Most youngsters seek an answer for ‘When is the right time to start investing’, especially when they’ve just started investing. The answer to this question, at any stage of your life, is ‘as early as possible’. You should start investing on your own, right from your first job. So there are some of the common options for best investment which is evergreen such as ideal FD schemes, saving account, gold, PPF etc,

The earlier you start, the sooner you can meet your life goals, which can range from planning to buy your own bike, your high-end laptop, or swanky smartphones, and even your own home.

Check your Liabilities

Once you receive your first salary, you should start calculating your liabilities like rent, telephone bills, grocery bills and other necessary monthly expenses. See how much you are left with. Calculate, how much of your annual salary falls under the taxable income. If your net annual salary is below Rs. 2,50,000, you do not have any taxable income and may not need to worry about investments that may go into tax-saving schemes as of now.

However, if you have any taxable income, you can save up to Rs. 1,50,000, by investing in schemes under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. These could be Provident Fund, ELSS (equity linked saving schemes), tax saving fixed deposits and unit-linked life insurance products. Bear in mind, while some insurance products have return benefits, term insurances should be treated as insurance products and not as investments that fetch you returns.

Set your Financial Goals

Once, you know, how much you spare monthly, for your investments, the next step is to set your financial goal based on your life goals, which could be short-term and long-term.

Tip: Try and save around 10% of your income to start with. Reduce your expenses, if you cannot save even 10% of your income. Slowly, increase it to the maximum you can afford to invest.

Calculate, how long it will take you to achieve your goal. Depending on your risk capacity, which is directly proportional to your financial goal, choose your investment product wisely.

What Options do you Have?

What’s confusing for first-time investors is the number of choices that one has. The choices can be broken down depending on the periodicity of the goals. Tip: Do not put all your eggs in one basket.

2.       Medium-Term: ELSS, balanced funds, ULIPs are a good option for medium-term goals. ELSS while will help you save taxes, they come with a mandatory three-year lock-in period. You can start with as low as Rs. 500 per month. FDs too can be considered for mid-term investments. They are evergreen and we reiterate they come with assured returns. You can choose from a period of few weeks to 10 years to stay invested in FDs.

3.       Long-Term: It’s your first job. But it’s also the right time to plan for your retirement. So long-term saving instruments like National Pension System (NPS), PPF (Public Provident Fund) and EPF (Employee Provident Fund) are safe bets with assured returns. You can consider equity-linked mutual funds too, which could give you higher returns.

However, be warned that mutual funds are linked to the stock market upheavals; and while they are alluring, they guarantee no returns. You must create a diverse portfolio, which enables you to save smartly and make the most of your investment returns.

Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) become a law and requires assurance of patients rights, privacy and security of information. HIPAA privacy became mandatory and the healthcare businesses need to comply with the rules and assure that the regulations are implied.

HIPAA compliance is from whom?

A covered entity under HIPAA includes any person or company that provides medical, dental or any healthcare services that transmit the protected health information of patients electronically. This includes sending prescriptions to pharmacies, bills to insurance companies, emails to patients. Business associates or vendors that create, transmit, receive or store PHI for a covered entity. All the mentioned above should comply with HIPAA.

Steps to be taken for HIPAA compliance:

If you are entitled to HIPAA compliance either as a covered entity or business associate, you are responsible to keep the public health information in utmost safety and security. Certain steps need to be followed for the compliance of HIPAA that are as follows:

1] Develop written privacy policy: A specifically written strategy should be followed for the compliance of HIPAA and before this, you need to be familiar with the details of the security policies and privacy laws.

2] Designating the privacy and security officer: Irrespective of the size of the organization the office who will be responsible for the HIPAA compliance should be appointed.

3] Annual HIPAA risk assessment: A thorough annual risk assessment should be carried out to identify any areas of threat or vulnerabilities. The assessments should be well documented, accurate and comprehensive to identify the underlying threats.

4] Developing information assurance: Policies regarding the electronic transmission of communication of information should be there. This includes email and uses of mobile devices that have access to public health information.

5] Information regarding privacy policy: If you fall into the category of covered entity you are bound to inform and distribute a notice of privacy practices to all patients new or old.

6] Agreement with a business associate: For HIPAA compliance you need to have an agreement with an outside company that will access the public health information.

7] Steps or course of action in case of breach: However even after strict compliance if there is any breach, there should be a clear course of action or steps should be developed and implemented in this situation. Also, there should be a strategy to be followed to determine the extent and timing of breach.

Demonstration of HIPAA compliance:

If your organization is a covered entity it should be able to provide sufficient proof that the employees and yourself are following the rules set for compliance. If there is a breach of the rules or there is mishandling of PHI or disclosed, the investigation is to carry out to determine the penalty or the need to arrive at a settlement plan that will cover the required corrective action plan. It is required to prove that in writing that the organization has conducted HIPAA risk assessment and also trained the employees about the rules, policies, and procedures for protecting PHI.

Read about the: Mandatory HIPAA Compliance Manual for Medical Billing