The JFM (January, February & March) tax season fever has set in. The Insurance Agents and Banks relationship managers have become super active to push insurance products for tax saving for Rs1.50 lakh limit under section 80 C of the Income Tax Act. One needs to take an advice from a Financial Doctor before buying it from a medicine shop.  Firstly, before you start rushing to buy any products for tax saving, we suggest you to do some numbers crunching on the following; Estimate your annual contribution to EPF/PPF/Voluntary PF if any Take note of your Term Insurance premium/Online Term […]

The notion of ‘Bank’ in the mind of general public implies the image of a trustworthy and secure institution. We generally do not scrutinize the bank statements. We take for granted all the entries in the statement presuming it to be genuine and do not raise any sort of doubt. But the recent survey by ET Wealth has revealed that three out of five bank customers are not satisfied with bank and its practices. We discuss some of the reasons for their dissatisfaction. Mis selling : It is the experience of many customers that the Bank relationship managers’ are making strong […]

Are you prepared for your Children’s higher education? More than 1,30,000 Indian students have gone to USA this year to pursue  higher education. This is the highest number of Indian students in a single year and the second highest of foreign students in USA. Many parents desire  to send their children for higher education abroad for quality education and the trend is increasing every year. As per a study reported in Business Standard on 20th Nov 2015, parents are saving 30-40% of their income for children’s higher education. The destination countries are USA, UK, Australia, Singapore and other EU countries. The […]

Financial Life Planning is a branch of Financial Planning which deals with peace and happiness in life. It aims at creating yogic wealth. As per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there are five levels of human needs; Physiological (Food and Water),Safety(Home), Love and belongingness (Family), Self esteem(Professional achievements) and Self actualisation (Passions in life).We need money for fulfilling the  needs for the first two stages i.e physiological and safety but do not need money for the last three stages. We always worry about money and fear for not having enough of it.Fear gives rise to insecurity which again leads to anxiety. […]

The maxim “higher the risk higher the return” is getting replaced by “lower risk and higher return” in financial behavior of many investors.Look at the large amounts mobilized under ponzy schemes like sharada. The business models of some ponzy schemes are simple; Deposit Rs1,00,000/- lumpsum and get 10% every month. After 2/3 months, the office is closed. Many believe they can not be taken for a ride like this. But rarely one has evaluated packaged financial products. Ready-made financial products packaged for a specific need can be disastrous!!! Look at endowment pension plans of Life Insurers! They are  bought for […]

I received a mail from a friend of mine who attended a seminar on “The Ombudsman system in Insurance” in which the Insurance Ombudsman was the chief guest. The mail (edited a little) goes on like this ; Quote “The Ombudsman’s position is a unique one: his decision is binding on the Insurance company. He cited certain examples, which I feel is very important for everyone to read and understand. 1. It seems 26% of the complaints concerning life insurance were against a certain group of companies. Surprisingly, this company has a market share of only 2%! He didn’t tell us the name […]

The single party majority verdict in the recently held parliamentary election and forceful promises made by the Prime Minister to improve the economy has triggered bullish rally in the current share market. Once the economic policies of the new Government get implemented and investment cycles start kicking, the market may reach new heights. Many retail investors have abandoned the equity market earlier. But it is right time to invest in equity now. The current situation provides an opportunity where the probability of market going up is high vis a vis the downside risk. Goal based investing; The first question to […]

How much experience do you have?  Financial planning involves understanding of investing behaviour, risk profile etc and the more the experience of the Financial Planner, the better. Hence experience should be a major driver behind your decision. What are your Qualifications?    A suitable qualification such as Certified Financial Planner and SEBI Registered Investment Adviser are desirable which indicates the Planner is serious of   his/her profession.   Do you only plan or also sell?The planners who sell products may not provide unbiased advice.You should prefer a planner who is independent of product sales but does research on various products. How do […]

According to a BBC study, only 4% of the Indians have adequate retirement savings. Most Indians get serious about retirement savings only in their 40s or 50s. Are you also facing a similar situation and not saved enough for retirement? The first step in retirement planning is estimating the retirement corpus. It will depend on your life style, monthly expenses, inflation, and investment modes. The next step is taking stock of your  retirement benefits from your employer i.e. gratuity, leave encashment, pension  and any other income /assets meant to be used post retirement .The balance of the corpus should be […]

Suyash, my neighbor heard about his colleagues discussing about tax benefit on buying a second home. He could not understand the implications and approached me. I explained him as follows,  There are advantages in investing in a second home and some of them are as follows: The interest paid on the second home loan is tax deductible and there is no upper limit unlike the case of self occupied houses where there is a limit of Rs 1, 50,000/- on interest. Second home can generate inflation beating rental income which will be very useful post retirement. Also, it will be […]