From Festivities to Finances: Building Strong Financial Habits for the Year Ahead

October 4, 2025

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Durga Puja has just ended, leaving us with renewed energy and positivity. Just as the festival symbolises the victory of good over evil and the start of a new chapter, we too can bring the same spirit into our financial lives. This is the perfect moment to reflect, reset, and build strong financial habits for the year ahead. Here are some simple financial habits you can adopt to give your financial journey a fresh start:

Reflect on Your Financial Health

After the festival, it’s a good time to pause and take a close look at your finances. With so many apps, UPI IDs, credit/debit cards, subscriptions, rent, SIP mandates, and digital payments, it can be overwhelming to know exactly how much you spend, save, or invest over a year. A small effort now can give you surprising clarity and control.

Start by writing down last month’s take-home pay at the top of a page. Below it, list all your monthly outflows such as EMIs, credit card dues, rent, SIPs, and subscriptions. Subtract your total expenses from your income to see what remains.

Also, check your credit score through the free CIBIL service. If your score has dropped by around 30 points or more in the past year, it may indicate that a loan or credit card is affecting your creditworthiness. Find the cause and take steps to fix it, such as paying down high-interest debt or clearing overdue payments.

Taking these simple steps after the festival helps you start the new financial year with clear insights, reduced stress, and a stronger sense of control over your money.

Reconcile festival bills and pay dues

Now that the festival is over, collect all festival bills and receipts. Check your credit card and UPI statements for festival purchases. Pay credit-card bills on time; if possible, pay them in full. If you cannot, make a plan: decide a small fixed amount each month to clear the extra festival expense until it is gone. Do not leave festival spends to pile up.

If you used any short-term loans or EMIs for festival expenses, include them in your monthly expense list. This helps you stay on top of repayments and prevents surprises later.

Check your emergency fund and insurance

If festival spending temporarily reduced your savings, focus on rebuilding the emergency fund a priority. Ideally, an emergency fund should cover at least 6 months of your essential living expenses. Also check your insurance: does your family have adequate health cover? Is your term insurance enough if others depend on your income? Make sure policies are active, premiums are paid, and nominee details are correct. Update any documents if you had life changes this year.

Set Three Financial Goals for The Year Ahead

If you invest or save without any goal in mind, you will find it hard to stay disciplined. Setting financial goals keeps you on the right financial track without straying too much. You can divide the goals into short-term, medium-term and long-term. Short-term goals can include building a home renovation corpus before the next monsoon season or perhaps building a Darjeeling trip fund. Medium-term goals can be saving for child education fund. And long-term goals can be building your retirement corpus.

This is specifically true for mutual fund SIPs. If you start a mutual fund SIP without any long-term goal, there is a high chance that you will redeem the amount prematurely. Always map a specific goal to your investment so that you remain invested for the long haul. When your savings have a purpose, you are less likely to withdraw them early.

Learn from this festival and plan future festive spending

Festivals are a time of celebration, but they often come with unplanned expenses. Think honestly about what you enjoyed and what caused stress. Did you overspend on gifts or clothes? Did you miss tracking small spends like rides and snacks? Now that Durga Puja is over, it’s a great time to reflect on how you spent and plan smarter for the future. Overspending is common in today’s hyper-personalised world, where ads and offers target our needs and desires, but you do have the power to control it. For next year, make a simple festival budget.

● Start By Prioritising your spending: list the most important aspects of celebration for your family, like new clothes, gifts for immediate family, or donations to the community pandal. Allocate your budget to these priorities first so that the essential joys are covered without stretching your finances.

● Consider Using a separate account for festive expenses: By saving a small amount each month in advance for celebrations, you can avoid disrupting your regular savings or monthly budget. This method also reduces stress and keeps festival spending planned and controlled.

● Involve the family in budgeting: when everyone understands the spending plan, they can contribute ideas to celebrate within the budget. It becomes a team effort rather than a restriction, making the experience more enjoyable and guilt-free.

The goal is not to cut joy but to cut guilt. True financial freedom means you can enjoy the festival fully, whether it’s buying a new saree or hopping between pandals; while knowing your finances are safe and under control.

Channel Festive Surplus into Investments

Festive months often come with a salary bonus, gifts, or allowances from employers. Instead of letting this surplus get absorbed into routine spends, dedicate it to your financial goals. For instance, invest your festive bonus into a mutual fund SIP or a lump-sum investment. Even a small amount, if invested consistently, can compound into something significant over time.

Think of it this way: while the festival marks a new chapter in life, investing the surplus marks the beginning of long-term prosperity.

Make Festivals a Financial Goal Too

Festivals are recurring and predictable, which means you can plan for them just like any other goal. You can create a “Festival SIP”: a small monthly investment earmarked for Durga Puja or Diwali expenses. This way, when the festive season arrives, you already have a ready-made fund for gifts, travel, or celebrations, without disturbing your emergency fund or long-term investments.

This approach also helps you enjoy the celebrations guilt-free, knowing they are already accounted for in your financial plan.

Review and Optimise Your Financial Plan

Just as we clean and redecorate our homes before Puja, our finances also need periodic attention. A periodic review of your investments is essential for long-term financial health. Now that Durga Puja has ended, it’s a good time to review your portfolio and make sure it is still aligned with your financial goals.

● Review your fund’s performance: You can look at your mutual funds and stock portfolio. If a fund or a stock has underperformed for several years, then maybe it's time to make changes. However, don’t just sell just because it is underperforming. Consult a registered financial adviser before making any major decision.

● Assess the risk in your debt investments: Check the types of debt funds you hold. If you are concerned about potential interest rate changes, consider shifting a portion to funds with shorter maturity periods, which are generally less sensitive to such fluctuations.

● Rebalance your asset allocation: If your investment leans significantly to a specific asset class, it might be time to rebalance your asset allocation. A simple rule of thumb is to consider having a percentage of your portfolio in equity equal to 100 minus your age. The rest can be in debt and other assets. If your current allocation has drifted significantly from this target due to market movements, use this time to rebalance. This helps you maintain a comfortable level of risk and keeps your financial journey steady.

Durga Puja ends, but the idea of a fresh start can stay with you all year. Pick one or two actions from the list and do them today: reconcile your festival bills, make your three goals, or set up one automatic transfer. Small steps done regularly lead to big changes. This Puja, as Ma Durga arrived to vanquish disorder and restore harmony, we have a unique opportunity to do the same in our own lives - starting with our finances.

Sukalyan Halder & Akshit Bajaj

-Dayco India

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From Festivities to Finances: Building Strong Financial Habits for the Year Ahead

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