In Unit-linked plans, the investment risk in the investment portfolio is borne by the policyholder

Most people talk about earning more money, however, not many people talk about how to effectively manage it. While creating wealth is essential, it is equally important to protect your funds and use them prudently. Your hard-earned money needs to be saved, invested, and spent judiciously in a systematic manner in order to ensure long-term stability and liquidity. This can be done through effective money management.

An important aspect of money management is keeping a track of your expenses and reviewing them periodically. This helps you stay in control of your finances. It helps identify and reduce unnecessary expenses and spend on things that are necessary.

Here are some ways to manage your money wisely:

1. Create a budget:

Making a budget is the first and the most important step of money management. It is a fairly simple measure and has been used for centuries. In order to make a budget, estimate the amount of money you will ideally need to spend each month based on your income, lifestyle, and wants. Having such an estimate will help you gain more control over your finances, and accordingly organise your spending and savings. With a better control and awareness over your spending habits, you will be able to track and achieve your financial goals in an effective manner without compromising on your lifestyle.

2. Save first, spend later:

As a rule of thumb, it helps to first save some part of your monthly income and then start spending your money on regular essentials like groceries, rent, electricity, loan repayments, insurance premiums, etc. This ensures that you are prepared for a future contingency and eliminates the chances of overspending or exceeding your budget.

3. Set financial goals:

Having a financial goal allows you to stay focused and avoid overspending. So, plan what you want to do with your money in the short as well as long term. In order to achieve your long-term financial goals like your dream house, your child's education, retirement and much more you must start investing in financial products. Remember to always set realistic goals with set timelines. This will help you stay motivated and ensure that your money is well-spent.

4. Start investing early:

It is advisable to start saving money as early in life as you can. This gives you more time to grow your wealth, and get back higher returns in the longer run. Therefore, aim to start saving and investing from your first paycheck. ICICI Pru LifeTime Classic1 is an ideal wealth creation plan for long-term savings. This unit linked plan2 offers two major benefits – Financial protection to your loved ones in the form of a life cover^ as well as the opportunity to create significant funds for your financial goals. The plan offers 4 portfolio strategies, and you can choose any of these as per your goals and risk appetite. You can choose between equity, balance, and debt funds, and switch between these funds at any point in time, without any additional charges. In addition to this, the plan rewards you with loyalty additions3 and wealth boosters4 for staying invested for a longer period and paying all your premiums without any defaults. This considerably adds to your overall earnings. You can also choose to pay the premium monthly, half-yearly, yearly, or stick to a one-time payment. Lastly, you get tax benefits5 of up to ₹ 46,800/- on the premiums paid, under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

5. Avoid debt:

While taking loans to achieve your life goals is a common way, they do come with a fair share of problems. The high interest can eat into your savings. Taking on multiple loans also affects your credit score, thereby making it harder for you to avail credit when absolutely necessary or in some cases, even a job. So, try to limit your debt as much as possible. Being dependent on credit cards or taking on too much debt can hamper your budget and become a financial burden.

6. Save Early:

It is important that you start saving as early as possible. Let us understand this with an example.
Consider Mr. A who starts saving ₹ 10,000/- per month, from the age of 30 till the age of 60. This means, he saves ₹ 1,20,000/- per year. Let us compare this with Mr. B who starts saving double the amount, i.e. ₹ 2,40,000/- per year from the age of 45 till the age of 60.
Let us see how their saving turns out assuming the same rate of return.
  Mr. A Mr. B
Age at start of saving 30 years 45 years
Age at end of saving 60 years 60 years
Amount saved per year ₹ 1,20,000/- ₹ 2,40,000/-
Expected annual rate of return 8% 8%
Total amount saved over the years ₹ 36,00,000/- ₹ 36,00,000/-
Value of savings at the age of 60 ₹ 1,46,81,504/- ₹ 70,37,828/-
Thus you can see how saving earlier has helped Mr. A gain ₹ 76,43,676/- more than Mr. B even though the amount saved by both is the same.
Simply put, the earlier you start saving, the more interest your savings will get over time. With the power of compounding, you get interest not only on your savings but also on the returns earned every year.
Thus, saving early helps to generate more money with the power of compounding over time.

7. Ensure protection against emergencies:

It is always advisable to stay financially prepared for any kind of uncertainties in life. These uncertainties can be in the form of a job loss, an accident or an unexpected health emergency. Being financially prepared can help you deal with such situations easily. Insurance plans like term insurance, health insurance and critical illness insurance can help you to secure yourself and your loved ones financially in case of an emergency.
COMP/DOC/Nov/2021/2611/6984

People like you also read ...

1 This is not a product brochure. For more details on the risk factors, terms and conditions, and the charges and benefits related to Surrender, Premium Discontinuance, Revival etc., please read the sales brochure carefully before concluding the sale. Past performance is not indicative of the future performance.

2 Unlike traditional products, unit linked insurance products are subject to market risk, which affects the Net Asset Values and the customer shall be responsible for his/her decision. The names of the company, product names or fund options do not indicate their quality or future guidance on returns. Funds do not offer guaranteed or assured returns. This is a unit linked insurance plan. In this policy, the investment risk in the investment portfolio is borne by the Policyholder. Unit linked Insurance products do not offer any liquidity during the first five years of the contract. The Policyholder will not be able to surrender/withdraw the monies invested in unit linked insurance products completely or partially till the end of the fifth year. On surrender, after completion of five years, the surrender value will be the Fund Value including Top-Up Fund Value, if any.

3 Loyalty Additions: Each Loyalty Addition will be a percentage of the average of daily Fund Values including Top-up Fund Value, if any, in that same policy year. Loyalty Additions will be allocated among the funds in the same proportion as the value of total units held in each fund at the time of allocation. The allocation of Loyalty Additions is guaranteed and shall not be revoked by the Company under any circumstances. If the premium payment is discontinued any time after 5 years, the number of years for which premiums have been paid will be considered as the premium paying term for the purpose of deciding the Loyalty Additions to be paid for the rest of the policy term.

4 Wealth Booster: Each Wealth Booster will be equal to a percentage of the average of the Fund Values including Top-up Fund Value, if any, on the last business day of the last eight policy quarters.

Wealth Booster will be allocated between the funds in the same proportion as the value of total units held in each fund at the time of allocation. The allocation of Wealth Booster units is guaranteed and shall not be revoked by the Company under any circumstances. If the premium payment is discontinued any time after 5 years, the number of years for which premiums have been paid will be considered as the premium paying term for the purpose of deciding the Wealth Boosters to be paid for the rest of the policy term.

5 Tax benefits of ₹ 46,800/- under Section 80C is calculated at the highest tax slab rate of 31.20% (including cess excluding surcharge) on life insurance premium under Section 80C of ₹ 1,50,000/-. Tax benefits are subject to conditions under Sections 80C, 10(10D), 115BAC and other provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Goods and Service Tax and cesses, if any, will be charged extra as per prevailing rates. Tax laws are subject to amendments made thereto from time to time. Please consult your tax advisor for details, before acting on the above.

^ Life Cover is the benefit payable on the death of the life assured during the policy term.

ICICI Pru LifeTime Classic (unit-linked non-participating individual life insurance plan) - UIN: 105L155V08

E/II/2779/2020-21

Back to Top