It is no secret that the recent pandemic was more instrumental in pointing out our financial shortcomings than we would like to admit. Towards its end, and with decreasing cases and increasing vaccinated numbers, our optimistic selves definitely resonate with the quote – the only way from here is up.

Additionally, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stating that it predicts India’s economic growth in 2022 to be 8.5%, the question at hand is how do we make up for what we’ve lost during the pandemic?

Taking from recent pandemic lessons, investing is clearly the need of the hour – not only to take your savings a step further but to also offer your reserve a decent chance at beating inflation. And what better way to start than to start early?

However, investing is best leveraged when done in a disciplined but also systematic manner. And, if you’re wondering how that’s done, here’s all you need to know about planning your investments.

1. Put Down Your Financial Goals

We’ve all got dreams to chase. Whether you’re aiming to simply grow your wealth, get out of debt, plan an education abroad for your child, buy a home, fund your dream wedding, have enough capital to start a business or have any other goal, write down what you want to achieve.

Know that your goals may be similar but will not be the same as another person’s. Someone else may also need to buy a car, but they may not have to buy the same specific brand at the same time or for the same reason. Your goals are unique to you and form the stepping stones to all you want to achieve.

Additionally, if you’ve got more than one goal, write them down and then rearrange them according to priority. Keep in mind, you also need to be realistic. It may also help to first aim for goals that could be an asset over others that fall in the liability category.

2. Analyze Your Finances

To know how you’re going to get to where you’re headed, you need to fully understand where you are. This way you can map out the distance that lies between your present and the future that you wish to create. In order to know how much you can invest, to achieve the goals that you’ve set down for yourself, it is important to consider your financial obligations.

A realistic approach is understanding that if you earn about INR 45,000 a month and spend INR 25,000 on rent, investing INR 20,000 a month may not be a possibility, as …….

Source: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/in/investing/8-ways-to-start-investing-in-2022/