ambika gupta founder and the creative director of the acube projecton managing finances independently i genuinely never knew what financial management was i dont think that indian parents teach their kids about financial management as much as they teach them about maths and other subjects this was true in my case also even though was living and working independently it was only around the age of 29 or 30 that i realised that i really did not know how to handle my finances my taxes and returns among so many other things i enrolled into a wealth management program and being a premium customer was helped by a wealth manager who took care of me and then of course a family ca came into the picture and thats how my finances became more organised today i manage my finances independently through my personal and preferred relationship manager at my bank and through my ca i invest in either mutual funds sips or government policies i have also secured some health insurance so that makes me feel a bit in control of my finances and lifemoney lessons taught by the pandemic well i didnt make any changes as such but i did put a large sum of my money into an fd fixed deposit right about when the lockdown was starting it was just for a six month period and it accumulated some interest which was quite nice and i owe this to my banks financial advice apart from that i have invested in more funds after the lockdown to secure myself in different ways even though i was already managing my finances and saving quite effectively also cutting down expenses is a very natural response to a crisis like this though to be very honest i have always been very watchful with money i probably splurge once a year when i take a month off to go on an international holiday otherwise i dont have the time to spend my money because i am working all the timemy investment portfolioi really love investing in safe funds and i began my investment journey with these i also like government policies and even bank policies which are safe and not subject to market risks an fd or a recurring deposit is a safe option and thats what i would recommend to anyone who wants to start investing look for options that are not too daunting and where you have a little bit of assurance that nothing is going to go wrong my goto mantra for wealth managementget yourself a wealth manager or a preferred banking partner who can guide you if you havent been taught about managing your finances properly learn to understand the investment options available to you and choose what suits you the most my goto mantra for financial management is that you should plan for the years ahead and not just for the here and now do short term planning and long term planning because they both help you