By Vivek Law | Last Updated: February 20, 2016 | 16:13 IST | Business Today

The Budget may not have much for you. So, it’s best to plan your finances in such a way that this does not matter. India is perhaps the only country where the Union Budget is almost like a carnival. What is otherwise meant to be a statement of the government’s finances is a lot more in India. It is also a vision statement of the government’s policies. But that is hardly the reason why every Indian citizen looks forward to it and why it is covered in a high-decibel manner across the media. The reason is: Tax.

Unlike in most countries, the government tweaks tax rates, exemptions and deductions, almost every year. Consistency is not our forte. It is, therefore, not surprising that we all stay glued to the TV to listen to the Budget speech to figure out whether we need to pay more taxes, which product will be cheaper or expensive and, above all, which new products will we now be able to invest in for saving tax. In India, it is the government that does our financial planning. It decides which products we should put our money in by identifying products that qualify for tax deduction. It keeps changing the list every year. And most citizens merely follow the direction given by the government as product manufacturers line up one product after another with one simple hook: “Save Tax”.

Never mind if the product is suitable for us or not. As long as it provides a tax break, we must buy it, we are told. And most of us take the bait and buy it too. Should we save tax? Of course we must. But should we focus on financial planning or merely on tax planning? Tax planning is an integral part of financial planning. The focus should be first on drawing up our financial plan. On finding out our earnings and expenses. On figuring out our Tax rates, exemptions and deductions are tweaked by the govt almost every year By Vivek Law goals in life. On figuring out our need for money in the short term (one-two years) and the long term (more than five years). Once this is done, we must figure out how much to put in equity and how much in debt. How much to set aside for buying our home and how much to set aside for gold. But before all this, have a health insurance policy, and if you have a dependant, a term insurance as well.

After this comes the bit about picking products. The remarkable thing about our successive governments has been how they have clubbed together everything in the bracket of products that allow us tax deductions and exemptions. So, for example, your children’s school fees as well as your provident fund are eligible in the same category. So are your insurance and equity-linked savings scheme (ELSS) investments. There is a separate category for health insurance as also for the National Pension Scheme.

In other words, once you have figured out your financial plan, putting aside money to make the most of tax breaks is easy. What can be dangerous is doing it the other way around. For example, if you do not need a ULIP or an endowment policy, and buy one just because your agent tells you that it gets you a tax break, it is disastrous for your financial plan. Similarly, putting all your money in a PPF account may not be prudent either. Sound financial planning is about asset allocation. Not putting all your eggs in one basket.

Financial plans are also not made for one year. Yes, one must look at one’s financial plan periodically but not change it every year just because the government decides to make changes to the tax-saving products’ list in every Budget. In fact, the government needs to get out of the business of deciding where we invest. It needs to segregate expenditure and investment and not put them in one basket. We are a nation of savers and are laggards when it comes to investments. So, what would I expect from the finance minister this Budget? Given the rather stressed condition of the finances, it would hardly be prudent to expect any great tax breaks from the finance minister. Instead, what would be easy to do is to simplify the sections under which we get our tax breaks. Put expenditure—school fee, home loan etc—in one basket and put core investment products—ELSS, ULIPs, PPF etc—in one.

(In association with Mail Today Bureau)

Source : http://goo.gl/2HrmoK