At Finshots, we have one guiding principle for all that we do — simplification. In 2019, we began by simplifying business news for you. In 2021, we took that one step ahead and introduced simplified Insurance Advice for everyone. But we have realised that we want to do so much more for our community. With that, we’re introducing “Simplified Personal Finance”. Think of it as little nuggets that’ll help you in your journey towards financial freedom.

Like we’ve always said, we want to simplify all things finance, and finance isn’t just about company deals and economic policies. Finance is about individuals and that brings us to the personal side of it.

And what better way to begin than with budgeting. After all, we’re not limitlessly rich — money and time-wise. But we all hate it when someone asks us to open a spreadsheet and list all our expenses. It’s such a tedious task! So, is there a better way to ease into it and not get annoyed by the very thought of a budget?

Maybe we can start at the top and work our way down.

See, there’s a super high-level budgeting method called the 50/30/20 rule. If we’re being honest, it’s more of a guideline to get you started.

Think of it as three buckets that you have to fill up.

So, you take your income and divide it quickly. 50% you dump into the “Adulting“ bucket. This is money you absolutely need for things like your rent, groceries, utilities — the fixed expenses.

Now that’s out of the way, you need to have fun in your life too — going to the movies, eating out, shopping at your favourite fashion store, so you set aside 30% of your income into the “Life is great” bucket. So whenever you feel the urge to splurge, this is what you’ll dip into. If you’re running low on cash here, well, you just have to wait it out till it gets refilled with your next pay.

And finally, imagine what you want your life to be like in the future. You may want to retire early. You may want to buy that dream car. So many goals to knock it out of the park. How do we get there if we don’t save and invest? Well, 20% of our income goes towards that “Future You”.

By doing this simple hack, you’re taking care of yourself today and you’re taking care of your future. Most importantly, you’ll sleep well at night!

And we know it’s really really simple. But that’s the whole point. We’ll start with something simple and hopefully, build on from here. And so before you go, here’s something you can do for us. Write to us at money@finshots.in and let us know if you have any questions about budgeting. We will collate all the questions and address them together. So hopefully, more people can learn from this exercise.

And also, if you have any thoughts on what you’d like us to talk about as we take this personal finance journey together, do drop us a message. Don’t be shy. And with that, here’s the weekly wrapup.

Finshots Markets

In this week, we talk about telecom tariff hikes and see if Vodafone Idea can thrive with this little gambit. Link here.

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The death of conglomerates?

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The green ocean is dying

The Amazon rainforest has long been referred to as the ​“lungs of the earth”, but sadly those lungs are in danger of being destroyed and humans are almost entirely to blame. Check out this riveting climate change story

A frontal assault on OPEC?

OPEC has time and again refused to up the oil supply and it is causing the crude prices to go through the roof, and seems like most oil consuming nations have run out of patience, resorting to extreme measures. What are they doing? Read the Thursday Newsletter to find out

What does India eat for breakfast?

India’s ready to eat Breakfast segment is ripe for conquering, and many companies like ITC intend to tame this beast. In the Friday Newsletter we tell you what is going on

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