In the aftermath of the budget, like always, individuals reached out to financial advisers over the phone with one simple question: "What's in it for me?" On analyzing the budget from a financial planning point of view, we could infer the following:

Health Insurance:

The exemption limit of health insurance has been raised from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.This is a welcome move. Providing for medical emergencies is the foremost thing one should do while planning finances. However, the same should not be done looking at the exemptions alone. What needs to be taken into consideration before choosing a health insurance is to consider the possible average cost of healthcare one would incur in a nearby medical centre. Even if the premium for the same is more than the exemption limit, it should be given priority over other goals as a single medical emergency could erode one's financial resources completely.

National Pension Scheme (NPS):

There is an additional deduction of Rs 50,000 towards investment in the National (or New) Pension Scheme (NPS). The NPS is a tool which helps in retirement planning. With the average lifespan going up, it is very important that one starts retirement planning at the earliest. It is rightly said that the best time to start providing for retirement is when you earn your first income. The concept again remains that investment for retirement should not be capped at Rs 50,000. Rather, the same should be planned individually after looking at one's current cash flows and what would be the likely corpus that would be needed post retirement. This also demands that individuals look at their portfolio al location while investing. One can develop a customized portfolio depending upon age, risk-taking ability and goals.

Increased Service Tax:

It has been proposed to increase service tax from 12.36% to 14%. The implications are that all individuals will now have to pay more for the various services they avail of. This will lead to increased expenditure. The most crucial part of financial planning is that one needs to understand the entire family's cash flows. There are two types of expenses which one incurs: The first being fixed expenses, and the second is variable in nature. Variable expenses are unpredictable and vary according to one's usage. This has to be monitored and kept under serious control, especially after the budget when there could be an increase in some variable heads on account of increased service tax.

Union budgets, interest rate fluctuations, inflation, etc are things that are beyond the control of the Aam Aadmi. It is therefore imperative to structure our finances in the given situation in order to meet our financial milestones.

1.ICICI Prudential Tax Plan

2.Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund

3.HDFC TaxSaver

4.DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund

5.Religare Tax Plan

6.Franklin India TaxShield

7.Canara Robeco Equity Tax Saver

8.IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund

9.Axis Tax Saver Fund

10.BNP Paribas Long Term Equity Fund

You can invest Rs 1,50,000 and Save Tax under Section 80C by investing in Mutual Funds

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