Point No#1 – Shopping:
Shopping and gifting is the essential part of a festival. We give and take gifts to our family members, friends during Diwali. Make a list of things to be gifted before going for shopping. Stick to the things which you need to buy. Make a clear difference between the necessity and extra. More often, we indulge ourselves in the impulse shopping if we don’t have a list.
A number of sales are happening in physical stores as well as e-commerce stores. There are tendencies to buy expensive gifts such as mobile, tablets, laptops from e-commerce stores. Please check with your requirement and buy if it is a necessity.
If you don’t identify your requirement properly and feel that it is to better to buy to steal the deal because you may require the item. This kind of shopping is totally undesirable. It will inflate your budget and you will be in a big trouble while paying the credit card bill next month.
I would suggest you read one article on different money hacks which will help you save some quick bucks.
Point No#2 – Insurance:
In above paragraph, I have discussed to restrict the excessive shopping. When you are strict to your shopping list or budget, you can take care of your other financial preferences. Insurance is a very important part of your financial journey which mitigates risks. If you are the only bread earner, life insurance is the most important to have in your financial planning.
A right size of cover from life insurance will take care your family’s financial goal in case of your death. A term insurance is the best fitted to every investors’ portfolio. The premium is very low and every investor can bear the cost to cover the life risk.
The medical cost or hospitalization cost is soaring day by day in an exponential way. The one-time hospitalization due to an accident or to cure any disease can drain your entire bank balance. A health insurance is the answer to all these worries. Buy a health insurance this Diwali if you don’t have one for your family including you.
Somebody might say that they have cover from their employers. I would suggest you to have a personal health insurance cover to take care the situations such as you have left the job and yet to join the next job or your present employer does not have the option of family health cover.
Point No#3 – Invest in Equity:
If you are not an equity investor, start investing in equity this Diwali. People are investing in several debt products such as fixed deposit, NSC, RD, PPF etc. a completely neglecting the equity. The debt products are good because of guaranteed return. But the return on investment from these products cannot beat the inflation. To beat the inflation you need to invest in equity.
You can invest in two ways to equity. One is by buying stock directly from the market and another is buying equity mutual fund units. Those who don’t have time to research on individual stocks can think of mutual fund. A mutual fund has fund manager, a professional who is taking care your investments in the stocks on behalf of the fund.
Read why you should invest in mutual fund rather investing in stocks directly.
For the beginners, I have shortlisted Top 10 mutual funds on which you can invest.
Point No#4 – Don’t Invest In Gold:
Investing in precious metals such as gold, silver, diamond etc. is an integral part of Diwali. It symbolises the coming of Devi Laxmi to your home. If you buy jewelry for your use it is welcome but when you buy for the pure investing purpose there is more option by which you can have a better investment.
If you follow the rituals, buy the token amount of physical gold from the nearest store. It will be better you can invest in the Gold ETF or Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme. The Gold bond scheme is an excellent product from Government of India for those persons who want to invest in gold.
Moreover, you will get interest on the bond while the price is linked to gold and it varies according to the market price. So this Diwali don’t invest in physical gold rather invest in paper gold such as the gold bond or gold ETF.
Also Read: Should You Invest in Bharat 22 ETF?
Pont No#5 – Try for an Alternative Source of Income:
This Diwali you can start with a new hope of better income and prosperity. Only hoping something without any act cannot be fruitful.
My suggestion would be to try for an alternative source of income this year. I know it is very difficult to do something extra when you are involved in a day job. But if you have aspirations such as early retirement you have to run extra mile over the others.
You can start with small jobs as freelancers without leaving your job. There are various sites which are aggregating freelancers and those who need the service. You can enroll on the websites such as Freelancer, Elance, Upwork etc. and start doing work.
If you are really interested you can try several options mentioned in ‘How to Earn Passive Income Online Without Leaving Your Job’.
Conclusion:
Among all the above points, the last point is quite a time taking. You can start this year and make a target and start working. Slowly you will grow and someday you will feel you can continue it as a full-time job also. To work on this dream, you have to be very careful about investing when you are spending this Diwali.
Wish you a very happy and prosperous Diwali and happy investing.
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