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By:

Kaustubh Kale

10 September 2024 at 6:07:15 pm

Five Action Points for July

With the first half of 2026 now behind us, July becomes an important checkpoint in the financial calendar. The beginning of July is the right time to move from reflection to action. Here are five important financial action points to focus on. 1. Inflation-Beating Assets One of the most important principles of long-term investing is to ensure that your portfolio is designed to beat inflation. Inflation silently reduces the real value of your money over time. This is why your long-term...

Five Action Points for July

With the first half of 2026 now behind us, July becomes an important checkpoint in the financial calendar. The beginning of July is the right time to move from reflection to action. Here are five important financial action points to focus on. 1. Inflation-Beating Assets One of the most important principles of long-term investing is to ensure that your portfolio is designed to beat inflation. Inflation silently reduces the real value of your money over time. This is why your long-term investments must be in assets that have the potential to deliver inflation-adjusted returns. For long-term financial goals, investors should consider assets such as equity mutual funds, direct stocks and gold. For short-term financial goals, especially those required within the next three years, options such as bank fixed deposits, recurring deposits or suitable debt mutual funds can be considered. If a large portion of your money is lying in low-return instruments, July is a good time to review and reshuffle your portfolio. 2. Increase Your SIPs Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) remain one of the most disciplined ways to build wealth. SIPs help you invest regularly, avoid timing the market and benefit from long-term compounding. However, simply having SIPs is not enough. Your SIP amount must also be sufficient. Ideally, investors should aim to invest at least 30 percent of their in-hand monthly income. A common mistake is not increasing SIPs even when income goes up. Whenever your income goes up, your SIPs should also increase. An annual SIP increase can make a significant difference to your long-term wealth creation. 3. Make Lumpsum Investments While SIPs provide discipline, they should not be your only investment strategy. Besides SIPs, it is important to do extra lumpsum investments voluntarily, every few months. Also, if you have received a bonus, incentive or any unexpected inflow, consider investing it as a lumpsum. The idea is simple: do not let surplus money remain idle for too long. Staying invested gives your money the opportunity to grow. 4. Secure Insurance Cover Health insurance and term life insurance are essential pillars of financial planning. A single hospitalization can disturb your finances if you are not adequately covered. Do not depend only on your employer’s health insurance. Buy a sufficient personal health insurance policy with the right features. Similarly, term life insurance protects your family’s financial security in case of an unfortunate event. Your cover should be based on your income, loans, dependents and future responsibilities. 5. Consult a Financial Advisor If you have not yet made a proper financial plan, July is a good time to do so. Even if you already have a plan, it should ideally be reviewed every year. Consult a well-educated, full-time financial advisor for your financial goal planning and execution. It takes years of education, experience, expertise and wisdom to write a prescription. Please do not self-medicate when it comes to your wealth. The first half of 2026 is over, but the second half still gives you the opportunity to realign your finances. Take action, stay disciplined and move steadily towards your financial goals. (The author is a Chartered Accountant and CFA (USA). Financial Advisor. Views personal. He could be reached on 9833133605.)

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

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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