Last Updated on April 24, 2026 by teamtfl
In 2011, Franklin Templeton launched a product called “Family Solutions” – a software tool that helped investors plan for multiple financial goals simultaneously. The product itself no longer exists. Franklin Templeton’s debt funds had a far more dramatic chapter in India – six schemes were wound up in 2020, in what became one of the industry’s most controversial events.
But the idea behind Family Solutions was genuinely good: link every investment to a specific goal. This principle has only become more important in the years since. And the limitations I identified in 2011 are still the limitations of any goal-based planning system that ties you to a single product house.
Quick Answer
Goal-based investing works. Investors who link money to specific goals – child’s college, retirement corpus, home purchase – stay invested longer, panic less, and achieve better outcomes than those chasing returns. The principle is sound regardless of which platform or product you use. The mistake is letting one fund house’s tool become your entire plan.
Why goal-based investing works – and why most investors avoid it
When you link an investment to a specific goal, something changes in your psychology. The Rs.15,000 SIP is no longer an abstract number in a portfolio. It is your daughter’s engineering college seat in 2031. The Rs.25,000 SIP is not a mutual fund – it is the retirement that lets you leave employment on your terms at 58, not 65.
When the market falls 20%, the investor chasing returns panics and redeems. The investor with a goal does the math: “My daughter’s college is 8 years away. The Sensex has recovered from every correction in 8-year periods. I should stay invested or add more.”
This is not theory. The DALBAR study I have cited elsewhere showed that average US equity market returns from 1991 to 2010 were 9.14% per year – but what investors actually received was 3.27%. The gap between market returns and investor returns is almost entirely explained by behavioural decisions – panic selling, chasing last year’s best fund, market timing. Goal-based investing reduces all three.
The four components of a proper financial goal
A financial goal is not just a number. It has four components:
1. Purpose: What is this money for? Education, retirement income, home purchase, medical corpus, family travel. Be specific – not “child’s future” but “Priya’s undergraduate degree in 2031.”
2. Present cost: What does it cost today in rupees? Rs.20 lakh for a top engineering college today.
3. Inflation-adjusted future cost: How much will it cost when you need it? Education inflation runs at 10 to 12%. Rs.20 lakh today becomes Rs.62 to 75 lakh in 10 years. That is the number you are actually saving for, not Rs.20 lakh.
4. Required monthly investment: How much do you need to invest each month to reach that future cost, assuming a realistic return? At 12% for equity-oriented investments and 10 years, you need approximately Rs.27,000 per month. This tells you whether the goal is feasible with your current savings rate.
The power of this calculation is that it answers “how much do I need to save?” definitively – not “as much as possible” but a specific number derived from your specific goal.
The limitations of single-AMC goal planning (still valid in 2026)
Franklin Templeton’s Family Solutions tied goal planning to Franklin Templeton funds. The same limitation applies to any goal-planning tool offered by a single mutual fund house, bank, or insurance company.
The core problem: a well-constructed financial plan should not concentrate all your investments in one fund house. The basic principle of mutual fund portfolio construction says you should not have more than one fund per category from a single AMC. Putting your retirement, education, and home corpus all with one AMC increases institutional risk – as Franklin’s 2020 events demonstrated.
A genuine goal-based plan uses the best funds available for each goal type – regardless of which AMC manages them. And it should grow with you: as your salary increases, your goal investments should increase proportionally, not remain static.
Also read: Returns Cannot Be Your Goals in Investing
✅ The right way to build a goal-based plan
List your top 3 to 5 goals with timelines and current costs. Inflation-adjust each to its future cost. Calculate the required monthly SIP for each. Map each goal to the appropriate asset class (equity for 7+ years, debt for under 3 years, hybrid for 3 to 7). Choose the best funds across AMCs for each goal. Review annually and step up SIPs when income increases. This is goal-based investing – no proprietary software required.
Also read: How to Align Your Investments with Life Goals: The 5-Step Framework
Do your investments have goals attached to them – or are they just a collection of products?
Most portfolios I review are a mix of LIC policies, FDs, and mutual funds with no connection to specific life goals. A goal-based financial plan maps every rupee to an outcome and a timeline. We build this as part of our planning process.
Frequently asked questions
What is goal-based investing?
Goal-based investing means linking every investment to a specific financial outcome – child’s education, retirement corpus, home purchase, or medical fund. Each goal has a timeline, a current cost, an inflation-adjusted future cost, and a required monthly investment. This approach replaces “invest as much as possible and hope” with a concrete plan driven by specific needs and timelines.
Why do investors who follow goal-based plans do better?
Goal-based investors stay invested through market corrections because they have a long-term anchor. When the market falls 20%, a goal-based investor thinks “my daughter’s college is 8 years away, this is a buying opportunity.” A return-chasing investor panics and redeems. Studies consistently show that investor returns are significantly below market returns – and the gap is almost entirely explained by poor behavioural decisions that goal-based frameworks help avoid.
How many goals should I plan for simultaneously?
Start with your 3 to 5 most important goals. Common priorities: emergency fund (1 to 3 months expenses in a liquid fund – already done before investing), term and health insurance (protection floor), then financial goals in order of urgency. As your income grows, add or increase goal contributions. Trying to fund 10 goals simultaneously with limited savings often means none get adequately funded.
How many of your current investments are explicitly linked to a specific goal? Or are most of them just “savings”? Tell me in the comments.
hemant
the link to download the software is broken or not working…
can you please check
Hi Rohit,
Changed the link.
Hi Hemant,
I am a PSU bank employee , aged 35 years joined PSU bank in May, 2012.
Will i get gratuity and superannuation after completion of 5 years of service?
I have to join New pension scheme now. Is is not similiar to Provident fund scheme? Seems to be same Provident Fund scheme with 8% contribution from employer and employee both. New pension scheme is just similar to that with change in name?
Pls. send your Postal Address & contact no. to understand easy financial planning
Hi Rajesh,
You can visit http://www.arkfp.in
Hi Hemant
I really like your “Dimag ki Batti Jala De” idea, and “Mere Dimag ki Batti Jal Gayi”, I want to invest in MF’s for all those reasons mention in Software, I am an NRI person working as a supervisor in a construction company, can you please assist me, how should I start investing in MF’s means where I should open account and which type of account, and I also want all these MF’s to be manage online, because I can go to india for 1 month or less in a year.
Please advice ASAP 🙂
Thanks
very nice sir………..u r very genius!!!!u r real indian as u aware all indians about their most imp thing money………how to invest and where????i like it.
Thanks Bhushan – I am feeling 🙂 🙂
Hi
Kindly suggest some 5 best performing Mutual funds to go forSIP.I am planning an investment of Rs.10000 in total in these.per month.
with regards
Hi
Go for the diversified funds
ICICI Prudential Focused Bluechip Equity(LARGE cap) 2000
idfc premier equity(Mid cap and small cap) 1000
Birla Sun Life Dividend Yield Plus – Growth(less volatile and in (Mid cap and small cap) ) 2000
HDFC Top 200 Fund – Growth(LARGE AND MID cap) 2000
hdfc balanced/prudence 1000
HDFC equity(above sixty percent in large caP)(Multi cap)1000
In addtion to that U can go for sector funds
Reliance Banking fund growth —-1000
icici fmcg——————————-1000
sector funds are always riskier. so try to avoid that.
This works on core and satellite model
Hi Hemant,
I appreciate the constructive way of the software and thanks for sharing. I have got an idea as to where I stand and how should I plan towards my future goals… This is really an eye opener for me… But I afraid I will not go with Franklin templeton for the reasons shared by Mr. N.M.R. Shreedhar above.
I have read many of your articles particularly related to Mutual Funds, I would prefer investing in other MFs as per your suggestions in those articles instead of Franklin Templeton, what is your views on this.
I have the following doubt:
To buy a home in the next 5years (through a bank loan) my financial goal for the next 5years should be the down payment amount, please correct me if I am wrong.
Dear Hemant,
Very nice article from you and awesome review…. i have a doubt in that planner… most of the ppl want to buy a home in EMI… Assume X want to buy home in three years by loan cost of 40 lac.. in three years he need to arrenge 20% of the home value as a intial payment Rs.8,00,000. so his first goal would be create 8 lac in three years and then plan for emi ammount….
in their view home can buy only after 20 years or so..
Hi Jayaprash,
Its not like that “goal would be create 8 lac in three years” – you can do the same thing here. But only problem is they don’t have any provision regarding EMIs.
Hi Hemant,
Nice articles. I was expesting some good software…might be excel based. It is no good for Financial Planning (as you have also mentioned it in some comments)
Can we have some article briefly discussing only about complete financial planning by having assumption and illustration,
Thanks for sharing
Alpesh
Hi Alpesh,
Will try to write one.
Nice software…..
Thanks Mahendra.
Seems to be another of those gimmicks the marketing whiz kids come up with. Is,nt it strange that for all goals ranging from 7yrs to 28yrs they r advising to invest major chunk in Flexicap and FI Bluechip/TI Growth fund– wonderful way to garner funds into these schemes. And btw, none of the schemes from this fund house feature in the top rankings as compared to HDFC MF or DSPBR MF equity schemes . regards
Hi Shreedhar,
Agree with most of your views.
Dear Hemant,
Thanks for this article and sharing the software. The software is really good which helped me in understanding my investment goals.
Its true that the software is “Deemag Ki Batti Jala de” 🙂
Regards,
Vishwa.
Must share this tool with your friends & note their reaction 😉
Hi Hemant,
In goal sheet, What is Future cost of Goal? is it the total return we get after completing the specified years ?
Hi Sreedhar,
Future cost is Future Value of particular goal after taking into consideration inflation. For ex if you want to buy car after 5 years – it’s present cost can be Rs 5 lakh but Future cost will higher due to inflation impact.
Hi Hemant,
As you rightly said, the software is giving an awareness to the investors to think about the future but again its totally a marketing gimmick. I’m sure, in near future, we may see more such type of software’s from other fund houses.
Also I’m afraid that, since many funds have entered/entering in the market with different schemes, the investors who don’t have information about the various schemes may come into their trap.
Mani
Hi Mani,
But still I think it is an eye opening software – but people should understand other limitations.
Regarding your second part – in us there are more mutual fund schemes than no. of equity shares. Same will happen in India too.
Hemant,
Doesn’t Reliance Mutual Fund also have something similar ?
Wonderful articles from your side and keep the gyan coming.
Yes but they are not promoting it.
BK, also give name and the link to that software.
Wonder-full software. No problem at all on its operating. Really a good planner.
Great Munish,
Must share it with your friends. 🙂
Hemant, it seems the ZIP file is corrupted, at least for me.
Thanks…KK
Hi KK,
Try refreshing it for 2-3 times.
Hi Hemant,
Might be a good start for MF Industry.At least they have come to the stage of talking goals of individuals.
However, what they are trying to do is take the financial planning in their own hands.I personally feel product manufactures should stick to products and let the solutions be provided by the professionals.It will be very distructing to give this kind of softwares in the hand of distributors who would not be knowing about goal based planning.And i am not sure whether any kind of short term trainings can really turn them to hard core professionals.
What mistake insurance companies did by mixing insurance with investment might be repeated here.
Hi Jitendra,
Actually this is not a financial planning software or not even some goal planning software. But still this is “Deemag Ki Batti Jala de” software 🙂 – people should know their retirement corpus will be in multi crores but they have not started saving for it.
One of the bigger reason for sharing this(that you also said) was that few agents use some similar software to bring some data & then tell clients to buy ulips or mfs. So why not TFL readers check these figures for FREE.
If I talk about my comprehensive financial plan – it runs in close to 30 pages & the output that is generated by this software(Goals) not even take 1/2 page space in that.