Thumb Rule for Financial Planning

Financial planning may not be all that an easy task. In fact, it can be easy to make mistakes or get the steps confused. This, however, needs to be rectified right away. Otherwise, a flawed plan has the tendency to negatively affect your financial health. Don’t worry, though. There is a thumb rule for financial planning that one must follow, just like most crucial planning. Or you could avail a qualified financial planner to save on time and effort. Refer to these basic financial planning rules of thumb, which, if followed, can help in creating the perfect financial plan:• The 30/30/30/10 ruleOne of the thumb rules for financial planning is a very simple rule that helps allocate your monthly income to various priorities. According to this rule, your monthly income should be divided in the following manner:

This allocation of your income lets you take care of all aspects of your financial plan without any strain.• Loan EMIs: Never exceed the 30% of gross monthly incomeThe 30/30/30/10 rule also gives a direction of your liabilities. If you have loans, the aggregate EMIs of your car loan, home loan and any other liabilities you have should not exceed 30% of your monthly income. At best, this can be pushed up to 50%, but no higher. If it does, you would invariably fall into a debt trap. So, assess your EMI payments as a percentage of your monthly income. If it is more than 30-50%, it’s time to manage your debt.• (6*monthly income) for your emergency fundEvery financial plan is incomplete without the provision of an emergency fund. This fund takes care of sudden expenses which might blow your carefully planned budget and hamper your savings. The 30% of your income that you invest should also contain a provision for emergency funding. Ideally, you should direct 10% of your investments towards an emergency fund. An ideal emergency fund should have at least 6 months’ worth of your income. Many also suggest that it should have enough to fund expenses for 3-6 months. • Life Cover: The Rule of 10Just like how half-knowledge is dangerous, underinsurance can be hazardous too. Unfortunately, many make the mistake of under-insuring themselves or their family. Yet, optimal life cover is essential for providing financial security for your family. When choosing a term life insurance plan for covering your death risk, decide the coverage basis your gross annual income. Your life cover should be at least 10 times your gross annual income. Only then will you be able to create a sufficient corpus for your family in your absence.• Choose appropriate investments through the Rule of 72Do you know how long it would take for your investments to double? The Rule of 72 helps you find just that. No need for complex mathematical calculations. Just divide 72 by the rate of return promised by an investment avenue. This should give you a tentative idea of how long it will take to double your investment amount. For example, if an instrument promises 8% interest, it would take 72/8, i.e., 9 years for your investments to double. Similarly, for a 12% interest rate, 6 years would be needed to double your investment. So, use this rule to understand for how long you should hold your investment to get a 100% rate of return. • Retirement fund: Minimum allocation of 10% per month.When investing, direct at least 10% of your investments towards your retirement corpus. For a more comfortable retirement, increase this allocation to 15%. This can help you benefit from the power of compounding through long-term investments and build a decent retirement corpus. Also, ensure that your retirement corpus is at least 15-20 times your gross annual income. • Asset allocation ruleYour portfolio should have proper asset allocation depending on your risk profile. Ideally, (100-your age)% of your portfolio should be invested in Equity. In fact, this is often indicative of your risk appetite. At younger ages, a higher equity exposure can be manageable. Any volatility you face can be smoothened out over time and you can earn attractive returns. Debt allocation should, consequently, be equal to your age. Thus, as your age increases, your equity exposure can reduce and debt allocation can increase to cut down on risks. The bottom lineThese are the basic rules of financial planning which are universally applicable. When you are designing your financial plan, follow the financial planning thumb rule as mentioned above and other helpful tips to avoid mistakes.