Diwali is the time of the year when you get loaded with celebrations, joy and gifts. Be it relatives, friends, family or work, you get gifts and bonuses for Diwali. People generally wait for their Diwali bonus to plan a vacation or other major expenses. Hence, a Diwali bonus comes easy and goes easy. This Diwali let us make a conscious effort to spend our bonus wisely on things and assets which do not depreciate over time or hold an only temporary value.

Here are four things you can do with your Diwali bonus to leverage your finances;

  1. CLEAR OFF YOUR LOANS AND DEBTS

Once you get your Diwali bonus, make sure you spend it on clearing off your outstanding loan and debt amount rather than buying things which make you get more loan. Be it your home loan, car loan, personal loan or any other type of loan, utilizing your Diwali bonus in its repayment will help you a lot in managing your finances and stabilizing your monthly budget.

If you have multiple loans you can prioritize by paying off the ones which have the highest interest and carrying forward. One such type of loan is credit card debt which sums up around 40% interest charges on an annual basis digging a huge hole in your pocket. Hence, once you get hold of some money, consider loan repayment as a priority.

Also, if you manage to repay your loan with this additional income, you will be better able to plan your finances, savings and investments as then you will have no burden of EMIs on you and will enjoy your full salary perks.

 

  1. INCREASING YOUR EMERGENCY FUND

The next important thing you can do with your Diwali bonus is to increase the amount of emergency funds. Although you may have speculated and calculated the amount of emergency funds required for your family in case of an emergency or desperate situation, you can never know what future holds for you. plus, the inflation has been on an upward trend only outdating all previous numbers and calculations every year.

Also, there might be chances that your family size increased or any other situation, you will definitely need more funds. Hence, rather than taking out a portion form your salary, you can utilize these additional bucks towards increasing your emergency fund.

 

  1. UPGRADE YOUR INVESTMENTS AND SAVINGS

The next is to upgrade and increase your investments and savings part. We do not mean that you skip enjoying your bonus but you can definitely plan things so as to have the benefit of both things. As per suitability, you can divide your bonus into two fractions one for nice family time or vacation or anything you were waiting to buy and a major chuck towards your savings and investments.

Let us say you divide your Diwali bonus in a ratio of 20: 80 wherein 80% goes to your savings and 20% is at your disposal to be spent. The former you can deploy in avenues of your choice like tax saving funds or public provident funds or large cap mutual funds etc. you can also go for a mix of all these and more options. Investing in tax savings ELSS funds is highly advisable as it will leave you stress-free of the financial year-end crisis when you need to do last-minute adjustments to save maximum possible tax. Plus, rather than putting your monthly salary into tax saving, you can use this money to get dual benefits of tax savings and building up a corpus with greater returns.

  1. INVEST IN GOLD

With Dhanteras just a day away and Diwali being one of the most auspicious times to buy gold, go digital in buying gold this time. With Piggy’s exceptionally simple user interface and process to buy digital gold, you can use your bonus money to get things golden.

With extraordinary returns of 20% and above, gold has topped the list of all investment instruments. Plus, there is no looking back for the gold investors. So rather than buying things which will depreciate in value the moment you take than out of the showroom like a brand new car, invest in gold which knows only appreciation.

Moreover, if there arises a need for physical gold, you are just a click away from grabbing your asset. You can easily convert your digital gold to physical gold and get it delivered at your registered address.

This Diwali do not just spend but make it count. Spend in things that will grow as you grow.

Happy Diwali!