Money & Finance 10 Mins Video Crash Course by Sqrrl : Basics of personal finance (Bonus Financial Terms Dictionary)

Are you getting a good salary, but never seem to have anything left by month-end?
Do you keep running out of pocket money before time?
Is your business doing well, but your personal income never enough? 

You need to learn personal finance & money management. In this crash course, you will learn all about saving, investing & spending money just in 10 mins! 

Chapter 1: What is personal finance?

Let’s begin by understanding where do we get money from:

If you are a student, you are most probably getting pocket money.
If you are a working professional, you maybe getting a monthly salary
If you are a business person, then you must be earning lump sum business income from time to time.

Now, when you manage this money in terms of savings, investments or budgeting, then it is understood as personal finance

    MONEY  + MANAGEMENT  = PERSONAL FINANCE

Why  do you need money management?

Because earning enough money is never enough. You need to understand how to use your money wisely so that you can enjoy your life in the present and in the future. The first step of money management is to develop a healthy relationship with your money.

Chapter 2: Understand your relationship with money 

We want you to get into the habit of tracking everything you are spending and make sure that you know what your financial health is. 

You may be thinking this is getting personal. Why do you need to track everything when you already know at the time of spending the money? 

This is because, most of us make the mistake of turning a blind eye to our bank account. We avoid looking at our bank balance with the fear that it may be too low. We do not even want to talk about saving up because we just do not know where we stand. 

So, we want you to get comfortable with your money. You can simply start by downloading an expense tracking app from the internet. With the help of these apps, you can set up reminders for when you bank balance goes under a certain amount or look at our spending black holes. For eg.,you may see that you are spending some money on multiple subscriptions that you do not even need any more. 

Chapter 3: Financial milestones you must cross 

Most of us focus on spending money and we miss important milestones of money management while doing that. The first important milestone is the day you start getting an income. This is called the ‘Saving’ milestone. Even if it is your pocket money while you are in college. It is important to get into the habit of saving up some money and creating a savings pool. If you miss this milestone, it will be very difficult for you to manage your income as it grows. 

If you are 18+ and have not started saving yet, you can get some help from the Sqrrl Away feature in the app. 

Pro tip: There is no right age for this. You just need to cross this milestone when you start to earn. The second milestone is called the ‘Investing’ milestone. You cross this milestone once you have saved enough money to last you for three months if you were to earn nothing during that period. For eg., if you know your essential monthly expenses (food, electricity, rent) are 20,000 Rs. Then, if you have Rs. 60,000 or more saved up, then you can start investing money. But, remember, you should not invest any money from your emergency funds. 

Now, let’s come to the part of borrowing money. Usually, loans are considered as a negative product. However, borrowing money on interest is not a sign of financial weakness. You can borrow money to fulfill your bigger aspirations and then pay it back via regular EMIs. For eg., when you want to buy a new vehicle or maybe a new laptop that helps you do better at your job, you should not shy away from considering a loan. 

One thing to remember though is that if you are borrowing money without having any means of paying the EMIS, that can put you into the debt trap. 

Chapter 4: Identifying your financial persona 

By now, you understand the basic concepts of savings and investments. We will now help you identify your financial persona. Basically, it means that before you start managing your money, you should understand your risk appetite and your relationship with money.  

So, let’s begin with steps to identify our financial persona 

Step #1: Answer the below questions:  

1. Do you want to save your money or invest your money ? 
2. Are you comfortable taking high risks for getting high returns? 

Written down your answers? 

Step #2:  Find out your financial persona based on your answers from the grid below: 

Step #3: By now, you have learnt whether you have a  practical, conservative or adventurous financial persona. 

A conservative financial persona is one where you want to take lowe risks. This is good for beginners and people who have several financial commitments. 

A practical financial persona is one where you are okay taking balanced risks whether your money such as buying new phone because you need it to do your job better. Here, you spend money because you expect that it will help earn more. This is good for people who have gained some understanding of how to invest and also do not have any big financial commitments. 

An adventurous financial persona is one where you take very high risks with your money. For eg., when you see a good investment opportunity, you put your money in because you expect to get very high returns. This is good for people who have aggressive financial goals and also reliable knowledge of various investment plays. 

We hope by now you have identified your financial persona and are ready to develop a deeper understanding of personal finance concepts in our future crash courses 🙂

BONUS : FREE PERSONAL FINANCE TERMS DICTIONARY

DOWNLOAD THE SQRRL APP TO START YOUR SAVINGS JOURNEY NOW: https://l.sqrrl.in/0EiTojgK03