It is not unusual to expect better returns on your investments. Money saved is not money earned. You must put your money into myriad investment options and wait for it to grow. However, not all investment options may be right or may not yield returns in sync with your financial goals. This explains the need to re-evaluate your investment solutions and rejig them in a way that will help you create wealth within the stipulated period.
Earning better returns on money is not easy. This is why you must not only rethink your investments but reconsider the way you make your investment decisions. Some of them include:
Be clear about your financial goals
You just do not decide your financial goals suddenly unless you know why you made them in the first place. Planning financial goals that cannot be measured or are not achievable within the stipulated period does not help. However, how this all happens depends on how you decide to earn, save and invest your money. Unless you earn enough money, you cannot hope to save and invest in the right options. Apart, you must take care to divide your goals into short-term and long-term financial goals.
Investing in debt funds and liquid instruments helps to garner enough to meet your immediate need for finances while allocating a part of your earnings to equity funds and long-term financial instruments like the public provident fund (PPF), National Savings Certificates, and more meet your need for money in the long run. Also, unless we are clear about what we want, we cannot afford to think of taking loans too that we must also repay without affecting the regularity of our investments.
Invest before you spend
As opposed to the common trend of saving and investing whatever is left of your earnings, you must first think to save and invest before deciding where you must spend the remaining money. If you are unable to stick to this rule, simply automate your investments to the date within a day or two of your salary date. This way, your investments will continue unbiased of where you may decide to spend your money later.
Check your investments’ status
It is not enough to invest. You must check your investments regularly to gauge their status and evaluate if they are doing well. See if they are performing as per your expectations. Be aware of the investment tenure. If you have invested in mutual funds, give them at least five years to perform before you decide to redeem them. Debt mutual funds that put money in fixed market instruments usually have a limited investment tenure, thus, affecting your immediate and short-term financial needs.
Have a budget in mind
Without a budget in place, you cannot possibly decide how much to save and how much to spend. Your expenses will not only include your debt repayments like loans or credit card debt but also your daily routine and essential expenditure. This means that you must be aware of the piling of credit card debt while using your card to pay for your expenses. Refrain from using your card to repay your loans or invest money in the market. Also, track both your expenses so that you can cut back on your non-essential expenses when needed.
Seek professional advice
You must not feel ashamed to seek professional advice. While taking tips from social media handles for investing is a big “No” and must be avoided, approaching a professional financial advisor to discuss your life goals and then planning your finances is the best thing you can look forward to. Also, more than investing, you must be careful about your taxation too.
Remember “A penny saved is a penny earned”, thus, implying how investing in tax-saving measures can help you escape the brunt of heavy taxation too. It is often better and a lot way cheaper to seek professional advice than lose money by investing it through a “hit and trial” method.
Also, not all your plans may go as per your decision, which is why seeking advice regarding insurance is also crucial. Talk to your advisor about your health insurance needs and how much money you believe would be enough to take care of your dependents’ needs in your absence.
Master your money decisions so that you do not end up being a slave to your money requirements. This is possible only when you are utmost alert with your earnings, savings, and investments and sway away your focus from unwanted expenses.
