Nine Money Tips for a Smart Woman
Moneycontrol.com | Mar 02, 2007
For Anu Jaiswal, a 29-year-old housewife, her world fell apart when her marriage of four years was on the rocks. With no family support to fall back on, and hardly any savings she could call her own Anu soon realized that she was heading towards a financial disaster.
While more and more women have entered the workforce and are independently pursuing career options of their choice, few are aware as to how they can ensure a secure financial future for themselves. So women, whether you are single, married or married yet single, find outlined here the basic factors you should consider to have a decent corpus to fall back on - just in case the unfortunate strikes.
1) Open a separate bank account even if you have a joint account
After marriage most women have a joint account with their husbands. But a woman should ensure that in such cases the first name is hers. Also she should additionally have a separate account of her own.
2) Save in your own name
Says Mukesh Dedhia, Certified Financial Planner, “To start off with, women should save money in her and in her mother's name. She should create funds through Systematic Investment Planning and also ensure that she does not touch it until there is a dire need for the same”. A systematic investment plan akin to a piggy bank saving ensures that a certain amount of money is deposited at regular intervals enabling you to benefit in a myriad ways in the long term.
3) Don't put all your eggs in one basket
Says Yogesh Thar, Chartered Accountant, “Firstly a woman should find out where she stands financially. She needs to take stock of her present situation as far as savings and expenses go and ensure that all eggs are not in the same basket. To start with she could park money in gold. It's a safe investment option while not a prudent one it has high liquidity - its helps in times of need.”
Says Ameet Patel, also a Chartered Accountant, “Truly times have changed. While there is no different set of rules when it comes to investing right, woman could try the following investment options if she is a career woman:
She should park around Rs 70,000 in Public Provident Fund and Rs 10,000 in pension schemes. She could depending on her financial capacity invest 20,000 in insurance. Besides mutual funds is a good bet particularly ELSS. She could invest up to 1 lakh in equity-linked schemes. Fixed deposits are unsecured instruments so a strict no.
After exploring the above options she could try parking the balance funds in stocks. This should be the last option only considering the high risk. But then you must have a minimum 30 percent of your portfolio in shares else inflation will beat you.”
Says Shankar Teckchandani, Chartered Accountant, “As far as investments go the options for men and women remain the same. The important factor is the corpus and the risk that an individual is willing to take.
So a secure future women should invest 60 percent in equities and the balance in mutual funds. If she is the conservative type perhaps 70 percent should be in fixed income with the balance 30 percent in risky avenues. For long-term secure investments she should consider parking around 3 lakh in Post Office savings. Here there's no risk at all only good returns.”
4) Ensure your husband has good insurance cover
Besides if you are married you should be prudent enough to ensure that your husband has a good insurance cover. Also you should see to it that you are nominated in all the assets of your husband.' Most women are not aware of the nitty gritties when it comes to finances. And since men mostly handle matters of money, women think it's an area best left to them. But its only when there's a marital discord that women realize their folly.
Says Chhaya Datar, Professor, Unit for Women's Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, “Its wrong to think that it's the uneducated who are ignorant about financial matters. Most educated women too know little when it comes to managing their finances. And its only when the marriage is hitting a wall that they realize that they need to get things in order.”
5) Ensure that you are nominated on all your husband's assets
A woman should ensure that she is nominated on all the assets, bank accounts, and insurance policies of her husband.
6) Keep account of all ornaments you got at your wedding
Women should also keep an account of all the ornaments she has brought with her.
7) Take active part in your family investment decisions
It is observed that usually it is the men who take investment decisions. But a woman should also take interest and invest in her own name may be in mutual funds and a small amount in shares also.'
8) Take adequate insurance for yourself
After that comes Insurance. Coverage of at least 10 times her salary is a must. Besides, accident and health insurance cover is a must.
9) Build your own career
Says Saroj Maniar, Chartered Accountant, 'If the woman is a housewife she should take up a career. It's important to identify ones skills and talents to put it to use in order to earn maximum. If not a full time one there are flexi careers that provide endless possibilities. And the sky is the limit as far as the earning potential is concerned. She could even consider joining a call center. This will enable her to earn a decent regular income. But then taking up a career is a must to secure a reasonably good income for oneself.
Most financial professionals opine that women need to be more practical and far sighted when it comes to financial planning. The future is unpredictable. Why get caught off-guard?
Author: Geeta Nair
While more and more women have entered the workforce and are independently pursuing career options of their choice, few are aware as to how they can ensure a secure financial future for themselves. So women, whether you are single, married or married yet single, find outlined here the basic factors you should consider to have a decent corpus to fall back on - just in case the unfortunate strikes.
1) Open a separate bank account even if you have a joint account
After marriage most women have a joint account with their husbands. But a woman should ensure that in such cases the first name is hers. Also she should additionally have a separate account of her own.
2) Save in your own name
Says Mukesh Dedhia, Certified Financial Planner, “To start off with, women should save money in her and in her mother's name. She should create funds through Systematic Investment Planning and also ensure that she does not touch it until there is a dire need for the same”. A systematic investment plan akin to a piggy bank saving ensures that a certain amount of money is deposited at regular intervals enabling you to benefit in a myriad ways in the long term.
3) Don't put all your eggs in one basket
Says Yogesh Thar, Chartered Accountant, “Firstly a woman should find out where she stands financially. She needs to take stock of her present situation as far as savings and expenses go and ensure that all eggs are not in the same basket. To start with she could park money in gold. It's a safe investment option while not a prudent one it has high liquidity - its helps in times of need.”
Says Ameet Patel, also a Chartered Accountant, “Truly times have changed. While there is no different set of rules when it comes to investing right, woman could try the following investment options if she is a career woman:
She should park around Rs 70,000 in Public Provident Fund and Rs 10,000 in pension schemes. She could depending on her financial capacity invest 20,000 in insurance. Besides mutual funds is a good bet particularly ELSS. She could invest up to 1 lakh in equity-linked schemes. Fixed deposits are unsecured instruments so a strict no.
After exploring the above options she could try parking the balance funds in stocks. This should be the last option only considering the high risk. But then you must have a minimum 30 percent of your portfolio in shares else inflation will beat you.”
Says Shankar Teckchandani, Chartered Accountant, “As far as investments go the options for men and women remain the same. The important factor is the corpus and the risk that an individual is willing to take.
So a secure future women should invest 60 percent in equities and the balance in mutual funds. If she is the conservative type perhaps 70 percent should be in fixed income with the balance 30 percent in risky avenues. For long-term secure investments she should consider parking around 3 lakh in Post Office savings. Here there's no risk at all only good returns.”
4) Ensure your husband has good insurance cover
Besides if you are married you should be prudent enough to ensure that your husband has a good insurance cover. Also you should see to it that you are nominated in all the assets of your husband.' Most women are not aware of the nitty gritties when it comes to finances. And since men mostly handle matters of money, women think it's an area best left to them. But its only when there's a marital discord that women realize their folly.
Says Chhaya Datar, Professor, Unit for Women's Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, “Its wrong to think that it's the uneducated who are ignorant about financial matters. Most educated women too know little when it comes to managing their finances. And its only when the marriage is hitting a wall that they realize that they need to get things in order.”
5) Ensure that you are nominated on all your husband's assets
A woman should ensure that she is nominated on all the assets, bank accounts, and insurance policies of her husband.
6) Keep account of all ornaments you got at your wedding
Women should also keep an account of all the ornaments she has brought with her.
7) Take active part in your family investment decisions
It is observed that usually it is the men who take investment decisions. But a woman should also take interest and invest in her own name may be in mutual funds and a small amount in shares also.'
8) Take adequate insurance for yourself
After that comes Insurance. Coverage of at least 10 times her salary is a must. Besides, accident and health insurance cover is a must.
9) Build your own career
Says Saroj Maniar, Chartered Accountant, 'If the woman is a housewife she should take up a career. It's important to identify ones skills and talents to put it to use in order to earn maximum. If not a full time one there are flexi careers that provide endless possibilities. And the sky is the limit as far as the earning potential is concerned. She could even consider joining a call center. This will enable her to earn a decent regular income. But then taking up a career is a must to secure a reasonably good income for oneself.
Most financial professionals opine that women need to be more practical and far sighted when it comes to financial planning. The future is unpredictable. Why get caught off-guard?
Author: Geeta Nair
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