The whole theme of Subramoney is aimed at Freedom. Financial freedom is just one of them. Freedom from needing a financial planner. Freedom from needing a doctor,……..the list is endless.

The most important step towards this is cleaning up – 3-4 schemes, one term insurance, home loan paid off, funds redeemed to pay for a car, etc. So the need for SIMPLIFYING, AND keeping things sweet and simple. So that when you die, your spouse does not say….OMG what a mess! (believe me i hear this far far far more frequently than you think!).

Many people have done that. They have simplified, so their question is ‘Ok Subra what next?’

And the answer to this is ?

The answer to each one of us will be different. For me my daughter’s education and marriage are really at least 10 years away and that is reasonably well provided. Yes financially speaking I may have to do certain things – and I and my wife have parents to look after. Sure they are old now and (touch wood!) are well kept for their age – but at sometime will require some kind of assisted living. But frankly no financial implications at all – at least nothing foreseen.

Obviously it will be different for different people, right?

You could be saving for buying a house, marriage, paying off a mortgage, saving for a holiday. You could be saving for a short term goal or investing for a long term goal. You could be investing to create a corpus so that you can invest a lump sum (i know people who do aggressive SIPs to accumulate money for making a down payment for a house or an office).

So depending on your goals, start reading about how to go about doing THAT. Reading a book on financial planning is fine, but your mind registers ONLY what you need. So your reading and actions should depend EXACTLY on what you need to do IMMEDIATELY.

So if you have got the basics in place – credit card paid off, …life in fine financial order, go aggressively for your goals. NOW.