Things you must do after getting your first JOB

Getting a good job is pretty difficult these days. Luckily, when we get one, our joy knows no bound and the salary just evaporates. Friend's demand for treat never ends. The poor you suddenly realize that only branded clothes fits good on you, and you are spending half of your salary on clothes. The old cell phone suddenly becomes useless and you need to buy the latest phone with highest configuration possible. The list goes on without you realizing where your salary is actually going.
After a year or more you see your bank balance is not in any better shape than it was when you had no job. You are freaked out and try to curtail on spending. It is difficult doing so because by then you have completely spoiled yourself. So if you have come to your senses and really want things to change, then here are a few things you must do after getting your first job.

OPEN PPF ACCOUNT:
                                     The first thing that you do is open a ppf account. PPF stands for public provident fund, You can open it in banks or post office. Highest contribution allowed per year is 1.5 Lac and the minimum is 500.If  The interest rate is comparable to bank FD but the good part is that ppf return is tax free and you can claim tax exemption under 80C.The term of ppf is 15 years and after that you can withdraw it or continue it in a slab of 5 years. Investing Rs.1.5 Lac per year will give you a huge Rs.4635164.90. Remember that ppf is highly liquid and you cannot withdraw the full amount before 15 years. You can only withdraw in parts in some exigencies like critical illness after a few years.For more info PPF IN DETAIL

OPEN NPS ACCOUNT: 
                                                                NPS stands for National Pension System. Now don't give me that look. You are never early to save for retirement. Make this the first thing after getting a job. On an average you will be working for 35 years and live a retired life for 20 years. So a very simple math tells us that per year you should save 20/35 part your current  expenses. NPS is a direct answer to Americas  popular 401 (k) retirement plan.The minimum contribution is Rs 6000 per year and there is no maximum limit.Your money will be invested in E,C and G asset classes
E-equity market instruments,j high risk high return
C- fixed income bearing instruments, medium return, medium risk
G-Purley fixed income instruments, low return low risk
You will have the choice to decide what percentage to invest in, which asset class, capping equity exposure to maximum 50%. If you don't feel confident about deciding that by yourself, then you can select auto choice. Auto choice adjusts your exposure to different asset class according to your age.The return will not be fixed as it will depend on the market fluctuation. In the long run it should give a decent inflation beating return.Keep in mind that it is a retirement solution so you can not withdraw money before that. This is an excellent retirement solution, but it is not popular due to lack of advertisement. For details, see NPS IN DEPTH
                                          
BUY TERM PLAN:
                                                   This is very very very important.Term insurance is pure form of insurance where you pay money for a certain period and if something happens to you during that period your nominee will get money which is named as life cover. If luckily you survive the entire period, you do not get anything. How much life cover you should have? No generic answer is possible, however it should be in line of 10 times of your yearly expenses. With the advent of online term plans, it has become very cheap. You can get 1 crore of life cover for 8k per year.I can't stress enough how much you need a term insurance. And don't tell your friends about buying this as probably they will think you are a fool (you are not, trust me). Not convinced? Google a little. I am giving you two links
Why people are wrong in not buying term plan
Why term plan is necessary

HAVE CONTINGENCY FUND:
                                                                                  You should set aside your 5-6 months monthly expenses as an emergency fund and will not touch it. It will be for exigencies like loss of job, sudden illness or any other unforeseen event when you need money.Don't keep this in any savings account. You will end up spending it. You can keep it in some liquid mf/ bank FD.
N.B Emergency does not include buying gifts for your girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse.

DON'T GO TO INSURANCE AGENTS FOR ADVICE:
                                                                                                                                               If are working, then probably you have already been chased by your friendly neighborhood like agent. Nowadays they call themselves investment advisors and sells crappy endowment plans.Listen boy you can not mix chalk and cheese. Insurance is  an expense and investment is well, investment. You can't couple them together. If you do that you will get product like endowment plans , Jeevan Anand. They give meager life cover and shi**y return. They will present the products in such a way that you will think you are getting a hell lot of money. Actually, you do not get return more than 6%. You want that! After taking inflation into account, you will actually lose money in these plans.

Read Financial Blogs: 
                                                               You are now equipped with knowledge to set the ball rolling. While ppf will give you safe return and nps a little more, if you really want to let your money work for you, you have to invest in mutual funds and stocks. These are not really for the absolute uninitiated, so study about them, understand them and take the plunge. If you fail to do that you will only burn your finger and join the 95% people who have lost money in mf and stocks.
N.B I do not want to  scare you. Take an informed decision and you will surely be rewarded.Here is 
A great place to start learning about stocks

Follow these and you will have a nice start. If you like this article, please share it among people who you think can benefit from it. If you have any question, feel free to ask.