Moving beyond 'committee' & gold

Skip gold jewelry. Skip inefficient committees. Diversify, and grow.

This is a women’s day special. Everyone talks about financial empowerment in seminars, zoom calls, and now clubhouse, et al. But what exactly needs to be done? Here is some quick actionable advice for effective financial planning. No fluff. Just action.

But how do you do it all? This newsletter will guide you through it all. Subscribe now, if you haven’t already subscribed.

1. Open a personal bank account. Not a joint account with father, or husband, etc. Just your own personal bank account, with yourself as a sole signatory.

2. Open a mutual fund, and/or brokerage account. Personal, not joint.

3. Don't save in form of gold jewelry. It's inefficient. You're better off just buying gold coins, biscuits, etc. The age-old adage that the price of gold only increases is flawed. Gold jewelry is a bad investment.

4. Develop a diversified investment portfolio for yourself. Don't just stash away cash in envelopes for a rainy day. Let your money earn money.

5. Committee (ROSCA/Bee-Cee) may be good as a social activity, but inefficient as a savings activity. The credit risk is too high and has key-person risk. You never know when someone just might disappear with everyone’s money. You are better off developing your own portfolio.

6. Stop saving for a child’s marriage. Generations have been indoctrinated to do this. Save for education. Put aside some funds every month in a dedicated savings plan, or investment portfolio. Watch it grow.

7. You have a child. Great. Congratulations. All the money you get from friends, family, etc. when the child is born, or on their birthday, etc. Put that aside in a savings plan. Let it grow for twenty years. Your child will thank you later.

8. Invest in a pension fund. Put aside some funds every month to fund your lifestyle post-retirement. In local context, we don’t think about retirement. The government will not be doling out any pensions. You are in control of your own destiny.

9. Don’t relegate wealth or inheritance management to others in your family. There will be a lot of vultures — you’ve got to be an active participant.

Let the magic of compounding help you. Saving a small % of your income every month can lead to massive gains in the future. Here is a chart from an earlier post exhibiting how just saving 5 percent of your income per month can lead to sizeable gains.

How exactly does one develop a diversified investment portfolio or savings plan? This space will help you do it. Subscribe, and take control of your own destiny.