Page 45 - Banking Finance January 2020

FEATURE

HOW TO SHIELD YOURSELF FROM SLOWDOWN:

START BUILDING A CORPUS EARLY ON

R ituparno Guha, 29, and Anusua Mukherjee, 27, registered investment adviser and founder,

amitkukreja.com. “These are new-age employees and in
were just putting the finishing touches on their
this new work environment, the stability of jobs is never a
new household after their marriage in January
2019 and planning a trip to Europe when the
slowdown hit them, though not directly. They felt the pinch given. The goals people have are also changing. Earlier, it
was buying a house, then raising children and then
as prices climbed higher. “When we moved into an retirement. Now, retirement comes first," he said.
apartment together, we realized that some expenses came
down because we are dividing them between us, but some For Guha and Mukherjee, this is definitely the case. “We
others went up," said Guha, a financial consultant. understand the importance of saving up for long-term goals
like retirement. We try to put away 20-25% of our salaries
To compensate, the couple decided to reduce the initial in various instruments each month," said Guha, adding that
expenses. “We kept the appliances and furniture we had while buying a house might be on the horizon, the two are
before we got married, and decided not to redo everything not planning to have children in the near future.
from scratch, which saved us a good deal of money," said
Mukherjee, a senior banking analyst. Their plan to travel to They have recently started investing in equities. “Since we
Europe was cancelled due to health reasons, and when they earn about equal amounts, we also invest nearly equal
tried to reschedule it, they realized their travel budget amounts in tax-saving instruments. We had some insurance
would inflate. “We are revisiting the plan and capping the plans and public provident fund earlier, but started investing
budget at what it was before," said Guha. in mutual funds six months ago through an online platform,"
said Mukherjee.
Both of them work in the financial services industry, and get
their annual appraisals in December-January. “We decided But given the financial climate, the young couple should
that we will make a yearly budget around that time of the build a corpus, said Kukreja. This is especially true for couples
year," Guha added. who work in the same industry, because both can get
impacted if the industry is hit by a slowdown, resulting in a
The couple decided to take a loan to buy a car just after job loss and lower increments. “The financial trauma caused
they got married, but given the less-than-hopeful financial by a job loss can be paralyzing for a young couple. It’s crucial
outlook, they want to close the loan as soon as possible. to build a passive income portfolio incrementally, which can
“When we took the loan, we ensured that there were no take care of household expenses completely," he said.
prepayment charges. We plan to close the loan in three
years instead of five," said Guha. Unlike many young couples, Mukherjee and Guha have a
solid plan for the future. With a few more investments, the
Young professionals like Mukherjee and Guha are redefining downturn is unlikely to slow down this sensible duo. (Source:
traditional financial goals, according to Amit Kukreja, Lifemint)

BANKING FINANCE | JANUARY | 2020 | 45