign a number to the goal. Instead of saying “financially independent” it should define the money in a number of terms. This is not simple as it looks. When you wish to assign a cost to future expense, you need to guess or calculate the numbers taking a few realistic assumptions like inflation and interest rates. These assumptions can also vary. For example, the inflation rate on Education can be much higher in comparison of buying a car. So it is an expert’s job. But when you assign numbers a goal becomes measurable and comparable also. So for the above example if I say (in present value) – I wish to buy a new car of Rs 10 Lakh and a house worth Rs 60 Lakhs in Goa.

Check This Video for Better Understand why Financial Goals needed

Smart Financial Goals are ACHIEVABLE & ATTAINABLE

Only decorating the goal with numbers is not smart work. A Smart goal needs to be thoughtful and has to be seen in the light of practicality as well. We have to see if this is attainable or not. It should not be an out-of-reach dream that one starts to work upon and expect magic to help. Again expert advice is required here and he can help you to understand its reality. Also sometimes a non-achievable may be adjusted and can be made achievable. So we need to sit and give deep thinking and even ask for expert help. Again for the above example – can a person earning Rs 30000/- per month having 2 kids to support and a monthly expense of Rs 20000/- achieve the above-mentioned goals? What if he has not started saving till today? Or what if he is bound to get some inherited money? So under all these circumstances, which are unique for all individuals, we need to check the attainability criteria of a goal to make it a smart financial goal.

Read More – key Reasons To Hire A Financial Planner

Smart Financial Goals are REALISTIC & RELEVANT

Goals should be realistic – you can’t say I will build my retirement goals by investing in the last 5 years of my job or I will invest Rs 500 per month to achieve my retirement corpus of 3 crores.

Smart Financial Goals are TIMELY or TIME-BOUND

This is the last step of financial goal setting but is very important. There should be some time limit attached to every goal. For exp, I want to buy a car in 5 years or I want to buy a house in 2030.

Prioritizing Smart Financial Goals

Why are financial goals important? Life is not like a play script. It does not dwell on one theme or issue. It is full of phases, events, and happenings. In financial life, one has to invest today for things he would require in a very short span like annual premiums or kids hostel fees and for the expense that would behave long spans like kid’s marriage or retirement. Thus goals need to be put on the priority list. Once these are recorded on the time frame they can be classified as immediate goals, mid-term goals, and long-term financial goals.

Financial Goals Examples (Indian Context)

Short Term Financial Goals:

  • Making a contingency fund or emergency fund for the family.
  • Saving for school admission of kids.
  • Saving for purchase in the near term like a domestic appliance or for treatment of a recently diagnosed ailment.
  • Saving for life insurance premiums.
  • Investments for tax planning. (actually, it’s mean but people think it’s a goal)

Medium Term Financial Goals:

  • Retiring a loan or debt.
  • Planning for a foreign trip or a vacation.
  • Saving for college or pre-college expenses for your kid.
  • Saving for starting a family in coming years.
  • Planning for a new or change of vehicle.
  • Saving for home/property investment.

Long Term Financial Goals:

  • Building retirement corpus. (both, expenses and medical included)
  • Saving for providing inheritance.
  • Saving for daughter’s marriage etc.
  • Planning a home for post-retirement life or a farmhouse.

Have you set your SMART Financial goals?

Before I close, try answering these questions:

  • Have you decided your financial goals?
  • Have you checked are these goals Smart?
  • Have you prioritized and taking action to your financial goals?

If “NO” is the answer to any of these questions, it’s time you take a pen & writing pad. Download Financial Goals Worksheet & start making smart goals.

Financial Goals Planner Worksheet – Download

Smart Tip: Someone rightly said, “An investor without GOAL is like a traveler without a destination.” The most important part of financial goal setting is writing them. Writing makes goals visible & tangible – now goals are not just a thought but a commitment. Go & write your smart goals. Keep this sheet at a place where it keeps reminding of your commitment. You should also discuss this sheet with your Financial Advisor Or Financial Planner.

Once you have set the Smart Financial Goals now the herculean task of achieving these goals starts. It is a lengthy discipline and is impossible to pen down it in this article, but I will try to write another article on how to achieve financial goals.

Returns cannot be your Financial Goals

In a seminar, where I was talking to a group of young investors, I repeatedly told them to have Financial Goals before they start investing. Annoyed by my repetition, one young guy stood and said, my goal is to achieve 30% returns per annum. Can you help me to achieve that?

Now let me clarify his statement to all of you.

• The world’s richest and the most successful investor of all times “Warren Buffet” could not achieve 30% return consistently over his 50 years of investing.
• His rate of return on investment is more 24.7% p.a.
• If you would have invested Rs.1 lac with Warren Buffet 50 years before, you would be worth more than Rs. 621 crore today. This is just equal to what was his compounding rate of 24.7%.
• But if your rate of return would have been 30%, your 1 lac would have become closer to Rs.5000 Crore.

Financial Goal Setting

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For god sake, I can’t give that much return to people, if someone can achieve that, please contact me, I shall give all what I have. For sure, I will give Rs. 1 lac.

What this young guy said was not new to me and most investors think that they are investing because they need to earn high returns. In fact, I thought the young guy had at least an idea of how much return he wanted to earn, most people we talk just land up asking for a HIGHER return. There is no definition of HIGHER RETURN that they have.

Investing just for earning return cannot be anyone’s target or AIM. Having more money cannot make you happy, but fulfilling your dreams can make you happy. All of us have certain dreams in our life and those dreams need to be fulfilled to lead a happy life. In the hindsight, we all land up investing for our goals only, it is the long-term Financial goals for which we don’t plan or for that matter, we are not clear.

Let me explain to you in other words.

• We all have a savings account and we keep money there. Even though we may not really need the money, but still we are comfortable to keep the money there even at the lowest return.
• The reason we have our money there is one of our financial goals, that is EMERGENCY. So even if we are getting high returns elsewhere, we prefer to meet our goal than earn a high return.

I am not trying to say that we should not be hunting for returns. But returns are by-product of investing, the main aim is to achieve our Financial Goals. Typically people go wrong in Financial Planning when it comes to their Long Term Goals. Achieving long-term financial goals involves careful study of a few factors.

• What is the present cost of that goal
• What will be the inflation factor over the years
• What product mix we have to take so that the goal can be comfortably met
• What should be the periodic investment towards that goal
• What should be the PLAN B in case of any mishappening

Just aiming at returns will not lead to goals. If I ask you, my aim is to drive fast, would you agree. Or if I say, I want to take the train that has the highest speed. It sounds odd. You definitely need speed when it comes to traveling but speed cannot be your goal. Your goal is the destination that you want to reach.

Also at times, driving should be a mix of speed and caution, we should strive for balance and not just speed. Similarly, we always advocate for a Balanced Portfolio which will help you in achieving your Financial Goals.

Keep your asset allocation intact and you will then not only achieve your goals but also have desired speed as well.

Hope you enjoyed the article – if you have any questions related to smart financial goal setting, feel free to add them in the comment section.

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68 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Hemant
    Yes, I have enjoyed this post.This is truly a very comprehensive guide. I am looking forward to add my comments which going to be perhaps as comprehensive as this post.

  2. @Hemant

    THE BEST ARTICLE in 2012. A lot to learn, apply, and share from this. Cant praise it more, but its one of the best tool which can be used, not only for FINANCIAL LIFE but also PERSONAL LIFE..

    Ps: Between you and me, i have printed the FINANCIAL GOAL WORKSHEET and taking it to a client with whom i have meeting to discuss insurance and investment – and hope to close the deal with ease through the tool 🙂

    • Thanks Dhawal.
      I am not sure it will be useful for you or not but definitely your clients will find it immense helpful 🙂

      • Hi Hemant
        I have also seen the work sheet and found it very useful.But I think investors will be able to take its advantage only if they discuss it with some financial planner.

        • Hi Anil,
          A financial planner can help a person in identifying & achieving his goals but still this article will give food for thought.
          “An investor without GOAL is like a traveler without a destination.” and we know most of the people are in this category.

          • Hi Hemant
            From the type of comments we see from investors investing in mutual funds it is clear that most are investing without a goal without any concept of time frame.
            Goals are the basis of financial planning and pillars of investment structure. Hopefully this will be the topic of your next post.

  4. Hi Hemant
    It has been mentioned in the post that smart financial goals are achievable and attainable .No doubt this is a very valid point but I would like to add one more word to it and say that Smart Financial Goals are Achievable, Attainable and Adjustable.
    Setting Smart Financial Goals is typically not an ongoing process .One has to set the goals and begin working towards them. However, review of progress towards the goals can happen typically once a year. If the progress towards the goals is not satisfactory then some adjustment in the goals needs to be done. A goal can be pushed further back where possible. For example the time frame of buying a house can be increased from five years to seven years and goal corpus of Rs 80 lakhs for the house can be reduced to Rs 65 lakhs.
    Often investors make the mistake of setting financial goals that are too rigid. Unforeseen events can sometimes throw the goal off the course. This can destroy investor’s motivation to keep going. This is an unnecessary mistake which must we avoided.
    Goals have to be treated just as goals. One can not always achieve them 100%. Goals can be achieved early, late or right on time. One has to always keep working towards the goals. Many things can get in the way. Some things can also help. Goals are not meant to be win or lose situations. There is no need to stress about them.
    One may need to adjust goal corpus or time line depending on some unavoidable circumstances. But that is alright. All goals should be adjustable.
    Change is the basic law of life. The transition from one stage to another means frequent reexamination of financial goals and means of achieving them. The future remains unknown and unknowable. At best one can plan for financial goals on the basis of partial information and uncertain assumptions. Thus it is important to be flexible to reassess the financial goals on a periodic basis.
    There are different paths to get to the same destination .So one has to be prepared for detours and roundabouts while marching toward the goals.
    Conflicting goals are a fact of life. One must do the best one can do to resolve this difficulty by allocating the available resources in the most efficient manner possible to those goals that have the highest priority.
    Setting SMART goals helps to distinguish real wants and needs from day dreams.

    • Hi Anil,
      Adjustable is the right word & it is very close to achievable/attainable so everyone should review their plan once in a year and adjust goals if required. Prioritizing goals will help people in differentiating needs vs wants.

  5. Sir I want to ask one querie of my friend.he is 32 years old and invest rs15000 a month in mutual funds.he have also been investing rs70000 per year in the ppf for the past 6 yrs.two years ago,he bought hdfc young star super for his son,who is now 10 yrs old.he pay a premium of about rs20000 a year for a cover of rs4lakh and the policy matures after 10yrs.should he stop paying the premium and invest in the stock market,or should he countinue with the ulip?plz advice.

    • Hi Manish,
      I appreciate that you are trying to help your friend – but I think he should come forward & ask the question. Anyways young star us an expensive policy & prima facie I don’t find any reason to continue. He can pay 3rd year premium & surrender the policy. He should also buy a term plan & accidental policy asap.

      • Hello Hemant,
        I am a bit confused regarding the advice to “pay the 3rd year premium and surrender the policy”. By surrendering what I understand is that the policy will no longer be in force. If so why pay the 3rd year premium? What will be achieved by it? Also, after payment of 3rd year premium, the policy can I think become “paid up” in which case the policy will continue to be in force, ie, give cover, but additional premiums need not be paid and as long as there is sufficient balance (to cater for the deductions) it will continue. Wouldn’t this be a better option?
        Thanx and best regards,
        Praveen

  6. This is a SUPERB article Hemantji. Sort of a re-visit to the book you gifted me on Financial Planning during those good ole contest days. Thanks to you then and now 🙂
    One formula I would like to share that I always wished someone could put it in their blog. This formula tells you the worth of your investment after certain years with a certain % of return every year.
    { 8 X (1 + 10% ) ^ 25 }
    Where 8 is 8 lacs of our investment
    Where 10% is the rate of interest or return per annum
    Where 25 years is the investment time frame

    The total will give you return on initial investment after 25 years assuming your average return is 10% pa.

    I believe you can use this same formula to calculate how much you would need in future assuming certain inflation (instead of interest rate) if something costs xyz in today’s money.

    This way one can set a MEASURABLE goal. This is only basic, please speak to your financial planner if you have doubts, instead of assuming something.

    If there are any error in the above information, please correct. Thanks for sharing.

    • Hi Mansoor,
      Thanks for appreciating but I am disappointed with such a poor response on this article 🙁
      People don’t want to read or learn such an important thing – they still feel putting some money here & there will be more than sufficient.
      Thanks for sharing the formula…

      • Hi Hemant
        This reminds me of what the author of the book -The Rules Of Wealth says :
        Most people are too lazy to be wealthy.They may say that they want to be wealthy, but they don’t. They are not prepared to put in the work, study, learn, put in the effort and make it a determined and concentrated focus of their life.
        Yes, they want the money but only if it comes to them by accident, by luck, by chance.

    • Hi Maderan,
      There is no comparison between both the things other than a regular payment. Chit Funds are very risky…

  10. Hemant,

    I have been following your articles and comments for quite a while now and they are really insightful.

    However, I am not sure how one can set a financial goal for the long term. I mean I can set a goal today, but it can change to a bigger one next year. It’s more like a moving goal post really.

    Currently, the model I am following is as follows. I am 38 years old.

    LIC policies – Coverage of 20 lakhs, premiums of 90,000 a year.
    Term insurance – Coverage of 1 crore
    SIP – 40,000 a month in Fidelity, HDFC, ICICI and IDFC
    RD – 20,000 a month
    FD’s – 20,000 a month
    PPF – 70,000 a year
    Gold bullion – 100 grams a year.
    Silver – 4 kgs a year.
    Real estate – A 30×40 property every 2 years.

    Now, even after doing all this, I am not sure what the goal is. My question to you is whether following such a plan is something that you would recommend?

    • Hi BP,
      Normally goals don’t change much in future value – but yes year on year basis current value will change. Secondly as our life & financial life is dynamic – one should revisit his goals sheet ever alternate years, there can be a possibility that your priorities may change.

    • Hi BP
      What you are doing is not something strange.Most investors do the same thing.They do investments first in all sorts of assets and then try to match their investments with their goals. Actually it should be the other way round. First you should map your goals on different time frames and then start your investments as the investments for different time frames are different. This is the most effective and efficient way and is very critical for people with limited resources. In your case what you are doing may be fine as you do not seem to have any limitatation of resources.

  12. Dear Hemant,

    Nice Article. Its like a eye openier for so many peoples. Basically your explanation was very good & trustable. Till now i am feeling that, life is nothing but Personal Life (Goals) & Professional life (Goals), but after interacting your article i came to one more important thing is there in life i.e., Financial life (Goals).

    Regards
    Sekhar

    • Hi Sekhar,
      Setting goals is important in all parts of our like – so download worksheet & start noting your goals.

  13. Hi Hemant
    I have gone through the case study of financial planning which appeared in the media recently. My first observation is that we suffer from gender bias even in financial planning. It has been mentioned that we must make adequate provisions for girl’s education as she can not be expected to take education loan whereas in the case of a boy education loan can be considered. Why do we suffer from this type of mindset?
    How do we arrive at the figure of expenses for education?Do we consider engineering or medical education?What about education in India Vs abroad? How do we know the type of education the kid is going to have?
    Regarding expenses on marriage also it is very difficult to predict.Moreover, there is a tendency on the part of working girls to delay their marriages. How do we account for so many variables?
    I feel we can make only a very rough estimate for these goals and to have really SMART goals is not an easy task.

      • Hi Hemant
        Yes, I got it.
        Then you become gender biased. What?? But you said “There has been a paradigm shift in the thought process of people and generally they don’t make any difference between son and daughter.” Still there are some societal concerns which many people don’t want to overlook. For e.g. spending heavily on a daughter’s marriage. You may compromise on the son’s marriage but for the daughter’s marriage no parent wants to cut corners.
        What you have said is correct but things seem to change a bit now.I am sharing my experience here.
        Recently I attended two marriage functions. In one I was a guest from the boy’s side and in the other from the girl’s side.In both cases I learnt that the parents had equally shared the expenses.
        My one brother in law has a daughter.She took a bank loan for her engineering education.With in a few years of getting a job she saved enough money to pay back her loan as well as to fund her higher education.

      • Hi Hemant
        After reading your comments about the financial planning case studies we see in newspapers and personal finance magazines I am really surprised to know that these are build on limited information with no interaction with people. How can we have a meaningful case study like this?A case study just to fill the pages of the paper/magazine without any interaction with the client is complete farce.No wonder these so called case studies hardly leave any impact on the reader.

  14. Dear Hemant

    I m very impressed by your asessments and evaluations. Hope you can surely clear my confusions and help me get on the right track.

    I am 40 yrs old, a salaried professional with a large joint family to loook after. Until october last year, though I was in 4-5 lacs bracket, I literally struggled with any type of savings. But now i have got a good opurtunity and now I am in a annual salary range of 10 lakhs approx.
    I have four children eldest being 13 yrs(twins) and the youngest at 8 yrs(twins). I would like to request your help in planning my insurances and others for tax saving . After going through different articles on the net I am surely more confused than having any clarity over things.
    All in all I understand with clarity that I should buy 2-3 term plans (not assurance or enowment plans) from different companies for life insurance. Mutual Fund, equity, debt, SIP, etc are very confusing. Please help with your suggestions.

    Thanks and Best regards
    John

    • Hi John
      The types of investments you do depends on your savings,objectives, time frame and risk appetite.In the absence of this information it is difficult to say anything.

  15. Deatr Hemant
    Earlier I was never able to save anything for me or for my future due to my overloaded responsibilities and liabilities.
    But now i wish to save something and keep it as floating money(5-6 lakhs) first. For my family, I would get term insurance plans (2-3 ) of sum assured 50 lakhs.
    Also, wish to have something saved for my children and their studies (if you think, this is right). My Company accountant has told me that I will have high tax liability this time, so will wish to save maximum of it. Also I need to plan sfor my post retirement period.

    I know that I am late by atleast 10 years in my career but surely wish to overcome the late lapses as fast as possible. In terms of MF, SIP, ULIP etc I don’t have any clear idea about the type /company. At this stage, I am in no condition to take high risks but anything moderate which gives me good return with high safety probability, will do. I have started a RD account for 30000/- , 6 month term.
    I also wish to have a second hand car(as it is a depriciating property) and then a house.
    Please help me walk this unknown turf. Anything you suggest, will be the best invaluable thing for me.
    Thanks very much.

    Best Regards
    John

    • Hi John
      You have not mentioned anything regarding your age as well as your current savings.Retirement is the most important goal.Better late than never.To start with invest via SIP route in two balanced funds like HDFC Balanced and BSL 95.Later on you can add some diversified equity mutual funds to your portfolio. ULIP is a very costly product.Don’t invest in it.

  16. Dear Hemant

    What an Article!!! whew…
    Thank you for doing the most difficult thing in financial planning.
    Helping others understand “What should be the financial goals of a person and how to set them?”

    I have downloaded the sheet Hemant, but I find my mind is cluttered as too many things are running around at the same time.

    My monthly salary is 30000

    As of now I have taken following steps:
    1) Term Insurance: 55 lacs sum assured with additional 50 lacs accidental death(i-protect from IPRU); Annual Premium : 9000
    2) FD of 60000 for 1yr
    3) FD of 60000 for 5 yr( tax saving)
    4) Recurring Deposit of 5000/month for 2 yrs

    I am 28, only child of my parents and about to be married this year, staying in a rented place in Mumbai away from my parents as of now.
    My fiance is also working with salary of 8000/month which might increase a bit in near future.

    I want to know as to how do I start my financial planning and what steps do I take to achieve the same?

    Your inputs will be a huge help.

    Thanks and Regards
    Swapnil

    • Hi Swapnil
      Retirement is the most important goal and you must start saving as much as you can at the earliest to benefit from the power of compounding.You can put around 70% of your savings in diversified equity mutual funds.

  17. Hi Hemant,

    Thanks for the nice article. But I have a quick clarification from my Side.

    I was just planning to also have chits as part of my portfolio.

    Say I invest 82 K an year and half and I get 96 K at end of 20 Months. I find the returns here are guaranteed and a safe ones and comparatively good for Mutual funds. Kindly help me on this.

    • Hi Sachin,
      Who told that chits are safe – I don’t think one should consider them for some serious investment.

        • Hi Sachin,
          Its almost unorganized kind of thing & everything depends on the credibility of organizer. In past there are several instances where organiser did some fraud in chit funds.

  19. Hi Hemant,
    Can you please Suggest top performing FMP in india( for period of more than 1-3 yrs ), just like you have a made a list of top performing equity linked mutual funds and ELSS.
    Regards
    Dr.Chavadi

    • Hi
      There can not be any such list as FMPs are close ended products & yields are unknown. Returns depended on when you have invested rather than which AMC you have chosen.

  20. Dear Hemant,

    One request for you.
    Can you send the writable copy of the pdf file “Financial Goals Worksheet”.
    Now a days people keep portfolio and other information on online account.
    so if you can make this pdf writable we can fill this pdf and keep it in our online account.

    Please let me know

  21. Dear Hemant,
    All your posts are elucidated with information which guide the readers to understand the financial definitions. I have a very basic question to ask you. I am a PhD scholar with a monthly stipend of Rs 21000. I have zero savings till date, as I was solely involved in re-paying my education loan. Now as I am free from the above burden, the planning for my financial goal is in my mind which is to accumulate a buffer of Rs 150,000 to 200,000. This is the amount which I may need after one and half year, if in case, my research work is stretched for a period of 6-8 months time without the payment of scholarship.

    I would require your suggestion to plan my savings through various suitable channels. I must mention that the scholarship is paid only as a lump sum after every 3-5 months (irregularly) which is a big constraint against the planning. I hope you would surely help me out.

  22. Hi Amit,

    I will try to answer your query.
    Based on above your goal is a short term goal.
    Your SMART goal is let us say you want Rs. 150000 Emergency Fund after 18 months.
    You need to state what are your current Expenses per month and based on this what is your savings per month.
    Since your Goal is short term whatever you invest will be in debt instrument.
    Options are: FD’s, Recurring Deposit or Debt Fund.
    You can expect to get a return of 8%-9% per annum.

  23. Hi Hemant,
    I am 47 yrs old salaried person. I have a few SIPs where I am investing Rs. 24,000/month. My organisation is debiting Rs. 20,000/month to my PF A/C.
    I want to make 10 crores by next 10-12 yrs. Could you please help me how to progress?
    Regards,

    • It’s a highly optimistic target. By doing simple calculation you need to invest around 35 lakhs per year for next 12 years assuming 15% returns. Even if you assume returns at 18%, which is again very optimistic, you will have to invest 29 lakhs per annum for next 12 years.

  24. Hello

    Im a 27 yr old salaried person and so is my fiance. He is earning arnd 50k per month and im earning 25k per month. Now most probably we will be getting married this year in December and due to family oppositions we will have too do it ourselves. So after keeping in mind our future needs and expenses I thought to invest 10k in RD account and 7500 in ELSS and 1500 in Term Plan (LIC) for my bf and for myself 1500 in ELSS, 1250 in Icici ULIP (which i had bought 3 yrs ago), 5k in MF ( for investment purpose and not tax benefit) and 2250 in RD account. Now, our immidetiate future need would be marriage and obviously honeymoon 😛 and expenses thereafter. Also our short term/medium term goal is to buy house/flat. one we have our own roof, definitely my goal gonna change to buy property for investment purposse though my fiance dream is to have a farmhouse in next 15-20 years or so. Could you please let me know whther my plan for short term and medium term is effective or not and what more i can do for longterm goals. P.S. We both love travelling so vacations abroad gonna be part of our fianancial planning after we are done with INDIA. 🙂

  25. Hi Mr Hemant . read your article , found it very informative . I too have done wrong investments. Can it b rectified? pl suggest

    • Hi Munira,

      Rectification cane be decided on the base of what is the mistakes related to? If you can elaborate more then only a proper guidance is possible.

  26. Dear Hemant,

    Pls go thru the below investments & advise what else is lacking in my portfolio as I believe due to some wrong calculation, my portfolio seems to have too many ULIPS & one retirement solution missing.

    MY INVESTMENTS:

    ULIP Plans:

    1) Aviva (Life saver plus) : Rs. 15000/- Tenure–10 yrs (Started in 2008)
    2) Aviva (Young Scholar) : Rs 15000/- Tenure– 10 yrs (Started in 2009)
    3) Birla sun life (Platinum plus) : Rs 25000/- Tenure–10 yrs (Started in 2010)
    4) HDFC (crest) : Rs 50000/- Tenure–10 yrs (Started in 2010)
    5) HDFC (pension super) : Rs 25000/- Tenure–25 yrs (Started in 2010)

    6) LIC (Money plus) : Rs 20000/. Tenure–10 yrs (Started in 2008 & STOPPED after 3 years of locking period) WHAT SHOULD BE DONE FOR THIS POLICY??

    TERM PLAN: (AVIVA–i-LIFE): Sum assured–ONE CRORE, premium–12800/- Tenure– 32 yrs. (Started in 2011)

    TRADITIONAL Plans:

    1) LIC (Jeevan anand- 3 lakh sum assurance) : Rs 10000/- Tenure–30yrs (Started in 2004)
    2) Lic (1 lakh sum asssurance ): Rs 5500/- Tenure–20yrs (Started in 2005)
    3) Lic (1 lakh sum assurance ); Rs 4500/- Tenure–22yrs (Started in 2006)
    4) Lic (1 lakh sum assurance ); Rs 6800/- Tenure–15yrs (Started in 2006)

    5) LIC ( Jeevan Ananad-3 lakh sum assur): Rs 24000/- Premium. Tenure–17 yrs. (Started in 2007 & STOPPED the policy after 3 years of locking period). WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO GET THE MONEY BACK???

    Pls go thru all the above & tell me how can I manage some fund from these lots to accomodate any other plan which is lacking in my portfolio??

    Thanks
    Sanjeev Sinha
    09811200000

    • Hi Sanjeev,

      The list is too long and policies are too many.You should curtail these and avoid traditiional plans which at time fails to beat even the inflation.

  27. HEMANTGI last now only went through articles written by you. very usful for every one.

    SIVAKUMAR P

  28. Hi Hemanth,

    I am regularly following your suggestions, really its very helpful to me. still more Iam having some douts, please suggest me, Present my age 30 years,married & my salary is 20k, Up to last month I have invested on gold (3k per month) & RD (2k per month).From this month I have started investing in SIP (Templeton India Equity Income Fund(2k), Reliance Quant Plus Fund(G),ICICI Pru Focused BlueChip Eq Fund(G),HDFC Prudence Fund(G) each 1ooo/- Rs per month ) total 5k Iam keeping on this. can you suggest me is this right thing Im doing? please help me out.In next month I will be blessed with baby.So suggest me in every aspects that I can do?

    Thanks in Advance.
    Vijay

  31. Hi hemant I am new to all this but learnt a lot from ur articles but got disaapointed by seeing the dates are u not adding new ones? Are u still active ? Still replying I have few queries

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