Women Ruling The World

Compiled By: Xama Mehta

About Xama: She is an experienced, progressive Assistant Manager Human Resource at eInfochips. She has worked for over 9 years across several domains – Employee Relationships, HR Operations & engagement.

Ever wondered how a matriarch or the female-dominated world would look like? Well, growing up, I didn’t.
This decade, times seem to be changing, with us, women, successfully breaking the shackles of poverty, discrimination and biasedness. 

However, our objectification, body shaming, casual sexism, racism etc., still plague the society we all talk about making” safe” for us. Ironically, some of the decade-old, best Bollywood movies have brilliant(read: highly misogynist)dialogues. 

From late Sridevi to Kalki Koechlin, to Farhan Akhtar and Aamir Khan, today’s celebrities have begun questioning the patriarchal norms.  
The boss. The wife. The mother. The daughter. There’s hardly any role we haven’t played, hardly any battle we haven’t fought, any profession we’ve not been in. Still, especially in India, our leaving houses to pursue our dreams remains underappreciated.

We today do not want to snatch away the rights or roles of men, we want a middle ground: Equality.

Womenleaders  today, tomorrow

The most powerful women across the world: Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of New Zealand; Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany; Damilola Odufuwa and Odunayo Eweniyi, women’s rights advocates, Nigeria; Kamala Harris, US vice president-elect, Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at University of Oxford and co-founder of Vaccitech, UK and many more, are our idols. They inspire us to grow, voice our opinions, and show how we can make an explosion even with a single match.

The Bright Side

Over the years, our political participation worldwide has continued to grow. 
As of July 2013, 35 countries, including nine in Africa, had national parliaments with at least 30% female representatives. 

Countries now comprise quotas to secure our political participation. Instances of women climbing up include –Hillary Clinton, Janet Yellen, Angela Merkel, Sheryl Sandberg and others — and on their terms, are increasingly more common.
Horrible statistics today about violence against us have a silver lining — that violence is being reported– contrary to centuries of hush and approval of the arm-twisting we’ve faced.

Women at work in 2021

Metoo and Time’s Up movements have strongly opposed misogyny and male chauvinism. 
We today are leaving no stone unturned to ascend the corporate ladder.
“You can find me somewhere in between inspiring others, working on myself, dodging negativity, and slaying my goals.” 
Nothing could have better condensed the lives of those employed amongst us than this Pinterest quote.

The persistent pandemic has compelled us all to reconsider working, thinking of downshifting, or quitting jobs altogether. Battling gender and racial discrimination for years, the locking down of schools and daycares has amplified the toils today.

Early AM, late or sleepless nights, cooking, retaining a healthful and active lifestyle, ensuring everyone at home has it easy, heeding work meetings – is our life in a nutshell.

The go-getter ones amongst us are trying their best to be hands-on mothers, mentors, and whatnot- being a jack of all trades and mastering them all with efficient time management.

Women in FinTech

FinTech undoubtedly seems to be a male-dominated industry. With only a small number of us working in FinTech with even fewer of us as Founders, we can say that we have an underrepresentation in this arena too.

We make up just 7% of the total pool in Fintech globally, which speaks volumes.
Louise Brett, Head of FinTech and Financial Services Innovation at Deloitte, believes that by identifying some necessary steps we can take to start levelling out these gender diversity issues, we can safeguard the fintech industry’s future. 

She adds in FemTech Partners: breaking down barriers, “we’re seeing some innovative solutions emerging already. One firm is offering double finder’s fees to employees that recommend successful female job candidates. 
Another is reviewing all its job descriptions to ensure the language appeals to female applicants.”

“We need to apply the same principles to solving this problem, as we do with our product: test and learn. The first step is to make a conscious effort to rebalance gender inequality in Fintech. Then we can start to identify what’s working.”
However, with women like Anna Maj – FinTech Leader at PwC and Senior Lecturer at CFTE, Cordelia Kafetz – Head of Fintech Hub at Bank of England Eva Wong – Co-founder and COO, Borrowell, and many more goddesses embodying strength and power, our future in  FinTech doesn’t seem very grim.Reflect and hear us.  
Listen to our struggles and dreams. 
Give us wings to fly, roots to grow, reasons to come back and watch us break free!

A Guide To Financial Wellness Program Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Financial wellness programmes are gaining popularity these days as a key responsibility for employers and a necessity for employees. However, merely implementing a financial wellness program is hardly adequate in today’s times. It is also essential that the efficiency of such a program is routinely measured, with a review of several Key Performance Indicators from time to time. Else, it perhaps risks being relegated to the status of an enthusiastic fire drill we’ve all been part of at some point in our lives.
Without measuring the program’s outcomes, it is not possible to know if it helps in changing people’s attitudes and behaviours concerning money, in a way that produces lasting effects. Surely, if the program does not create lasting changes for employees, it isn’t just a waste of time and effort, but it’s eating into every other business metric – from the bottom line to even the intangibles such as brand reputation.

Let’s take a look at some of the basic key performance indicators or KPIs for financial wellness programmes:

1.   Participation Rates

Participation rates can be a wonderful KPI to judge the effectiveness of successful Financial Wellness programmes. Your enterprise can take into account the following numbers to judge your programme’s effectiveness. 

1)The Number of Employees Participating 

A good way to judge the effectiveness of a company’s financial wellness program is by keeping track of the number of people making use of the different services or participating in activities such as seminars, financial counselling, etc. 

2)Growth in the number of Users

This metric records the increase in the number of employees making use of the services on offer by your enterprise’s financial wellness programmes. This number could mean at least one of two things.
a.The program has provided successful results to your employees.  Only if the program is beneficial, your employees would recommend it to other colleagues 
b.Your enterprise is successful in communicating to the employees the benefits of the financial wellness program.

3)Rate of Return

This records the number of times employees came back to avail the services. This is also a good metric to judge a program’s effectiveness, but it depends on the program on effect.
For instance, a high rate of return to debt management seminars could mean that the seminar might not be adequate. On the other hand, return to a financial wellness partner for wealth generation points towards a positive impact.

4)The number of Courses, Seminars and Assessment Completed 

This determines the employees’ commitment level and interest in the program and an indicator of whether the employees find it useful.

5)Knowledge Gained: 

This compares the pre-program-implementation scores of employees’ financial awareness tests to the post-program-implementation score, to ascertain the level of educational seminars and workshops, etc have helped the employees.

2.   Employees’ Feedback Scores

The best way to ascertain the utility of any program or effort is to get feedback from the beneficiaries, in this case, the employees.

1)User Satisfaction Scores 

This score reflects the level of satisfaction the employees received from the implementation of the Financial wellness programmes. They measure the workforce’s response and give an idea to the employer how right or wrong they are going in the view of the employees.

2) Confidence Scores 

Through this users can be asked how comfortable they feel in their knowledge about certain topics before and after taking seminars or courses to assess if the programmes are working well and benefitting the employees.

3) Financial Stress Levels 

Financial stress can lead to a lot of different problems like anxiety, depression, productivity, etc. A good way to judge financial wellness programmes is by measuring how much they relieve employees of such debilitating stress.

3.  Employee benefits Utilisation 

Another good Key Performance Indicator to judge Financial Wellness programmes can be based on how aware they make employees, and how they induce them to make full use of the financial benefits offered by their organisation, like:

1) Retirement funds: 

This measures the number of employees who are investing their money in the company(or outside) retirement funds, which shows a level of awareness.

2) Loan Obtaining benefits: 

This measures the number of employees who take advantage of the loan-procuring help offered by their organisation.

3) Loan repayment perks: 

This keeps track of the number of employees who are aware enough to utilise organisational help, in whichever way offered, for the repayment of loans like personal loans.

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How HR Can Help Millennial employees In Financial Planning

Financial stress is undoubtedly one of the most prevalent and widespread concerns among the working class, especially millennials who are inching closer to retirement every day and have not yet established or opened a retirement savings fund. 
Millennials are different from their predecessors in more ways than one- they have witnessed and pulled through two major recessions early in their careers, and the new pandemic fuelled recession is adding a new financial strain. This financial stress is amplified for millennials also because a majority of them face challenges such as student loan debt, high unemployment rates, and most recently, low financial literacy. 

A 2017 PWC Employee Financial Wellness Survey discovered that an astounding 65% of millennials reported being stressed and affected by the state of their finances. Approximately a third of the employees confessed to being distracted by personal financial issues at work, while a majority of them spent up to 3 hours a week handling these matters during work hours. 
Hence, it is no secret that financial stress can slowly trickle in and affect overall productivity in the workplace. Here’s how HR can help millennial employees in financial planning and ensure their overall well-being and better productivity at work!

  • Introducing financial literacy tools

One of the best ways HR can help millennials with financial planning and wellness is by introducing financial literacy tools and programs in the workplace as a means to teach and guide them. This is crucial as these financial literacy tools can help them understand their finances better, suggest a range of options for investing, and even get them out of a personal financial crisis. 
Educating employees about the foundations of personal finance, including sessions on how to build healthy financial habits and personal wealth, and making them aware of concepts such as quick instant loans and salary advance loans is one of the best ways to help millennials. This is because when employees have an accurate and good understanding of their finances and financial standing, they will make informed and better decisions to save and make the most of workplace resources to build a suitable retirement plan. 

  • Encouraging goal-based financial planning

Goal-based financial planning is another way HR can help their millennial employees plan their personal finances in a better and more efficient way. The goals should be prioritized and comprehensive workshops and programs that focus on how to go about goal-based financial planning are a must to help employees plan their finances better. 
A detailed financial plan will break down each goal into smaller, more concrete, and achievable milestones, and can help reduce the overwhelming burden of a personal financial crisis. 

  • Automated investing and smart budgeting

Automated investing and smart budgeting are associated with the actual execution of the financial plan drawn up by employees. This step matters the most, simply because the implementation is one of the most difficult steps when it comes to financial management. Digital tools can help in keeping them on track and accountable, by serving as constant reminders and acting as lucrative platforms for easier investing. 
Smart budgeting applications and platforms can help keep a track of the monthly expenditure and finances, while automated investing platforms can help in the automation of the transfer of a pre-decided amount from a checking account to a savings account. Hence, employees save time because the saving and investing bit is taken care of automatically. 

  • Introduction to quick personal loans and salary advance loans

Finally, it is imperative to educate millennial employees about the latest financial tools and services available at their disposal, such as quick personal loan and salary advance loans. This is important simply because sometimes even the HR isn’t fully aware of their personal financial situation, and a simple introduction to these quick personal loans or salary advance loans can help them directly or indirectly in more ways than one can imagine. 
HR leaders need to support and help their millennial employees in financial planning and must chalk our detailed, strategic, and comprehensive programs and workshops to ensure their financial wellness. Quick personal loans, salary advance loans, automated investing, and smart budgeting tools are some of the latest advancements that can help millennial employees plan their finances better, and help them when they’re in urgent need of financial assistance. The solution provided by HR should include modules and sessions for educating, planning, investing, carried out by financial experts and advisors to help them reach their goals. At Fibe, we’re helping to help with financial wellness solutions.

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Be Happy instead of Rich!

How many times were you ready to compromise your free time for making more money? Prioritizing money might deliver that temporary pleasure of fortune, but in the long run, it might actually undermine your happiness. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to deny the salary raise you have been offered or give away all your wealth. It is true that making more money could give you happiness, but the way you utilize it shapes the joy you get out of it. 

A recent survey on more than 500 people in the UK, showed that people with more money in their savings account were happier than those who saw depressingly low numbers every time they visited the bank. Some people might argue saying wealthier people are happier, forgetting the fact that with increased wealth, there is a surge in the lifestyle. With the surplus money, you end up buying more and more things, and to make space for these, you might end up buying a bigger house, and the list goes on. You might eventually reach a point where the ‘surplus’ money, which was giving you happiness, isn’t even surplus anymore, due to the change in lifestyle. 

In that case, the idea of saving cash could be intimidating. You might get anxious about cutting down on your expenses, creating a budget plan, and might even end up sacrificing on things. Always ask yourself:

  • Is what I buy essential for me?
  • If not, is the expense genuinely worth it and brings happiness?

By this method of approach, you can cut down on unnecessary expenses and manage to maintain your money. Especially if your answer to the second question is no, you need to sit back and take a break from those expenses, at least for a few weeks. By now, most of you all might have this question in your head. Afterall, what is the right way to spend money, and still be happy?

Spend on experiences

It is normal for us to spend money on things that aren’t necessary for our survival. But, is it good? Is it worth it? If you are spending money on experiences that are going to give you a lifetime of memories to cherish, then definitely yes! Buying materialistic things such as clothes, gadgets, etc., might give you satisfaction for a while, until they get worn out. Experiences on the other hand, even though might seem a little expensive, gives you life-long happiness, rather than just being satisfactory at the moment. With the help of EarlySalary, you don’t have to worry about the expenditure. You can now pay all your bills and cover all the last minute-payments with the help of EarlySalary’s products. You can get instant cash loans up to Rs 5,00,000 for a tenure of up to 24 months. It comes with zero prepayment charge and you will get your loan amount transferred directly to your bank account.

Invest in time

In your busy lives, you might find it hard to make time for your leisure or have fun with your closed ones. Apart from your job, smaller things such as running errands for the home, cooking, etc. could consume a lot of time of your day. Instead, you can make use of delivery services to get your food, groceries, and other supplies delivered. There is no doubt you would be spending a little more money than how much you would have spent if you had done it by yourself. At the end of the day, you will be successful in buying yourself some quality time, so why not?

Invest in others

You could use your extra money in gifting something to someone, helping out a stranger facing some trouble, or even donating it to a charity or NGO. Although spending money on yourself is more tempting, several studies have proven that you are more likely to not regret spending money on someone else. Even research shows that giving away a little might also boost your mood. This might not apply to everybody. This is something somebody should do out of interest, and not because of any external force. 

The Fulfillment Curve

Source: pinterest 

The figure shown above is called The Fulfillment Curve. It depicts the level of happiness that comes along with more and more money. The curve consists of four parts. Let us look at each one of them in brief.

  • Survival

This simply means, you barely have money to buy necessities and even a little amount of money is going to bring in a lot of happiness. You will be much happier just by availing your basic needs such as food, clothes, and shelter.

  • Comforts

Once you start making enough money for basic necessities, you will start investing money on your comforts such as sofas, bed, extra pillows, second or third pair of jeans, etc. These purchases too, bring you immense joy and happiness as you get the satisfaction of making more than necessities. This section of the curve is still considered to be positive, where money is still bringing you happiness. At this point, you will start towards becoming rich.

  • Luxuries

Eventually, your comfort expenditure starts to expand. From buying one chair, to two or three extra chairs, from a small house to a bigger one, and probably ten extra pairs of jeans. These aren’t comforts anymore, they are luxuries. They make you so happy, that you will end up wanting more and more, eventually pushing yourself to the peak.

  • Overconsumption

Now that you are rich and you have reached the peak, you will start buying unwanted things and invest your money that might hardly give you any happiness. You uncontrollably start spending on things that are going to be a burden for you. The money which was once enough to buy you comforts and even luxuries, and make you happy, will push you further and further towards stress, in order to earn more money. If this goes on, it will be a never ending cycle, and you will end up with zero happiness with all the money that you’ve earned.The best section of the fulfillment curve is either the comfort or the luxuries section where you know you have enough. It is extremely important to know that you have enough money that would be sufficient to bring in happiness.

When will you know you have enough money?

When your spending and your happiness is equally balanced, and when all your necessities are fulfilled, that is when you know you have enough money to be happy. It is better to have enough money, than to be rich, that would eventually push you towards an unhappy life. You will feel content when you have enough, which is not too little, or not too much.Well, there is no simple answer to what ‘enough’ is. It’s a fairly subjective concept, after all. It is upto your realization, when you reach the luxuries section in the fulfillment curve, that you have enough money.Take time to analyse your income, your expenditure and what your ideal ‘enough ’would be. Work towards it, and never, ever, push it further ‘enough’.

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Money & Happiness: The Perfect Relationship

Ever asked friends and family the sutra to be happy? Relationships, values and other non-material things must have surely made it to that list. Plus, they would have also said that money can’t buy happiness. Guess what, a recent study shows that money can indeed make you happy. Yes, a study by Mathew Killingsworth corroborated another 2010 Princeton study and showed that increased earning equals increased happiness. The new study reveals that higher earners continue to experience greater “happiness” as their income increases beyond $75,000 and that well-being rises linearly with income.
In this blog, we unfold the perfect relationship between money and happiness and share ways you can be more satisfied with relation to money. 

1. There’s No Free Lunch

There’s nothing called free lunch in this world. After all, it is with money that you can fulfil the lower needs of food, shelter and security on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid. In purely economic terms, more money places you on a higher utility curve as you get more choices. Money can help you achieve success materialism and shift your mindset to enhance economic motivation that is your drive to work and improve your well-being. 

2. Financial and Emotional Well-being 

Tough times come to us when we least expect them and steal us of our happiness. However, when you have a rainy day fund,  you have a cushion against the worst and be in better control over the situation. Supporting your loved ones in crisis requires emotional and financial well-being and if you have both, they feel more reassured. 
The thumb rule is that you should have a buffer equivalent to 3 months of your basic salary to have greater autonomy whenever there’s a dilemma.  

3. Happiness of Giving

A 2008 study showed that money is correlated with happiness when spent on others. Remember that time when you gave her the first gift or took them for a vacation? Spending on others gives a sense of fulfilment and why not, we are all social animals who have an affinity for healthy relationships with others. After all, money is what you need for the joy of giving in philanthropy and for connecting better and stronger social ties.

Spending money on experiences makes you happy because you share those moments with your spouse, partner, friend or family. If you are waiting to buy an experience worth sharing but not sure how to fund it, get on to Fibe now to get the necessary financial support. We can help you with an instant loan so you don’t have to wing it alone. 

4. Golden Triangle of Happiness

The golden triangle of happiness puts relationships, financial control and sense of purpose at the core of satisfaction and wellbeing. If you are capable of meeting your financial commitments such as bills and payments, you feel more comfortable with your current situation. 
Savings help you enjoy life while building resilience for the future. Make sure you actively save, do budgeting and not spend mindlessly. You may or may not have been bestowed with a fortune but, you can build yourself wealth and close the gap through financial planning. 

5. Money is Just a Means and not an End

What matters the most is how you choose to spend and earn money. There are not many “millionaire next door” types, so you should know how to live within your means, save and invest money like it’s your second  job. In crazy times like these, where millions lost their jobs, saving and investment are worth their weight.  

Just put together all the studies and you’ll realise that it is safe to say that money and happiness can be the perfect relationship. Whilst, you should know that no amount of money can give you happiness if you don’t know how and where to spend it. Financial goal setting should be in line with your core values. There’s no cookie-cutter approach to it, so make sure your decisions support your life goals.

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Here’s How To Tackle Your Compulsive vs Impulsive Shopping Habit

To a great extent, we all get excited by consumerism but some fall prey to compulsive and impulsive shopping behaviors. While most of us think a lot about money- how much we have, how much we need, how to get more, etc., we still end up messing up our finances and budget. Given the importance of money for our own lives and of our loved ones, the one easy thing that you can do to take charge of your financial health is by tackling your compulsive and impulsive shopping habit. 

This blog will help you identify if you are a compulsive shopper, introduce various ways to tackle your shopping habits and help you avoid the most common mistakes that people make while making shopping decisions. 

Who is a Compulsive & Impulsive Shopper?

Compulsive shopping habits are addictive and make you spend more. It is more common among women and can even cause psychiatric disorders like anxiety and depression. The most common causes of this habit are perfectionism, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), a way to fill a void in life or just the need to be in control. Some signs of a compulsive shopper are:

  • You think about shopping all the time
  • You tend to ignore loved ones and prioritise shopping over everything
  • You have failed to get over this behaviour and becoming anxious about it

On the other hand, impulsive shopping is buying without planning. For example, if you are enticed by the 4 letter word- Sale and end up buying without having planned for it or even without needing it, you are an impulsive shopper. If you succumb to an urge in the moment, then you may be guilty of this habit. Digital marketing and ecommerce mix emotions with data science and tap this behaviour. They help you channelise and cope up with your feelings through shopping and ordering and give you instant joy and satiate your temptation. 

How to Tackle Your Shopping Behavior

A. Track and Note your Spending Habits

Record every purchase you make to help you understand the pattern, triggers and times when you feel most tempted. This will also help you trace purchases made for needs vs those for wants. If you always break your monthly budget then this may be the best time to begin tracking purchases through a journal.

B. Avoid Flash Sales

The urge to shop is triggered more when there are sales. If you feel like kryptonite during sales, then mindful spending can be done by either carrying limited cash or limiting the spending limit on your credit or debit card can help you take control of impulsive shopping. Unsubscribe from the mailing lists that entice you with sales ads. 

C. Ask for Help

Prepare a list of items you need, handover your wallet to your loved one and ask them to ensure that no item you add to the cart is out of the listed ones. This way you make money access tougher, increase the time spent on buying and thereby, spend more time reflecting on the decision. Act on the root cause of your impulses and triggers, know whether it’s a weapon to express anger, to feel more secure or soothe yourself. Engage in some side hustle such as blogging, cooking, or any other hobby to look away to channel your energy elsewhere. If you are one of those for whom when the going gets tough, the tough goes shopping, then train your mind to do something else and avoid browsing shopping apps which make you more vulnerable. 
So the next time you face a major decision while shopping, keep in mind the above tips and make informed and hopefully, better choices. At a minimum, we believe that shopping decisions can impact your financial affairs, so take charge now and never succumb to these habits.   

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How To Take Care Of Your Women Employee In your workplace

While our country advances and the GDP of the country is on a steady rise ever since 1991, the participation of women in the workforce has been seeing a declining trend. From the year 2004- 2005 where it was 42.7 percent, it has fallen to a mere 23.3 percent in 2017 to 2018. According to the latest World Bank report, it has fallen to 20.3 percent in the year 2019. 

This just goes on to show that special efforts must be made to improve the position of women in the workforce. Women employees should be encouraged to progress and to excel in the so-called man’s world.

Tips to take care of women employees in the workplace

One of the most important functions of any organisation is to treat all its employees equally and take care of growth opportunities for all the people working there. Here are a few tips that you can keep in mind to promote the growth of women employees in your organisation:

a. Have pro-women policies at workplace 

The organisational setup and the policies are made keeping a predominantly male workforce in mind. Few changes need to be made to accommodate the women employees as well. This can go a long way in providing them the requisite impetus for further growth. 
For instance, Zomato India recently announced upto 10 leaves to the women and transgender employees on account of “Menstural Leave”. 
Other changes such as parity in incentives and pay, equal opportunity for promotion et al also needs to be ensured as the same are enshrined by way of a fundamental right in the Constitution of India itself. This would ensure that they can break the glass ceiling that is imposed on the growth of the women employees in various organisations. 

b. Flexible working options 

Most women employees have additional responsibilities at home and a bigger share of the household chores as compared to her male counterparts. Therefore, options like Work-from-home, flexible working hours and target based working. 

c. Onsite childcare facilities

As an extension to the previous point, the responsibility of childcare also falls predominantly on the women. The organisation can provide a creche or childcare facility in the office itself. This can really help women employees with young children to effectively manage their work with the responsibility of their child, especially in the metropolitan cities where most families have a nuclear family set up and do not have the extra hand of help with the childcare from their relatives.

d. Give extra importance to women safety

More and more women are working late nights and even opting for graveyard shifts. In such a case, the organisation should be proactive in placing a few checks to ensure that their women employees are able to safely reach their homes. A lot of organisations offer special cabs for pick up and drop of their employees, surveillance within the office and its compound etc, among other things. 
Not just this, the organisation should also have an effective system to keep a check against the sexual harassment at workplace. After the #Metoo movement, several cases of sexual harassment at workplace came to light in highly reputed organisations as well. 

Therefore, keeping up with the compliances under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 is a must. In addition to this, the HR should have an open door policy for any woman who wishes to complain of any act of such nature and utmost importance should be given to making a safe environment for her to talk about her experiences, without having to worry about any sort of backlash. 

Concluding words 

More and more women are stepping out from the comforts of their home and venturing out to have a career of their own. It is pivotal that apart from any other thing mentioned above, all employees, men or women, should be treated with respect and dignity. It is important to make the women employees feel that they are an equal to their male counterpart and that their contribution is equally paramount to the organisation. This is not only important for the organisation but for the country at large.  As it was rightly pointed out by Michelle Obama, 

“No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.”

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Signs Indicating The Need For Financial Health Checkup

Financial planning can be a tricky business. Managing finances is not really as simple as it seems and sometimes you may hamper your financial health without even realizing. 

Your overall financial health comprises several things such as: 

  • Your credit score, 
  • Your investment portfolio, 
  • The liquidity of your assets and 
  • The amount of savings and emergency funds. 

A perfect balance of all these factors, though desirable, is very tough to achieve. So don’t kick yourself too much if you struggle. Here are a few signs that you should watch out for and reevaluate your financial health in case  you can see a few of them: 

1.You have a Low Credit Score 

A credit score depicts the creditworthiness of an individual. It takes into account your past credit transactions, its repayment et al and depicts whether or not you are a reliable borrower. In case you have a low credit score, it means that you are a risky borrower and you will have trouble getting any form of credit. Even in case you do get the credit, it would be at a significantly higher interest rate. 

You can use our credit score calculator for free and while sitting within the comforts of your home. 

2. No emergency fund 

Saving and setting aside some part of your income every month for a rainy day in the future is pivotal. The importance of an emergency fund was felt extensively during the COVID 19 pandemic were a lot of people incurred huge unexpected medical expenses while not having a job or having salary cuts. 

In case you do not have an emergency fund for any contingent needs, it is definitely time to reconsider your financial plans and take a thorough look at your financial health. 

3. You are stuck in a vicious debt circle 

Borrowing money can help tide over some emergency expenditures and with the advancement in the fintech sector, getting a loan has become as easy as ordering food online. However, in case you are borrowing money to return older loans or pay your credit card bills, it is safe to say that you are stuck in a debt trap. If that is the case, you should replan your finances or consolidate all your debts for easier repayment. 

To know more about how to restructure your debt and consolidate it, refer to one of our earlier blogs here. 

4. You are living paycheck to paycheck 

In case your income is just sufficient to cover whatever expenditures you are earning and you are not saving anything, it can cause a lot of trouble to your financial planning. This is because saving is the bedrock upon which all future financial decisions and investment prospects rest on. 

Therefore, if by the end of the month you are broke, it is time you reconsider your financial health or think about supplementing your current income with some alternate income stream. 

To learn more about how to save from your salary, read one of your earlier blogs here. 

5. Your net worth is stagnant or declining over the year 

If your net worth is declining then it is a dead giveaway that your financial health is not optimal. Net worth is essentially the sum total of all the assets and the income that those assets are generating in a specific period. 

In case your net worth is not rising, chances are that there is some problem with the way you are planning your finances. In such a case, you should definitely reconsider your financial goals or even consult an expert about replanning your financial goals. 

Concluding words

It is extremely important that you get started on your financial goals from the very beginning. At the end of the day, it is about making the right financial choices.   

If the magnitude of the task is bothering you,  simply visit our website and put all your worries to rest. We, at Fibe, provide several financial services school fee financing, instant personal loans, medical emergency loans and a plethora of other services with no hassle and at just a click of a button. What are you waiting for? Partner up with us and take care of all of your financial wellness needs. 

Get started on the Fibe experience now!

Want to talk to us about credit, loans, and your instant cash needs?

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Financial Habits In Your 20s That can Make You Rich In Your 30s

Whether you are a young graduate, a small business owner or a professional in your 20s, the desire for a good lifestyle is common. However, that lifestyle you aspire cannot be sustained by many unless there is a steady fire hose of regular cash flows. This is why you need sound financial habits that can catalyse your meticulous and consistent hard work into wealth. 

Myths about becoming rich within months followed by the shiny, glittering social media images abound us. Becoming rich is not a matter of luck, but about setting goals, ignoring distractions and most importantly- ignoring naysayers. While you may not be amassed with a fortune, there are ways to create one for yourself with time. In this blog, we share the 5 financial habits that you can adopt in your 20s and become rich by your 30s. 

  1. Track your Spendings

Take a long hard look at your spending patterns. If you are an impulsive shopper, then you should know that the idea of becoming rich in your 30s is a real stretch. Start with record keeping of every expense you make such as grocery, leisure, fees levied on your credit card (unlike on the Fibe Salary Card), subscriptions, etc. While setting personal budgets, first set aside the money you’ll need to fulfil your financial goals and then spend the remaining amount. 

2. Buck the Short-Term Market Noises

With the financial markets sending mixed signals with rising crypto fever, fiscal stimulus, inflation risk or fluctuations owing to economic and political instability, you need to ensure that your financial decisions are based on fundamentals and not market rumours. Leveraging volatility is an art, we suggest you sit tight and ride the market when you are well-armed with information and a money corpus that can act as an insurance.

3. Invest 

If you think that socking all of your money away can make you rich in your 30s, then you are mistaken. You need to diversify your money through a well-rounded investment portfolio that provides passive income. Explore and invest in instruments that you understand well. Allocate resources as per your risk appetite and never be greedy. After all, getting rich is easier than staying rich. Leverage the power of compounding and rotate your money to earn higher returns that beat inflation. It’s the snowballing effect with multiple income streams.

4. Avoid Debt for Debt

Live within your means or else debt will trap you. Learn to fight your impulses as you would be left with nothing but the regret of wasting money and the opportunity to earn more. If you have bad debt, know that you are paying higher monthly interest rates. Avoiding bad debts in your 20s is like a heuristic. Develop the habit of evaluating debt decisions by determining whether they are conducive to your overall financial goals. 

5. Earn and Create Wealth

Your income is not equal to the wealth you have. Accumulate wealth in your 20s and earn returns. Indian tax laws incentivise long-term investments, so invest in real estate, bonds or ETFs to accumulate wealth. They can reduce your overall tax liability with concessions and deductions. Prioritise financial stability and allocate any raises you have in a fixed ratio, say 80:20, wherein 80% is into wealth creation and the rest to spend now. Apportion some portion to high-growth instruments like large-cap equities. 

Who wouldn’t want to make astronomical returns? But let’s agree that expecting king-sized returns without these habits is a recipe for disaster. While there is no exclusive path to becoming rich, financial habits instill financial discipline and help you become more objective in money matters. 

With all of the 5 habits above as the backdrop, there are instances when one may need external support to fight the cash crunch. We, at Fibe can help you with financial wellness ideas, credit, or personal loans to fulfill instant cash needs!

Download the instant loan app here, or simply log in to our website and be a part of the #OneSmallStep experience.

Tips To Do Budgeting With A Variable Income

Knowing budgeting tips can help you manage your finances better. This becomes especially crucial if you are one of the 31.8% of urban Indian workers who are self-employed or work as contractors or freelancers. In such employment, your income is proportional and related to your work. As a result, determining or predicting your monthly income can be challenging. 

Assume you work in the sales industry. Here, your monthly income depends on your commission, which can vary depending on various factors. Similarly, if you work in the service industry or a job with rotating and hourly schedules, your work duration can vary, making your income variable. One way to navigate this is to know how to make the budget. A budget will help you plan your resources and manage your money for better financial health. 

Also Read: Why Your Employees Should Be Helped With Budgeting

Read on to learn some successful budgeting tips for a variable income. 

1. Create a baseline budget for every month

If you are wondering how to do budgeting for variable income, a baseline budget is the place to start. A baseline budget refers to the bare minimum budget, which includes the total amount of necessary expenses. The total is also the minimum amount of money you need to make or earn each month. 

This budget usually accounts for necessary utilities and bills such as rent, food, water, and transportation. It is crucial that you do not include non-essential expenditures, such as eating out, shopping, or entertainment, in your baseline budget.

You can use several online budgeting tools and templates to create your baseline budget based on your variable income. These help you categorise past expenses and determine how much you spend each month on necessities and essential items. 

2. Prioritise monthly expenses based on your variable income

Prioritising your monthly expenses based on your variable income is the next step after creating a baseline budget. This is crucial as it can help you figure out what you need to pay first and what can be taken care of later, such as leisure-related expenses. 

Under this budgeting strategy, you need to determine what bills you need to pay first, second, third, and so on. This has to be in the order of importance and overall value. To create a comprehensive plan, you can also rank them by their due dates. 

Assigning priority can be game-changing because it ensures that you adequately and appropriately allocate your money to top-budget items when you get paid. It also ensures you can still pay for the essential things with your variable income, even if your paycheque does not cover every aspect of your budget. 

So, assign your monthly expenditures along the lines of what is necessary and crucial, such as your electricity bill and rent, and what you can let go of temporarily, such as eating out and that monthly Netflix subscription.

3. Plan better for the future months when you earn more

Finally, having a variable income also implies that there will be months when you will earn more and planning out your expenses wisely during those months is crucial. Suppose you earn more than your average variable income in a certain month. 

In that case, you first pay for the essentials and then set aside a percentage of the remaining money to create an emergency fund. This budgeting strategy ensures that you have something to fall back on when your variable income is dwindling or is less than average. 

This also helps you prepare better for unprecedented events, especially if they require you to spend a substantial amount of money. It is crucial to add a small part of your variable income to your emergency account each month before you reward yourself with leisure and non-essential services. 

It is important to remember that formulating a detailed and meticulous plan is the first step in knowing how to do budgeting with variable income. This will help ensure you make the most of your income every month and take the necessary steps to secure your financial well-being. 

In case you run out of financial resources or face an emergency even after using these budgeting tips, Fibe’s Personal Loan can help. With this loan, you can get instant financial assistance at attractive interest rates, with a simple application process that requires minimum documentation. 

Download the Personal Loan App or log in to our website to get affordable funding of up to ₹5 lakhs.

FAQs on Budgeting Tips with a Variable Income

What are 3 examples of variable income?

Some examples of variable income include commissions, bonuses, or the income of an hourly worker with fluctuating work hours.

What is a variable income?

A variable income is when the compensation one gets is not fixed and fluctuates each month. In simple words, you may not earn the same amount every month.

What are the sources of variable income?

Bonuses, commissions, hourly wages, grants earned from equity compensations, freelance income, and business distributions are some sources of variable income.