Smart money moves: How to navigate life’s milestones with savings and insurance

livemint.com:

While building up a sizeable corpus is necessary to fulfil many important goals, complementing it with adequate insurance coverage is recommended to secure oneself and loved ones from the vagaries of life. 

While India has overtaken China to become the most populous country in the world, the country’s rising working-age population continues to power the nation’s economy. In fact, India has one of the youngest populations with a median age of just 28 years and could potentially utilise this demographic dividend to power past the $50 trillion mark in terms of economic output by 2050. 

However, for this young population to improve their quality of life and support both older and younger dependents in the future, there is a need for prudent financial planning with adequate protection built into individual portfolios to cater to increasing health risks.

With rising disposable incomes and lower familial responsibilities boding well for those in the early stages of their career, it is important that they instil healthy saving habits. This becomes even more pertinent when one factors the current inflationary environment and its debilitating impact on the future value of today’s money. 

Therefore, it is highly recommended that working adults start their saving and investing journey as soon as they start earning, allowing their money to work for them as it compounds itself during their active work life. This puts them at an advantage later in life when planning to meet important milestones and protects them from economic emergencies brought about by health emergencies like the COVID-19 crisis.

Even though saving instruments usually generate lower returns than equity and other market-linked instruments over the long term, they