Financial planning ans investments are very important and equally is to term your financial goals into long term and short term goals.
Short term goals are those where the time period is not more than 5 years. It could include buying a two wheeler or saving funds for your marriage and even for buying a plot. Short term goals can also include buying any home appliance or products without getting into any EMI schemes carrying rates of up to 15%.
Long term goals can be those that are more than a 5 year planning period. If you have a family and two children and hence, for whose higher education you might be required to save up to 5 lakhs each for four years for each child. Saving 10 lakhs for their marriages will be reasonable sum and post retirement needs can be accounted for about Rs40,000 per month. Considering this huge savings corpus that needs to be built by you, it is important to follow a systematic and disciplined savings routine from an early age.
Taking a home loan or a car loan will not be an unnecessary option as it can help you reduce your income tax payments but if you have a clear view of investing more into MFs and other debt instruments, like a PF, that is highly recommended, not only do they provide you tax benefits but also high returns in future is also guaranteed.
So list out all the financial goals that you have and classify them into short term and long term goals. Analyze what can be the most assured way that not only guarantees tax benefits but also high returns in the future.