2. How much Life Insurance one should take? In case of sudden demise of the bread earner of the family either due to any accident or any serious illness or for any other unexpected reason, the family members may face financial difficulties. So one should take adequate life insurance. Rule says one should take sum assured of 10-15 times of one’s annual income. 3. Health insurance& Personal Accident Insurance: Even if your employer is providing health insurance, it is advisable to take an additional Individual and Family floater policy. It is always advisable to take a base policy and take a super top up policy of higher amounts with deductible amount equal to the base policy.It is also advisable to take Personal Accident Insurance invariably with TTD cover to meet contingency and loss of income arising out longer recovery. It is always advisable to undertake needs analysis to get better clarity on the amount of adequate insurance cover . 4. How much one need to invest every month to achieve retirement goal? One has to start savings 20% of income from the beginning if one aims to retire at 60 years. For late starters, one should add 5% more of income for each decade. Further the savings should be increased if one needs early retirement. Retirement planning is a must as longetivity is increasing and  inflation & health care costs are rising. 5. What should be asset allocation? Asset allocation is the crucial part of investment planning. The thumb rule says that one can keep equity exposure in his/her portfolio which is equal to 100 minus current age or in other words debt exposure should be equal to his age. If one is 30 years old, he/she may keep 70% (i.e. 100-30) in equity and balance 30% in debt. It is always better to seek advice from fee-only certified financial planners for asset allocation. As they are independent of product sales, you will get unbiased advice. 6. How much cost should be House? The value of house should not be more than 3 times the family’s annual income. So if both spouses are earning a total of Rs 30 lakhs/- per annum, their house cost should be at a maximum of Rs 90 lakhs. 7. How much should be the Maximum EMI? Financial planners agree that EMIs should not be more than 40% of Gross Monthly Income at any point of time. It should be even lesser closer to retirement. In case of home loan EMI, it should not be more than 30% of gross income. Also get Home-loan insurance and house-hold insurance covers as part of Home insurance planning.  8. Rules of thumb for buying a car The Value of car should not be more than 50% of the annual income and a new car can be used for 10 years. You can even purchase a used car. Down payment can be minimum of 20%, loan tenure not more than 4 years and EMI not higher than 10% of income. In addition to above basic rules, the selection of competent and professional planner is also equally important. Always seek advice from a fee-only certified financial planners or SEBI registered investment advisers. They provide unbiased recommendations by keeping the clients interest uppermost in mind as per SEBI compliance guidelines.