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Category: Personal Finances
A Personal Finance Checklist for Newlyweds
Getting married is one of the most important events in your life. There is so much to consider— the flowers, the jewel, the dress, the venue, the photography—the list goes on. Once you are back from the honeymoon, the daily life of marriage begins and also begins the challenges of managing the finances of a new household with your spouse. In recent studies, many couples ranked financial matters as one of the most essential factors when it comes to happiness in a marriage. It is one of the key factors causing marital stress.
1. Roaming few Govt Offices:
Not to Dampen the mood, but these are necessary:
a. Change of Address: You could have shifted to in law’s place or both of you could have shifted to a new place. So you need to make necessary change of address requests to your bank accounts, demat accounts, mutual fund accounts and so on (not to mention the other statutory stuff like Aadhar, PAN etc).
b. Change of Name: Generally, the women change their initial or the last name after their marriage. This need to be updated in all the accounts.
2. Best Way to avoid the blame game
Money is always the problem area in most of the marriages. what if you could avoid the blame game, by careful planning?
a. Assign Financial Responsibilities
You need to decide, who is going to take care of day to day money management i.e. paying bills, monitoring investments and the like. And who is concentrating on the long term goals.
b. Develop a Family Budget
You need to create a workable budget for your family that gives extra money and life. This budget should take into account both of your income, the individual expenses and family expenses.
c. Create an Emergency Fund
You need to accrue savings for some surprise situations like loss of job, break in job or sudden expenses like a major repair to your car or house. Generally, the emergency fund need to be in the range of 3 to 6 month of family expenses.
3. What if the unthinkable Happens !!
Dont take it as a bad omen, but if the unthinkable happens, be prepared:
a. Change of Nominee/Beneficiary: You may like to change the nominee to your spouse for the investments, accounts, insurance policies which you have taken before marriage.
b. Changes in Will: You also need to create a will if you have not created one so far. If you already have a will, then you need to revisit your will now.
c. Insurance Coverage: So far, you may not be having any dependents or less number of dependents. You could not have considered life insurance or settled for a lesser coverage. This is the time to look at life insurance seriously. When I say life insurance, I am talking about only term insurance and not the ULIPs.
4. Pathway to Abundance:
a. Debt Payoff Plan
Suppose, if you are already on debt(like Housing/Car/Study Loans), you need to create a debt payoff plan. This plan will help you in getting out of debt and staying out of debt.
b. Spend Smarter and Save More
Spending habits will be different from individual to individual. Both of you need to align your spending pattern and learn how to spend smarter and save more. When both are working and not having kids yet is the stage you have more income, especially more disposable income. Couples need to be careful and avoid overspending and save as much as possible during this stage. This will ease you out when you have more expenses at the later stage of your life.
c. Combined Financial Goals
Both of you need to spend some quality time discussing about the financial goals like buying a home, international vacation and the like. This is the right time to plan your retirement.
d. Chalk out a Financial Plan
Once you have set the combined financial goals, then you need to chalk out a financial plan to achieve these goals. You need to take into account growth rate of your income, inflation on your expenses, time set to achieve various goals, rate of return expected from various investment options.
This is slightly a complicated procedure and this plan need to be review periodically. That is why it is better to outsource it. You may seek assistance from a professional financial planner. To financially succeed, it needs teamwork from both the partners.
As a newly married couple, you have enough time and plenty of opportunity. I am sure that with this checklist and the guidance from a financial planner, you will reach your life goals together.
“Fintech”
The financial technology (fintech) industry is thriving globally and received $17.4 billion in investment last year alone.
According to EY’s Fintech Adoption Index, a third of consumers worldwide are using two or more fintech services, with 84 percent of customers saying they are aware of fintech (up 22 percent from the previous year).
But users are often unaware that the financial services applications they use count as “fintech”, or may not know what exactly fintech and its accompanying jargon means.
What is Fintech?
Financial technology is broadly defined as any technological innovation in financial services. Those engaged in the industry develop new technologies to disrupt traditional financial markets. Various start-ups have been involved in the process of creating these new technologies, but many of the world’s top banks including HSBC and Credit Suisse have been developing their own fintech ideas as well. Fintech companies utilize technology as widely available as payment apps to more complex software applications such as artificial intelligence and big data.
In this Post, let’s try to understand what impact Fintech has on our Lives. I will try to keep out the Jargons and simplify as much as possible, so that it serves as a guide rather than a white paper.
State of Fintech in 2017
I have listed below some of the hot topics in Fintech buzzing currently. I will hopefully try to cover these topics in the future posts:
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoins
Block Chain
Ethereum.
Disruptive Innovation
Initial Coin Offering
Open Banking
Financial Inclusion
It’s also now easier than ever for small businesses to accept payments. Even Small farms in the middle of nowhere can accept credit and debit cards with tools like Square and PayPal. And while there are fees, the entrepreneur doesn’t have to do a particular volume of business to qualify for an account. Anyone, anywhere can safely and easily accept credit card payments, making it easier to do business.
FINTECH BY 2020
As per a report by pwc, 77% of the respondents expect to adapt blockchain as a part of the production system/process by 2020.
So, are you ready to adapt it?
Fintech in India
Payments and lending remain priorities in India. Fintech interest grew in
India during Q1’17, with Paytm attracting Asia’s largest funding round of
$200 million. Payments and lending drove investment during the quarter,
although interest in AI also increased. On the blockchain front, a number of banks formed consortia with fintechs to develop blockchain proof of
concepts. Interest in blockchain seems to have also increased in the
insurance space. Over the next quarter, insurtech is likely to come into its
own in India and the government is expected to release regulations for
fintech, particularly related to peer-to-peer lending, which could lead to
additional activity.
Caution with Bitcoins
As bitcoin prices skyrocket, it seems like everyone around wants to join the bandwagon, irrespective of the lack of understanding of the instrument and the risks involved. While the sharp rise in bitcoin prices may look attractive, you need to be careful while deciding to invest in them. To start with, do a thorough check while choosing the company from where you want to buy. No one wants to put money in something where they may get cheated. In the last couple of years, there have been multiple incidences of fake cryptocurrencies. Bitcoins or any other cryptocurrency in the form of
payment, check if the company has a history of making payments in this
manner and if your banker has an outlet to convert this into currency if required.
Crowd Funding
There are more than 600 crowdfunding platforms around the world, with fundraising reaching billions of dollars annually, according to the research firm Massolution.
How it works: The most common type of crowdfunding fundraising is using sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo variety, where donations are sought in return for special rewards. That could mean free product or even a chance to be involved in designing the product or service.
It is also possible to use crowdfunding to assemble loans and royalty financing. The site LendingClub, for example, allows members to directly invest in and borrow from each other, with the claim that eliminating the banking middleman means “both sides can win” in the transactions. Royalty financing sites appear to be rarer, but the idea is to link business owners with investors who lend money for a guaranteed percentage of
revenues for whatever the business is selling. The Holy Grail is to sell company shares or ownership stakes in the company on crowdfunding sites, because it could be like a mini-IPO without the traditional hurdles.
Upside: Crowdfunding provides another strategy for startups or early stage companies ready to take it to the next level — such as rolling out a product or service. Before, a business owner was subject to the caprices of individual angel investors or bank loan officers. Now it is possible to pitch a business plan to the masses. A successful crowdfunding round not only provides your business with needed cash, but creates a base of customers
who feel as though they have a stake in the business’ success.
Downside: If you don’t have an engaging story to tell, then your crowdfunding bid could be a flop. Sites such as Kickstarter don’t collect money until a fundraising goal is reached, so that’s still a lot of wasted time that could have been spent doing other things to grow the business. It could be even worse if you meet your goal but then realize you underestimated how much money you needed. A business risks getting sued if it promises customers products or perks in return for donations, and then fails to deliver. There is also an argument to be made that angel investors and even bank officers provide more than just money. They provide entrepreneurs with needed advice. Business owners miss out on
such mentorship when they ignore traditional investors and turn to the
crowd.
Tips for Successful Crowd Funding
- Have at least a small network of enthusiastic friends and family
willing to help get the ball rolling by giving and urging others to give. - If you’re giving out perks in return for money, make sure the perks are cool.
- Present a serious business plan and an explanation of why the money will take your enterprise to the next level.
- Demonstrate that you have your own skin in the game because of
the personal funds you have already poured into the business. - Include a video pitch and keep it short and concise, with a call to
action. - Be prepared to essentially live online, staying active on social
media sites, until the crowdfunding campaign is complete.
Crowd Funding Models:
The well-known models of Crowd Funding
are Donation, Reward, Equity (similar to IPO
of any company) and Peer to Peer Lending
(Borrowing from other than banks and
NBFCs)
Staying Unique 