Category: Money Basics

Your first payslip comes with no instruction manual. Here is the order of operations: paperwork, understanding your CTC, picking a tax regime, an emergency fund, insurance, a first SIP, a starter credit card, and filing your ITR on time.

A bonus is not a discipline problem, it is a sequencing problem. Tax you may still owe, then high-rate debt, then the emergency fund, then cover, then investing — and roughly a tenth spent guilt-free.

You cannot really move money card to card in India. Here is what actually works — UPI, IMPS, NEFT and RTGS — what each costs, and the one request that is always a scam.

A plain-English 2026 guide to health insurance in India: how much cover you need, the new 0% GST rule, IRDAI waiting-period and cashless changes, and the policy fine print that decides whether your claim gets paid.

Term insurance is the cheapest, most important policy if anyone depends on your income. Here’s how much cover you need, how long, why to buy young, and how to pick a reliable plan in 2026.