Everything seems to be going well in life. You’ve got a good education and are into probably your second or third job. You’ve been able to raise your earnings from what you got paid at your first job. The work environment is good, you have a good boss. The critical milestone of marriage has also passed with minor hiccups. You’re now 32 and have saved some money for the planned extension to your family, but only to the extent of meeting the cost of delivery and taking care of the expenses because clearly, your salary does not have scope to save more. But life is good 9 to 9 now, with an occasional drink with the friends. Travel is a struggle because you stay away in the extended suburbs and have to take the over-crowded public transport to reach home after a tiring day. These are minor hiccups and apart from this, all is well. Almost like a fairy tale.
But wait. Suddenly, you’re developing cold feet. You’re getting scared. Sometimes, there’s no reason to worry yet there are perceptible signs that something’s not right. You’re developing a small paunch and your wife and colleagues have been teasing you about it. You’ve developed dark circles under your eyes due to lack of sufficient sleep. Your hairline is receding. You have a smile on your face but behind it is streams of worries. Worries that will tomorrow become more difficult if not taken care of? Worries about the insecurity of the subsequent performance appraisal, insecurity of not getting higher pay package to meet household expenses that are increasing by the day. You want to desperately go on a vacation but neither can you afford it nor work nor family will allow you to take that time for yourself.
Worry not but yet worry because you’re not alone. The whole generation identifies with you. Some of the causes of worry that are beginning to reflect on your health are mostly related to your finances like:
- The frequent health scares and medical expenses of your toddler;
- Soon, you will want to send him/ her to pre-school and that will add to the already small gap between income and expenses;
- Your aging parents and their health care expenses are beginning to pile up and you anticipate that it will only go up;
- Interest rates are going up and that could make your home loan installments expensive;
- Inflation is increasing the cost of living;
- The very thought of your future working life (next 25-28 years of hard work) with no perceptible sign of moving up in the hierarchy and matching remuneration;
- Your own energy levels are depleting fast and need for more rest but it is hard to come by;
- You hear stories of a very young colleague in your office or in your office building succumbing to stress and dying of heart attack or having met with a severe accident
- No rest on weekends since you have to take care of your family.
The list can go on and on and it can become scarier. Ok. So what’s the solution? How do I overcome this situation? Well, some of them can be taken care of. Talk to your HR department. Most organizations have insurance policies for health as well as accident cover. Ask for the policy details and coverage. The health insurance coverage will be mostly for a very nominal amount, say Rs.1, 00,000/-. Find out if you can, by paying a small additional amount of premium, get to cover your family and also increase the coverage too. Most insurance companies would be happy to have an additional business but HR departments may not play along. They will cite, who will manage all the details every time renewals are done. Convince them. Talk to your boss to get this done. Other employees will also benefit.
Consult a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) who will guide you on investing nominal amounts of money in Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) in Mutual Funds and non-equity linked financial products. Your CFP will guide you about low-risk high return investments in products that will take care of your future. He/she will also factor your financial growth and match investments. He will evaluate your financial needs and guide you accordingly to save money in products that give income tax rebate as well as a sound financial future for your family. The combination could be of a variety of products like Life Insurance, Health Insurance, Accident Insurance, Mutual Funds, Government Bonds and Fixed Deposits. He can also even advice you on which are the best home loans that will suit your needs and have low-interest rates. – Article by Sarfaraz Lakhani