Invest monthly to avoid "month-end" nightmares

During this initial point in careers, salaries are often low, ranging from Rs 25,000 -- Rs 30,000 per month. Naturally, paychecks disappear fast, 'month-ends' are marked by single-digit bank accounts and a long gaze at the calendar. 

But given the fact that salaries rise between 10-20% a year, it is going to be a long time before your meagre starting salary becomes meaningful. We tell you how to make sure to make the most out of your salary! 

Once you start earning, you plan to save or invest from your salary. If you are staying away from your home town, the expenses are likely to be more including household accommodation, electricity bill, EMIs (if any) and various others.

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With the pile of expenses, how do you save? 

Here comes the financial planning part.

Speaking with Zeebiz, Amit Kukreja, SEBI registered investment advisor and Founder of AmitKukreja.com, he said, "First thing is to build habit of saving. Supposedly, if you have Rs 100 in your account, divide it into three parts. First on-third should be spend your expenses and in any case do not exceed it. Second one-third should be spent on household accommodation. Third one-third should be your Saving." 

It is very important to make investment your priority. For that, you have to make proper budget. To make a budget, evaluate and establish a pattern of expenses based on past six months expenditures. Based on the pattern, you can tweak  or reduce your expenses, Kukreja said. 

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Initially, your savings are going to be less but make sure you do not procrastinate. Saving must be a habit no matter how small the amount. 

Ajit Narasimhan, Category Head - Savings and Investments, BankBazaar, said, "It doesn’t matter if your savings are small. For instance, if you have an education loan to pay back, your first priority would be to close that."

"Start with Systematic Investment Plan (SIPs). If you are unable to save one-third, start with one-tenth, but make sure you invest in SIPs and not in Recurring Deposit or Fixed Deposit. Another option is Equity mutual fund, because this will balance out after including the inflation," he added. 

"Also, if you invest Rs 2000 every month in a SIP that provides you an average interest of 12% for a period of 30 years, you stand to accumulate approx. Rs 61 lakh. On the contrary, if you save it in a recurring deposit for 30 years at 6.5% interest, you will still have approximately Rs 22 lakh at the end of the period. So even if the quantum of investment is small, if you choose a good investment vehicle and are consistent with your investments, you can save a good amount," Narasimhan said. 

However, if you are still not sure about how to manage the finances, there are always financial planning workshops which will help you to understand more. 

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Hence, initially to building saving habit might be tough, but the power of compounding will save you in long term.

The bottomline, your Rs 2000 a month will be worth lakhs once you invest for a longer period of time. So, in order, to make the most of your salary, start investing and compound your money.