Technology, Money & Questions

If you are a salaried employee, you might be well trained in planning your monthly expenditures. You know the amount of money that flows in every month and hence, you plan your expenditures accordingly.
What would you do if you happen to get a sum of 5000 rupees unexpectedly? May be as a bonus from your employer or from a tax refund or the amount which you thought that you won't get back. Most of the time, our immediate reaction would be spend the money. Again we can attribute this to our human nature, if we do not have a plan in place, we normally spend for a lovely day.

I don't say that you should not spend; instead, all that am saying is to have a plan and then think about how much you want to spend on what. In case if you get an unexpected 5000 bucks, I would suggest the following ideas for you.

1) Top up your emergency fund. If you have not started your emergency fund, or just started recently, this 5000 rupees will do a very good contribution. What is an emergency fund? Generally, the total amount of money required for your and your dependents survival for a time period of 3 - 6 months is considered as an emergency fund. It is necessary that you build your emergency fund along with your investments. Put your emergency fund in a savings account that yields best of interests in the market.

2) Subscribe for a good financial magazine. Financial literacy is more important for every individual in-order to live a decent life in this information era. Investing in your own financial knowledge will pay off very well in the long run.

3) Pay off your credit card debts. If you have credit card debts with interests, pay them off first. Paying interest for your credit card debt will be the worst sin you can force yourself to do.

4) Consult an investment analyst to plan your investments. Early investment is the key to a successful and wealthy retirement. A person who starts his investment by the age of 25 will have a substantial difference in the wealth accumulated when compared to someone who started off at an age of 35.

5) Join a gym. If you are not a member of a gym already, think about joining a gym. Your physical fitness has direct correlation with your mental acumen as well as your financial fitness. Note of caution: If you don't behave yourself, gym will be an instrument which sucks your money in.

6) Invest for your career. See if you can learn something new in your career domain. Register for a technological training or if you are an avid reader, you can invest in books.

7) Give a good service to your vehicle. If you have your own vehicle, a good service on time will save you a lot of trouble and maintenance costs.

8) Upgrade your house-hold appliances. You can use this money to fix the problematic appliances in your house or upgrade to a more energy efficient utilities.

9) Invest a part of it in mutual fund and forget about it. All you need is a thousand rupees to invest in any of the available top rated funds.

10) Use it for the greater good. Last but not least, you can be a philanthropist at last. Since, you hadn't planned anything for this unexpected money, use it to provide a meal for kids in an orphanage or use it to plant trees in your community.

So, What are you going to do when you have your unexpected Rs. 5000?

Posted by VK at 9:46 AM Comments