Gopi and financial planning
Mr. Gopi was celebrating his 75th birthday along with his son and daughter, son in law, daughter in law and his grandchildren. The celebration went well and that night one of his grandsons who was very close to his grandfather asked him a question that what made his life successful. If he needs to give one good advice to his grandson what he will give. He said only one word “Proper Planning”.
Mr. Gopi was working for a private company. He used to travel more hence his wife Meera was taking care of kids and she was a home maker. As kids were growing up Gopi’s constant worry was on his kid’s education and a peaceful retirement. He started analysing his financial situation. Initially his analysing showed him he was lacking in terms of investments section, proper insurance and tax planning. He consulted a friend on the subject and spent some time with his friend who was expert in financial planning.
As per his friend advice he and his wife sat together and did a small budgeting, setting goals and allocating money against each goal. He started his investments with very minimal amount and later whenever he had a salary increment, he also increased his investments . This boosted his self-confidence and helped him achieve his set goals in a systematic manner.
The planning helped him provide good education to his kids and as well as hold some surplus money to take care of him post retirement. He was confident that financial planning helps a person to set and achieve his goals.
He also adds that starting investments in his early stage helped him greater with ability to take risks and the chance to recover losses that might have occurred. He retired with a comfortable financial position.
Gopi said my only advice to you is most youngsters do not care about savings at an early life stage. They want to live life to the fullest at that point of time. But, this is where they make mistakes in life, which in turn affects their post-retirement life. Remember, one lives almost a third of his life post retirement and so planning is a must. If you fail to plan, then you are planning to fail. One of the best pieces of advice for the millennial generation is that you must start investing early so that you can create wealth early. So that you can also have a happy life and peaceful retirement like me.
Today, many of Gopi’s friends and former colleagues take his advice seriously. Financial planning is best done with a good financial advisor or a family member who knows the subject well.