@allspiceberry143 Well, I would personally get rid of debt regardless of tax benefits. You may want to check annual interest paid on HL vs Tax saved and decide accordingly.
Don't work on random numbers. Set a goal of savings and work in reverse to achieve. e.g. Get data of last 6 months/12 months of all expenses (esp travel) and see where you can cut.
Good to know about siblings part, and you being kind to cover where required. For me, Love and relationships are more important than money.
Feel free to reach out to me for any queries that you may have.
@davexpression Yeah, I’m not sure if I want to pay off the HL principal with lump sums as that would mean digging into my emergency funds or bonuses, which I’m not really comfortable doing.
I’m definitely going to follow on the working backwards process for my savings and analyse my expenses according, thank you for that!
That’s what families are for, I guess but thank you so much for the great tips! I’ll definitely reach out to you if I have any doubts
@allspiceberry143 i would recommend you to go to ca to save taxes and have a tax planning
he will help you in claiming other deductions for mediclaim and interest on housing loan..also he will help you in making certain tax deductible investments
@debad Already doing it. Just the other day I was declaring my provisional taxes and realised that the deductible amount in each section still feels so low
The home loan and the premiums alone are filling up sections for me by themselves
@allspiceberry143 Maybe you could divert a portion of the RD amount/keep aside some amount to invest in SGBs for diversification purposes.
But overall good job OP!
@allspiceberry143 Does your job not cover parental insurance? That should reduce the amount you need to budget for medical procedures.
I see that some of them are cosmetic, butt them they are also one time, and part a point, you shouldn't have to continue budgeting for them.
@valerie112 I already have a medical insurance for them (and nope, sadly, my job doesn’t cover for parents), and my dad’s knee replacement will be taken care of by that majorly. I just want to keep extra cash saved for it for post-procedure requirements that may not be covered by insurance, like physiotherapy.
And you’re right, I shouldn’t have to continue budgeting for them once their major surgeries are done by this year/early next year, but I would still want to divert it to a general emergency fund since they’re old and the liquidity at hand gives me a peace of mind lol
@allspiceberry143 Though not strictly a budgeting/ personal finance suggestion: You can start building up a parallel source of income in something where you have a natural inclination.
At 26, you have time on your side and you can use extra energy without a burden of extra responsibilities post marriage. You’ll definitely learn a lot and if it becomes a viable secondary/passive income source - even better.
This will also hold you in good stead should the job market turn unfavourable in future.
@alfie13 That’s definitely a reality check I needed, thank you! I just need to think hard on what could be my parallel source of income and where my natural inclination lies, and that is gonna be difficult considering I have zero presence on social media, so thinking of something without the digital marketing aspect to it is going to be a challenge for me. But I guess you grow when you’re uncomfortable lol
but thank you so much for the great tips! I’ll definitely reach out to you if I have any doubts
