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By:

Kaustubh Kale

10 September 2024 at 11:37:15 pm

Four Pillars for a Strong Financial Foundation

Investing for your financial goals is not just about choosing the right investment or earning the highest return possible. It is about building a well-rounded and strong financial foundation. A strong financial foundation helps you invest with greater confidence, remain disciplined and avoid disturbing long-term investments when unforeseen expenses arise. There are four important pillars that support this foundation. 1. Life Insurance The first pillar is adequate life insurance. If there is...

Four Pillars for a Strong Financial Foundation

Investing for your financial goals is not just about choosing the right investment or earning the highest return possible. It is about building a well-rounded and strong financial foundation. A strong financial foundation helps you invest with greater confidence, remain disciplined and avoid disturbing long-term investments when unforeseen expenses arise. There are four important pillars that support this foundation. 1. Life Insurance The first pillar is adequate life insurance. If there is an earning member in the family, his or her income supports several financial responsibilities, including household expenses, children’s education, loan repayments and future goals. An unfortunate death can therefore create not only an emotional loss but also a significant financial loss for the family. A suitable life insurance cover, preferably through a term insurance plan, can help replace this lost income and provide financial security to the dependants. Life insurance is therefore primarily about protection against the financial impact of losing an earning member. 2. Health Insurance The second pillar is health insurance. Hospitalisation is unpredictable. A major medical emergency can arise suddenly and potentially consume a sizeable portion of a family’s savings. Having adequate health insurance ensures that an unexpected hospitalisation does not force you to withdraw money from investments created for other financial goals. Your savings and investments can then continue doing the job they were originally meant to do. It is important to have comprehensive personal health insurance with the necessary product features rather than depending entirely on your employer’s health insurance. 3. Contingency Fund The third pillar is an emergency or contingency fund. Ideally, a family should keep approximately six to twelve months of household expenses plus EMIs in a highly liquid and conservative avenue such as a bank account, fixed deposit or suitable debt mutual fund, where capital safety and liquidity remain the priority. Think of this as your financial piggy bank, money that is kept aside specifically for emergencies. Knowing that this reserve exists can give you the confidence to invest the rest of your money with a longer-term perspective, without constantly worrying about short-term emergencies. 4. Asset Allocation The fourth pillar is proper asset allocation. Every financial goal has a different time horizon. Some money may be required within a few years, while other investments may be meant for goals several years or decades away. The investment product chosen must therefore match the time available for the goal. A mismatch between the investment and the time horizon can create unnecessary complications in the portfolio. In simple terms, short-term goals should generally be invested in assets that offer a greater degree of capital safety and liquidity, such as bank FDs, RDs or debt mutual funds. Long-term goals, on the other hand, need exposure to assets that have the potential to beat inflation and create wealth over time, such as stocks, equity mutual funds, hybrid mutual funds and gold. (The writer is a Chartered Accountant and CFA (USA). Financial Advisor. Views are personal. He could be reached on 9833133605.)

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

Writer: Ruddhi Phadke
Ruddhi Phadke
Nov 29, 2024
2 min read

The party won 65 seats against Congress, 37 against NCP (SP) and 29 against Shiv Sena (UBT)

Clever seat selection

Mumbai: The BJP’s strategic seat sharing with the allies has proved beneficial for the party. An analysis of the Assembly election results show that the BJP has scored over its main rival, the Congress, in a big way because of the direct fights.


The analysis shows that BJP defeated all three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – in the direct fights. This is attributed as one of the reasons for the BJP’s historic poll success.


The BJP contested 147 out of 288 seats. In 76 constituencies, it faced Congress. BJP secured victory in 65 seats and lost only 11 seats, making it a whopping 86 per cent of the total direct fights. This was followed by an even stronger performance against NCP (SP). Of the total 39 fights with Sharad Pawar’s party, BJP captured 37 seats making it 95 per cent of the total fights with NCP (SP). BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) were head-to-head in 32 constituencies, of which BJP emerged victorious in 29 seats, making this 91 per cent of the total direct contests.


According to a BJP strategist the party had bargained hard with its allies, Shiv Sena and NCP to get the desired constituencies in the seat sharing formula. “We had studied to potential candidates of the MVA. That helped us in choosing the seats where we can register comfortable victories,” the strategist said.


BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty attributed the success to all the party workers who worked hard to boost development, infrastructure in the state. He gave credit to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to the party’s success.


Shetty pointed out that in 2019, Uddhav Thackeray had stalled all the “novel” and “legendary” projects that Fadnavis had started when he had taken over as CM, making it very easy for the people of Maharashtra to strike a comparison between both the leaders and the potential they had for serving the people. “Devendra Fadnavis gave up his post very easily for the larger good. There are many such examples like Venkaiah Naidu who was BJP National President and later worked as the Vice President of India because that was the need of the hour. We seldom care about our posts,” Shetty told The Perfect Voice.


Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe refused to call the election results as the people’s mandate. “This is not at all a Janata mandate. Despite Maharashtra struggling with so many basic social issues, how can BJP acquire such a huge mandate is the question. If a student copies and fails with just passing marks, it can go unnoticed, but if a student copies and bags the number one position, something is fishy. Why is the BJP scared of ballot papers?” he said.

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