Many millennials opine how money cannot buy love. Maybe they have not realized the power of money or what money can buy them. Jests apart, this Valentine’s Day may be a perfect day for couples, especially those newly married, to explore each other’s financial aspirations and decide their personal finance investments accordingly. Also, a balanced financial outlook also involves a lessening of debt, which means that they must refrain from splurging on gifts using their credit cards or adopt a futuristic attitude while balancing their investments and expenditures.
Valentine’s Day is not about gifting roses or love wrapped in gold. It goes beyond that. It also involves planning your life together, which involves planning your finances together too. This involves learning about each other’s incomes, suggesting the best investments in joint or individual names or deciding to rejig investments as per the recent Budget 2023 guidelines. Apart, interested couples can seek professional financial advice to learn how they should manage their money.
Gift a life insurance plan
This Valentine’s Day, replace roses with the gift of life insurance. Your partner deserves to be secured. What best way to secure your partner’s future than gift her with a life insurance policy? Gifts are for an interim benefit. Why not elevate the art of gifting your partner by including a life insurance plan in your Valentine’s gift collection?
Dev Ashish, Founder, Stable Investor says, “Assuming that your wife is your valentine, then one off-beat idea can be to gift her a term life insurance in which you are the insured and she is the beneficiary. While I am not saying to not gift chocolates, flowers and even diamond rings, having life insurance (for yourself) to protect your wife’s future might be the ultimate act of love. So, if you still don’t have one covering your life, then valentine’s might be a good time to have it in place.”
CA Kanan Bahl, a financial educator and growth consultant shares, “You may consider gifting your valentine a term insurance plan this Valentine’s Day. The Income Tax law will also allow you a tax deduction within the old tax regime under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. However, please note that your valentine must be a spouse for claiming a tax deduction for the policy premium paid. Also, please note that a term plan's purpose is to financially secure the insured’s family in case of their demise. So, if the family is not financially dependent on the spouse, you may consider gifting something better like a health Insurance plan unless you have it. However, you must consult a legally registered advisor before closing on the features of the plan.”.
Prepay a part of lingering debt
The burden of a loan must not fall on the husband or wife only. Any debt incurred has a burdening effect on both the husband and wife considering how a part of their income in hand is spent on repaying it. With continuously increasing interest rates, it makes sense to get rid of the loan early by helping to prepay the loan to get rid of it early.
This Valentine’s Day, you can prepay a part of your partner’s loan with your one month’s salary or the money you were planning to spend on gifts. Apart, if you had been saving money every month to celebrate this big day, it would make more sense to use the money to help your partner get rid of the loan early in life.
Invest before you spend
Remember the famous adage “You give ₹10,000 to a poor person, he would spend on good food and new clothes. You give ₹10,000 to an investor, he would use the money to earn some good returns”. This proverb holds true for young couples revelling in the glitz and glamour of love and companionship. This Valentine’s Day, think twice before you spend incessantly expressing your love. Instead, use the money to invest in a mutual fund through a systematic investment plan (SIP) or opt for a lump sum mutual fund investment.
Alternatively, you may also park your money in simple traditional deposits earning high-interest rates. You may also consider putting some money in gold funds, gold bonds or gold ETFs considering how the constant rise in gold prices has helped many investors to hedge their investments against inflation.
Cut off credit card debt
In today’s age of instant gratification, it is common for many people to pay for things using their credit cards, thus, adding to their existing debt. This year, promise to help your partner get rid of the credit card debt to avoid piling of penalties and interest on non-repayment of the debt in time.
A happy ever after is possible only when you plan your finances together. Though earnings and investments may be different, they must all coincide to match a common understanding of finances and similarly gauge how their personal finance decisions will help their love grow with each passing day.
