New Delhi, May 12 -- Smart financial planning will need to take into account an assessment of your current finances, risk tolerance, and future goals when calculating your savings, investments and retirement fund.

When focused on investment planning in particular, your decisions would likely be guided by the desire to meet your financial targets and long-term stability. Also, given the increasing cost-of-living, medical and lifestyle inflation only relying on savings can leave your corpus unable to match the rate of depreciation of money.

Some major options for most investors in India include the equity markets (stocks, mutual funds, etc.), gold, cash, debt and alternative investment options. The optimal financial plan would include div...