Finance
Personal Finance Tips: Do’s and Don’ts of money management to keep goals on track and crisis at bay
Monetary Planning or monetary administration is a step-by-step technique that helps people/entities obtain their objectives and mitigate crises successfully. It helps monitor revenue, bills, financial savings and investments and thus retains a tab on all of those to make one’s funds easy.
Monetary Planning is a holistic method in the direction of managing the current and way forward for your funds. It acts as a information and thereby helps obtain objectives and keep ready for monetary exigencies. Be it your first dwelling or youngsters’s training or post-retirement corpus, a disciplined funding routine may help you accomplish all of it.
“Once you start your funding course of, it’s essential to start with threat administration. Threat administration includes three facets – one is Life Insurance coverage, second is Well being Insurance coverage and third is creating an emergency fund,” stated Hemant Rustagi, CEO of Wiseinvest, explaining the Dos.
Rustagi stated that the entire aim of funding is to fulfil the goals one has for himself or his household.
Additionally Learn: Centre retains GPF, CPF different authorities provident fund rates of interest unchanged at 7.1 per cent
Do’s of Monetary Administration
1. Life Insurance coverage: Life is unsure and whereas a person plans for the welfare of his household, and in case one thing occurs to that particular person, these aspirations, and goals can’t be achieved. At this juncture, life insurance coverage comes into play and helps by offering monetary help, stated Rustagi. Life insurance coverage is a threat administration device.
2. Well being Insurance coverage: “Our life-style has change into so costly as we speak that if any person spends 5 days in a hospital, his price range for the following one or two years will go haywire. So, it is vital to have medical insurance to fund your medical bills,” stated Rustagi.
3. Emergency Fund: Specialists say that if an individual would not have an emergency fund, then he could carry on disturbing his funding fund at times.
Rustagi says that it is equally vital to have the appropriate product. “For all times insurance coverage, take a time period plan and for medical insurance, you probably have a small household, take a household floater, and put money into a liquid fund to create an emergency fund and hold it in a pure liquid kind,” stated Rustagi.
He stated that one ought to at all times observe aim based mostly funding technique, be it short-term, medium-term or long-term.
4. Asset Allocation: “Most vital facet of cash administration is asset allocation. One ought to take into account for which goal they need to put money into equity-like for retirement planning and kids’s training, that cash can go into fairness. If it is a short-term aim like trip or school charge, that cash has to enter safer devices. For the medium time period, funding will be made into fairness and debt,” stated Rustagi.
Additionally Learn: PNG costs hiked by Rs 3 per scm in Delhi, Gurugram, different neighbouring areas; IGL raises CNG charges too
5. Save First, Spend Later: The monetary advisor stated that one ought to keep away from spending first. “One ought to save first and spend later. Folks needs to be dedicated to their funding objectives and take out cash first from their earnings for the aim,” he stated.
6. Begin Investing Early: Based on the skilled, when one is younger, he/she will take a threat. “When you find yourself younger, you may afford to make errors as time is in your aspect. So one can put money into equities and take dangers because it helps beat inflation in the long term. A significant advantage of fairness funding is the facility of compoundings,” stated Rustagi.
Don’ts of Monetary Planning
1. By no means Equate Saving with Investing: Rustagi says that one ought to by no means equate saving within the financial institution with investing. “Many individuals suppose that saving and investing are the identical factor but it surely’s not. Whereas the target of each investments and financial savings is to safe the longer term and preserve self-discipline, each are utterly completely different. Within the wealth creation course of, saving is step one but it surely’s investing that can assist create wealth,” he stated.
2. Do not Depend on Conventional Choices: Traders shouldn’t rely solely on conventional funding choices like Mounted Deposits. “We face two risks- threat of capital and threat of inflation. All of us give attention to threat for capital as a result of we do not wish to lose part of our funding. And on this course of, we ignore the a lot larger threat of inflation as a result of in the long term, if one retains investing in conventional choices, the returns shall be low and taxable usually. So one is not going to get a optimistic fee of return contemplating the inflation and tax,” stated Rustagi.
3. Keep away from Portfolio Turmoil: Rustagi suggests buyers to not make frequent modifications of their portfolios. “Whereas monitoring is vital, it shouldn’t be executed solely with the aim of creating modifications within the portfolio. In the event you hold altering your asset allocation, you’ll lose out on lots of alternatives available in the market,” he stated.
The Federal Reserve cut its target rate three times in late 2024, which means savings interest rates are falling. So it’s important to be sure you’re getting the best rate possible when shopping around for a savings account. The following is a breakdown of savings interest rates today and where to find the best offers.
The national average savings account rate stands at 0.42%, according to the FDIC. This might not seem like much, but consider that three years ago, it was just 0.06%.
Although the national average savings interest rate is fairly low compared to other types of accounts (such as CDs) and investments, the best savings rates on the market today are much higher. In fact, some of the top accounts are currently offering 4% APY and higher.
Today, the highest savings account rate available from our partners today is 4.30% APY. This rate is offered by BMO Alto and there is no minimum opening deposit required.
Here is a look at some of the best savings rates available today from our verified partners:
This embedded content is not available in your region.
Related: 10 best high-yield savings accounts today>>
The amount of interest you can earn from a savings account depends on the annual percentage rate (APY). This is a measure of your total earnings after one year when considering the base interest rate and how often interest compounds (savings account interest typically compounds daily).
Say you put $1,000 in a savings account at the average interest rate of 0.42% with daily compounding. At the end of one year, your balance would grow to $1,004.21 — your initial $1,000 deposit, plus just $4.21 in interest.
Now let’s say you choose a high-yield savings account that offers 4% APY instead. In this case, your balance would grow to $1,040.81 over the same period, which includes $40.81 in interest.
The more you deposit in a savings account, the more you stand to earn. If we took our same example of a high-yield savings account at 4% APY, but deposit $10,000, your total balance after one year would be $10,408.08, meaning you’d earn $408.08 in interest.
Read more: What is a good savings account rate?
This embedded content is not available in your region.
Senior members of Canada’s cabinet held talks Friday with US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees to lead the departments of commerce and the interior, as Ottawa works to hold off the threat of punishing tariffs.
Canada’s newly-appointed Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc and Foreign Minister Melanie Joly met with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s commerce secretary nominee, who will also lead the country’s tariff and trade agenda.
Interior secretary nominee Doug Burgum was also at the meeting held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Leblanc’s spokesman Jean-Sebastien Comeau, who confirmed the participants, described the talks as “positive and productive.”
Trump has vowed to impose crippling 25-percent tariffs on all Canadian imports when he takes office next month.
He has said they will remain in place until Canada addresses the flow of undocumented migrants and the drug fentanyl into the United States.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised retaliatory measures should Trump follow through on his pledge, raising fears of a trade war.
Leblanc and Joly “outlined the measures in Canada’s Border Plan and reiterated the shared commitment to strengthen border security as well as combat the harm caused by fentanyl to save Canadian and American lives,” Comeau said in a statement.
Canada’s Border Plan — estimated to cost CAN$1 billion ($694 million) — was crafted as part of Ottawa’s response to Trump’s concerns.
Lutnick and Burgum “agreed to relay information to President Trump,” the statement said.
Trudeau is facing his worst political crisis since sweeping into office in 2015.
Leblanc was named finance minister earlier this month after the surprise resignation of Chrystia Freeland.
In a scathing resignation letter, Freeland accused Trudeau of prioritizing handouts to voters instead of preparing Canada’s finances for a possible trade war.
More than 75 percent of Canadian exports go to the United States and nearly two million Canadian jobs depend on trade.
bs/aha
The future of finance, especially global finance, is not on the horizon — it’s happening now. Countries and Institutions that embrace interoperability, real-time compliance, and quantum-resilient security are positioning themselves as leaders of this transformation.
The financial system is in the midst of a monumental shift. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are gaining momentum as governments and regulators aim to modernize monetary systems, while Decentralized Finance (DeFi) continues to challenge conventional financial services with speed, transparency, and decentralization. However, despite their potential, these two forces — along with traditional financial systems — remain disjointed. This fragmentation results in inefficiencies, rising costs, and settlement delays, hindering global financial connectivity. Bridging these worlds is no longer optional — it’s essential to create a faster, more secure, and more inclusive financial future.
The Problems Holding Finance Back
For decades, the global financial system has relied on legacy infrastructure and fragmented regulatory and banking industry frameworks. While it has supported cross-border payments and international trade, it has done so at an exorbitant cost in terms of both time and money. The involvement of global politics has added an additional level as well to an already complex system. The emergence of blockchain-based DeFi platforms introduced new possibilities but failed to solve the underlying issues of scalability and compliance. Meanwhile, CBDCs add a new layer of complexity as central banks look to maintain control while modernizing payments.
The key obstacles are clear:
- Slow and Expensive Payments: Cross-border payments processed through SWIFT are slow and require multiple intermediaries, each adding fees, delays, and points of failure. The type of transfers are limited.
- Disjointed Regulatory Compliance: Payments crossing borders must comply with a patchwork of jurisdictional regulations, including Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements. Current processes are slow, manual, and costly.
- Lack of Interoperability: DeFi platforms, CBDCs, and traditional banking systems all operate on isolated infrastructures, making it difficult to move money between them efficiently.
- Scalability Issues: DeFi platforms face network congestion during high-volume periods, resulting in slower transaction speeds and higher fees — far from ideal for large-scale financial operations.
These challenges are not theoretical. They’re real-world problems faced by financial institutions, payment providers, and central banks trying to create more efficient, resilient systems.
See also: Transforming the Financial Sector: The Impact of Automation in Banking
Interoperability: The Bedrock of the Next Financial System
True interoperability is not a feature — it’s a requirement. For traditional finance, DeFi, and CBDCs to coexist, they must be able to communicate and transfer value across one another. Without this capability, cross-border payments will remain slow, and multi-system operations will continue to require expensive manual reconciliation. Interoperability enables payments to flow seamlessly between bank networks, DeFi protocols, and CBDC platforms, cutting out intermediaries and automating settlement.
What true interoperability requires:
- Multi-Ledger Transaction Support: Payments must move across different financial ledgers — from commercial banks to DeFi protocols to central bank digital currency networks — without reconciliation bottlenecks.
- Real-Time, Multi-Currency Settlement: Payments involving fiat, cryptocurrencies, and CBDCs must be processed and settled in real time, enabling frictionless commerce at scale.
- The governance, regulatory, privacy, and Nation-State requirements need to be automated in the new Platform.
- Universal Payment Flows: Payment solutions must enable a single payment to cross multiple networks — legacy, private, blockchain, and government-issued systems — without requiring separate processing channels.
The results are undeniable: greater efficiency, lower settlement costs, and a path to instant cross-border payments. This shift eliminates the need for batch processing and multi-step settlement chains, replacing them with real-time payment routing and automated multi-ledger transfers.
Compliance Can’t Be Bolted On – It Must Be Embedded
Cross-border payments are subject to varying regulatory requirements, which are enforced by regional authorities. Ensuring compliance with KYC, AML, and sanctions screening has traditionally been a manual, labor-intensive process, leading to costly delays. But the future of compliance is no longer manual — it’s embedded. By embedding compliance checks directly into payment flows, financial institutions can meet regulatory requirements in real time, reducing risk, eliminating delays, and supporting faster payments.
Key elements of embedded compliance:
- On-Demand KYC/AML Screening: Compliance screening occurs automatically, with KYC/AML checks happening as the payment is processed, not after.
- Dynamic Rule Adjustment: When payments cross borders, the system recognizes which jurisdictions are involved and applies the proper compliance rules in real time.
- Automated Risk Scoring: Transactions are evaluated for risk on the fly, with high-risk payments flagged for review while low-risk payments flow uninterrupted.
- Immutable Audit Trails: Every payment is accompanied by an immutable, tamper-proof record that supports regulatory audits and provides transparency.
By automating and embedding compliance into the payment process itself, financial institutions lower operational costs, reduce exposure to regulatory risk, and accelerate payment settlement. This approach moves compliance from being a roadblock to being an enabler.
Securing Payments for the Quantum Era
As quantum computing advances, the cryptographic protections that underpin today’s financial system are at risk. Many existing encryption methods, like RSA and ECC, could be cracked by a quantum computer. While quantum computing may seem distant, its implications for financial security are real. The financial sector must act now to prepare for a post-quantum world.
Key security measures to counter quantum threats:
- Quantum-Resistant Cryptographic Protocols: These protocols are immune to attacks from quantum computers, ensuring that even future advancements won’t compromise financial data.
- Post-Quantum Key Exchange: Secure key exchange protocols ensure encryption keys remain secure during transmission, even if intercepted.
- Zero-Day Threat Detection: AI models track network activity, flagging and neutralizing unknown threats before they can do harm.
- New file systems that rely on a multi-layered approach that separates the data in a way to enhance security, speed, and scalability.
The transition to quantum-resistant encryption isn’t speculative. Financial leaders know that, when quantum computing matures, it will disrupt financial security as we know it. Early adoption of quantum-safe protocols future-proofs payment infrastructure, ensuring financial stability in a rapidly evolving threat landscape.
Distributed Edge Processing: Faster Payments with Local Control
For decades, payment processing has relied on centralized data centers that route transactions through a central hub. While effective, this model introduces latency, network congestion, and single points of failure. The future of payment processing is at the edge.
Edge processing pushes payment activity to the “edge” of the network — closer to where the payment originates — reducing travel time and allowing payments to be processed locally. Instead of relying on a central server, mini-processing nodes handle payments on-site, enabling near-instant settlements.
How edge processing changes the game:
- Real-Time Settlement: Payments are processed on-site, at the source, rather than waiting for clearance from a central location.
- Resilient Infrastructure: Multiple nodes create redundancy, so if one node goes offline, the others maintain operational uptime.
- Reduced Latency: Local processing eliminates the round-trip delay that occurs when payments are routed to and from a central server.
This shift in processing models enables faster cross-border payments and lays the groundwork for true real-time settlement. Localized processing nodes create resilience, reduce downtime, and remove bottlenecks in global payment flows.
Sustainability and Financial Inclusion as Critical Imperatives
ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) factors are playing a larger role in financial infrastructure design. From environmental sustainability to financial inclusion, future-ready payment infrastructure must meet new societal expectations. This shift is not just ethical; it’s strategic. Institutions are under pressure from regulators, investors, and customers to create more equitable, transparent, and sustainable financial systems.
ESG-driven imperatives shaping financial infrastructure:
- Environmental Impact: Centralized data centers consume enormous amounts of energy. By adopting distributed processing, institutions reduce energy use and carbon emissions.
- Financial Inclusion: Millions of people remain unbanked. Financial inclusion solutions enable low-cost cross-border payments, giving underserved communities access to global finance.
- Transparency and Accountability: Blockchain-based payment records create immutable, tamper-proof audit trails, ensuring visibility into every transaction.
The Call to Lead the Financial Future
The future of finance, especially global finance, is not on the horizon — it’s happening now. Countries and Institutions that embrace interoperability, real-time compliance, and quantum-resilient security are positioning themselves as leaders of this transformation. Delays are no longer an option. The financial world will reward those who act with speed, precision, and foresight. The question is not if change will come — it’s whether you’ll be ready to lead it.
High school basketball: Friday's scores
Putin apologises to Azerbaijan for Kazakhstan air crash
US expected to announce $1.25bln military aid package for Ukraine
Severe weather could disrupt holiday travel, with tornadoes forecast in the South
'Christmas Lawyer' files for Supreme Court review in battle with HOA over holiday light show
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
US expected to announce $1.25bln military aid package for Ukraine
Severe weather could disrupt holiday travel, with tornadoes forecast in the South
Virginia Democrats 'asking the wrong question' amid outrage over DOGE federal workforce cuts, GOP leader says
One in six children live in conflict zones this year: UNICEF
Musk Vs MAGA War: Trump Camp In Bitter Fight Over Immigration, Foreign Worker Visas
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24924653/236780_Google_AntiTrust_Trial_Custom_Art_CVirginia__0003_1.png "Google’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps")
Technology1 week agoGoogle’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps
-
News1 week agoNovo Nordisk shares tumble as weight-loss drug trial data disappoints
-
Politics1 week agoIllegal immigrant sexually abused child in the U.S. after being removed from the country five times
-
Entertainment1 week ago'It's a little holiday gift': Inside the Weeknd's free Santa Monica show for his biggest fans
-
Lifestyle1 week agoThink you can't dance? Get up and try these tips in our comic. We dare you!
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25672934/Metaphor_Key_Art_Horizontal.png "There’s a reason Metaphor: ReFantanzio’s battle music sounds as cool as it does")
Technology4 days agoThere’s a reason Metaphor: ReFantanzio’s battle music sounds as cool as it does
-
Technology1 week agoFox News AI Newsletter: OpenAI responds to Elon Musk's lawsuit
-
News5 days agoFrance’s new premier selects Eric Lombard as finance minister