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Are you planning of starting your own business? Salary hikes & bonuses are announced in most of the companies and as expected – expectations are not met. Sometime this frustration can push people for starting business. You will be surprised to know that recession creates lot of entrepreneurs & this is also the best time to start the business. This topic is bit close to my heart because I faced similar questions couple of years ...

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Fruits of patience & hard work are always sweet – this applies to your job too. Most of the employers in India have yearly appraisal systems and they declare bonuses & salary hike in month of April. This is a rewarding moment & for few this is the time when they think of changing the job or start on their own. But if you have really worked hard, and other parameters are favorable, there is ...

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I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older. Before starting Mr Buffett is having one question for you “If you expect to be a net saver during the next 5 years, should you hope for a higher or lower stock market during that period?” Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they ...

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Buying online term plans is becoming very common these days; most of the financial planners including me are suggesting their clients to buy online term plans. Why?? Because if you are getting identical product at lower cost it definitely makes some sense. Even cost benefit is not small & it ranges between 2-5% every year – sorry I missed out ZERO. Difference between online term insurance plan & offline term insurance plan is ranging between ...

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Pravin, one of my close friends got his financial plan prepared without the involvement of Jaya, his wife who is a Law graduate by qualification and had opted out of career to take care of their son and other responsibilities as a homemaker. He was of the opinion that since they always discuss on what was really wanted in life, he indirectly is communicating it all.  We met up at his office a couple of ...

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1000 thanks to Anil Kumar Kapila from bottom of my heart, he solved 1000 queries of TFL Readers without expecting anything. This is something rare in such a selfish world. I would like to share a motivational thought from Anil Kumar Kapila – which shows how selflessly he is motivated to help people in improving their financial lives. “The satisfaction you get in giving something useful to someone is far greater than in getting something ...

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I Believe that learning can happen through interaction & if we talk about TFL – this could be done in the comments. This is why every comment on this blog receives a reply from me. (may be sometime bit late) But unfortunately, I have observed that most of the times when a comment is posted asking a question or raising an observation and a reply is made, the person who posted the comment in the ...

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Another deal struck in the mutual fund industry – L&T Finance is taking over the Fidelity Mutual Fund Indian business. After months and “if”, “what”, “who” finally the picture is clear for the investors who hold more than 8500 Cr of assets. Fidelity Mutual Fund – Run Out But this is just not the owners or the managers that will change. There is lot more for the investors of Fidelity MF. Change in management brings ...

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Insurance is like marriage, a long term commitment. And, when it comes to marriage if you get a wrong life-partner, entire life becomes a tale of adjustments. But the good news is if you have landed yourself into a wrong/not -required policy contract, the Free Look Period clause comes to your rescue. Free Look Period facility is a great tool to avoid the mis-selling of insurance and has saved lot of people from dragging on ...

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We have always brought to your notice that insurance is grossly Mis-sold in India, specially through banks. Last week received a comment on LIC Jeevan Vriddhi Article – which was shocking, as bankers are clearly fooling their clients with support of their bancassurance tie-ups. Go through the Message from reader & Mail from HDFC. Also read what others have to say on Bancassureance Nexus including IRDA Committee. Message that I got from the reader: I ...

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We Financial Planners always insist on asset allocation, which is optimum mix of different asset classes. Each of these asset classes are available for investment and we can make different recipes out of them, but in Mutual Fund we find a category of fund called the “Balanced Mutual Funds” or “hybrid equity oriented funds”, which are ready-made meals for asset allocation. Through this post, let’s try to understand the feasibility of investing in a balanced ...

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We are in the last month of Financial Year 2012, and once again LIC has come up with a new plan with name LIC Jeevan Vriddhi. And once again just with the announcement of launch queries are raining. “I want to know your opinion (merits and demerits) on Jeevan Vriddhi launched by LIC. I will be really grateful to you for your reply.” Mayank “What about LIC Jeevan Vridhi, can I invest some amount in ...

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Lot of our clients are NRIs – so this question is a FAQ for us – “Is it the right time to send money to India?” Clients who have spent some time with us know the answer but they still probe ahead like – “I would like your outlook on the Indian Rupee vs Dollar in the next few months. Is Rupee going to depreciate further? How far do you think it will fall? No one ...

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“What is this planning … slanning???? Weddings use to take place when there were no Wedding Planners. Today also we marry our daughters without these so called money grabbers!!!” We as Financial Planners also hear similar tunes when we speak about Financial Planning concept. And my inference is that people do not appreciate any kind of PLANNING as a matter of fact. Doing a thing in the most scattered way has its own pleasure. People ...

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As I interact with lot of investors, I find that some investors, particularly the HNI segment, have this habit of referring their Chartered Accountants (CA) for every financial decision including investments. I am not saying that this is completely a wrong practice, but one must also check that, is your Chartered Accountant so efficient that he can advice you on your investments or financial planning matters? By efficiency I am in no way referring to ...

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“Your report says, you have CANCER”… can you just imagine what would have gone under Yuvi’s head when he heard these dreaded words from a doctor? Although treatable, but still the word Cancer, is enough for anyone to imagine the death bed and last rituals. This gives us a clear message that a complete annual health check up should be on your must to do list. These are unavoidable circumstances, but they have deep impacts ...

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Someone rightly said “An investor without GOAL is like a traveler without a destination.” But setting goals is not an easy task so let’s simplify the whole process of setting smart financial goals, you can check how to set smart financial  goals, few examples of financial goals & finally you can download a financial goals worksheet which will help you in converting your dreams into reality. Setting Goals Recently in one of the Soft skill ...

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These days SIP Investment is turning into a generic term, few people even think Systematic Investment Plan a.k.a. SIP is Mutual Fund. To give you clarity, “SIP is not an investment” it is a “way of investing systematically/regularly” in an asset class. Even Mutual funds are not investments – Mutual Fund is a term used for investment vehicle, which invests in Equity, Debt or other asset classes. Read: Magic of Systematic Investment Plan to know ...

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Let’s review LIC Jeevan Ankur plan and try to come at a decision that one should buy this plan to fulfill the needs of child or with this plan LIC is fulfilling its own needs of business. As a reviewer’s job (right now you can also call me a critic), it is very interesting when you are doing a review on a product which is from the giant Life Insurance Corporation of India. From a ...

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The war of cheap insurance premium continues in the Online Term Insurance category and latest to enter is HDFC Life Insurance with their plan HDFC Life Click 2 Protect. The plan, like it peers aim to provide pure life insurance cover at a bargain cost. The online term plans are targeted at young savvy investors who lead healthy lifestyle. This write-up aims to review HDFC Click 2 Protect plan and will help you to take ...

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Apollo Munich Optima Restore is different from other health insurance plans due to its restore & multiplier benefits. Apollo Munich Health Insurance is a pioneer in Indian health insurance market & their optima restore plan will again be a new milestone. Prima Facie it seems to be a new invention in Indian health insurance industry with the type of benefits available in this product. Although, the company has been running Easy Health successfully, this product ...

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If your exiting mutual fund portfolio is bleeding or you are still struggling to make your first investment – list of Best Mutual Funds to Invest in 2012 may help you. I have covered 12 diversified equity funds & couple of debt funds in this list so that you can make a proper diversified portfolio. I have also attached consolidated factsheet of Best Mutual Funds at the end of this article – this includes investment ...

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Every New Year brings a new start & to get start, in the New Year I have decided to point out 12 investment mantras which will help you in getting a new perspective to your investments. 1. Do not invest without a sensible investment strategy It is difficult to predict the direction, the markets will take in the coming years. We will see the markets that reflect the fast changing, world shaking events of this ...

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We will open the book. Its pages will be blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Years Day. I would like to share 12 personal finance articles that can help you to make most out of the Financial Opportunities in 2012. Last year my first article on TFL was “Personal Finance Tips from a recent Trip”. With your motivation & support ...

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NHAI & PFC have launched their tax free bonds, which would close for subscription on 16th Jan 2012. But looking at investors craze, it is expected that they will close earlier. Some other PSUs are in the queue with their offerings including HUDCO &India Railway Finance Corporation. I have already shared 2 articles on the tax free bonds: NHAI & PFC Tax Free Bonds Can NRIs invest in tax free bonds? Mails poured in with ...

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NHAI & PFC tax free bonds are in the primary market for subscription & NRIs are allowed to invest in these bonds. This will also apply to upcoming tax free bonds by HUDCO & Railway Finance Corporation. NRI including Person of Indian Origin (PIO) can invest in tax free bonds but I am not sure how they can invest in such a limited time. It is expected that NHAI & PFC bonds can oversubscribe in ...

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With Season’s Greetings the season for Tax Free Bonds has also started with announcements from NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) & PFC (Power Finance Corporation of India) – both companies are opening there issues on 28th December 2011. But this is just a starting as you will also see other PSUs lining up there tax free bonds including HUDCO & Indian Railway Finance Corporation. If I am not wrong in 2003 RBI was offering ...

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Core & Satellite is a very old & proven investment approach. Portfolio construction is a part of the overall investment planning process, that is essential to generate and accumulate wealth in the long-term. Almost everyone has some kind an investment portfolio consisting of assets. For instance, a person having a fixed deposit of, say, Rs 1 lakh and post office savings of Rs 75,000 can also be called portfolio. You must have read or heard ...

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In a seminar, where I was talking to a group of young investors, I repeatedly told them to have Financial Goals before they start investing. Annoyed by my repetition, one young guy stood and said, my goal is to achieve 30% returns per annum. Can you help me to achieve that? Now let me clarify his statement to all of you. • The world’s richest and the most successful investor of all times “Warren Buffet” ...

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Name: Hemant Beniwal, CFPCM Designation: Principal Financial Planner Name of practice: Ark Financial Planners USP of the Practice: Understanding people, before numbers. We are a boutique financial planning firm and believe that financial planning is not only about number crunching. At Ark, we ensure that whole process is very interactive and the client is fully involved. Number of Employees: Total of 5 employees including 3 planners Can you tell us about `Ark Financial Planners` and ...

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These days reality shows are part of our life & I am not joking when I say I start my day with Bigg Boss. Yup! We record it on Tata Sky & once I am back from my Tennis Lessons, I & my wife watch it – I feel it’s a better option than listening to commentary of so called experts on Business Channels. Even I prefer watching ‘Doremon’ with kids over ‘Markets Today with ...

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There are very few things in this world which are both “Legal” & “Lethal”. TAX is one of them. If not understood or paid in a proper way, it is enough to give you hypertension which is one of the most common reasons for a heart stroke. See, I made you look gloomy and stressful. Hence it is very important to have elementary knowledge of Tax Provisions. I believe most of the readers are new ...

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Which is the Mutual Fund for ELSS or which is the best Mutual Fund for SIP or which is the best term plan? This is the most common trick to ask secrets from Hemant. And as usual my answer is “There is nothing called best – best comes after postmortem”. If you don’t have much idea about Mutual Fund ELSS (Equity Linked Saving Scheme) – You should read ELSS the best instrument for saving tax. ...

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Good things do not last long… is an old saying. I think same is happening with the ELSS category of Equity Diversified Mutual Fund. Last week I wrote “Simple Tax Planning Guide and ABC of Section 80 C” – where I have not missed a chance to write that ELSS (Equity Linked Saving Schemes) of Mutual Fund is undoubtedly is the best tax saving instrument. But again the same question echoed by readers – What ...

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For people Section 80C has become synonym to tax saving. Everyone jumps on one of the products which are available there for investment. In India tax saving & investment go hand in hand – some time it shocks me, when I hear people saying that their investment is only what they are doing for tax savings.  Let me clarify in the starting of the article that if you are one of those who think that ...

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If you are salaried the mail for your tax proofs must be on the way. Here we just list the basic tax reckoner for you so that you may save whatever you can. Tax planning should actually be considered in accordance with the overall asset allocation of our portfolios. After all, tax planning avenues will be either equity or debt. These are the simple avenues from which you can save taxes. Income Tax Slab Financial ...

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… You understand stack overflow, fails to understand compound interest. Two interesting things happened in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), last year one guy won 1 crore and lost at the next question. Second, Sushil Kumar won Rs 5 Crore but you can imagine he must be clueless about what to do with this money. And yeah, you might want to pity on the first guy who lost at the last question, but wait, if you ...

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To understand Bond Funds lets revise the meaning of Bond in financial market. Bonds are basically the money which you lend to the government or a company, and in return you can receive interest on your invested amount, which is back over predetermined amounts of time. Bonds are considered to be the most common lending investment traded on the market. What is Bond Fund So essentially, a Bond mutual fund will be combination of these ...

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Watch out for the so called wealth management services offered by the banks. Your relationship manager from the bank will offer to do this for you. I often wonder how qualified these guys really are, they do seem to be smart guys and girls with MBA degrees, so I would assume they do understand what wealth management means. I have obliged plenty of these wealth managers during my last 3 years of experience in dealing ...

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People keep me asking why there are so many different types of mutual funds schemes in India. We have to understand that mutual fund is just the connecting bridge or a financial intermediary that allows a group of investors to pool their money together with a predetermined investment objective. And due to different investment objectives there are different types of mutual funds. The mutual fund will have a fund manager (team of experts) who is ...

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NO!! I am not a credit card sales man pestering people with free life-time cards or enticing them with special gifts to buy more cards, and send them down a debt spiral, while I mint my commissions on way to the bank! I’m just another common man who swipes his card day-in and day-out, at the groceries, at the petrol stations, at the super markets, and nudges around to pay the bills! Over a period, ...

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The two important and expensive additions to the household budget of this generation have been the Mobile and Internet bills. You may not realize how much you spend on these utilities (yes – they are no longer luxuries – but utilities) but if you total up your bills at the end of each year, it will be a sizeable amount. What I realized though earlier this year is that these telecom companies are one of ...

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First of all, wishing you and your family a very Happy & Prosperous Diwali. Diwali is the most celebrated festival for Indians and we all light our homes with diyas. It symbolizes victory of Light over Darkness. We also do LAXMI PUJAN on this very auspicious day. But have you ever wondered at the time of performing puja that why Devi Saraswati Ji is always there along with Devi Laxmi? In our view, Laxmi Ji ...

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One of the hazards with my job is that wherever I go I am always on my job. My wife often gets annoyed with me as even in social gathering, I am talking to people something related to my job. And you know what people keep asking me more often in social gathering or otherwise: 1. Where do you think markets are headed? 2. Which is the best mutual fund now days? 3. Can you ...

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“The markets are looking bearish and it can fall further. I shall wait and watch and shall invest only when they start turning positive”. This is a not something which is unusual with the investors in stock market. Mostly people change their profession when it comes to investment in Share Market whether directly or otherwise thru mutual funds. They are Doctors, CAs, Engineer MBA etc. but as an investors in share market they become astrologers ...

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Mrs. and Mr. Verma is one tough customer to handle. They haggles with vegetable vendors to save a couple of rupees, is always on the alert for sales and discounts schemes and quibbles with domestic help — the maid, the dhobi, the driver. They saves a few hundred rupees every month through these small bargains. And then they signs away thousands — sometimes lakhs — of rupees blindly in insurance or funds that brokers ask ...

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Smart Fooling Tips Guaranteed: This is the perfect Word for such Ads, we Indians love Guarantee. Daily Profits: Just follow this & you don’t need to work. Perfect: Just Read “ALL” in place of “Many”. Truth: They are saying “We cannot be Successful without YOU”. Read what Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) have to say. Such kinds of false promises are not only given in Equity Investments but also in Insurance & Other Investment Products. There are ...

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These days Health Insurance is equally important to Good Health – IRDA has announced Health Insurance Portability to make the product even better in India. Health Insurance Portability – Joy for People Why I hate ULIPs? Expenses are one of the biggest reasons but there is one more reason – what if funds of your insurance company are not performing. You have to stick to a single company as it is a long contract & ...

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Medical care and treatment costs are on the rise and according to research diseases like Cancer can affect individuals in all age groups. If you are financially well-off, then you would have enough money to comfortably pay for such high medical costs. However, there are individuals who would have to make ends meet at any cost as emergency medical treatment cannot be put aside. Smart individuals plan for such contingencies ahead in life. But before ...

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The dream run is on. All researchers are busy anticipating the time when we would cross the US economy and threaten China. The basic assumption of this research is that India is getting rich. The population has become a boon to our nation (I think Government also agrees, as they are no more showing the legendary “hum do hamare do” advertisements). But is it only the population which will make us competitive economy or there ...

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When someone asks me “tell me some risk free investment which can generate good returns” – I get confused. Why? Because according to me there are n number of risks in investing & I am not sure which risk he is talking about. Warren Buffett Said “Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing”  so today let’s risk ourselves to understand different types of risks that are associated with equity & debt investments. What ...

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Beta in mutual funds represents market risk or systematic risk. Standard Deviation measures volatility of fund in comparison to its mean return but beta measures sensitivity of a fund to its benchmark/index. (Sounds alien – let’s make it simple) How often have you tuned into a business channel or opened the pages of a pink paper to be told where the markets are headed? The word currently going around is that markets should move up ...

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In life people want shortcuts – I think that’s the reason rules of thumb find some place in once life. These financial planning rules of thumb are very basic & not at all full-proof as requirement of 2 different people can never be same. They can just give you some idea but important financial decisions should not be taken on basis of these. Editor of The Journal of Financial Planning (US), once noted that “Rules ...

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Do you know that investment products are called Investment Vehicles as well. The reason is that vehicles takes you from Point A to Point B; so as Investment products take you from where you are today to  where you want to be tomorrow in terms of your financial goals. They are meant to make sure that you reach your financial destination or in other words you reach your targeted goals. For example, let us assume ...

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SBI Gold Fund is there as every Indian is trying to participate in the gold rush. Let me first share few facts about gold : 1. This year Gold may generate its best 1 year return in last 32 years if it will touch $2000 (In 1979 Gold went up by 127%). 2. SPDR Gold Trust is now the largest exchange traded fund in world, surpassing the SPDR S&P 500 ETF – SPDR Gold has ...

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Reliance Mutual Fund is aggressively promoting Reliance SIP Insure now days, which provide free life insurance cover with SIPs in its equity schemes. You must have seen I never miss a chance to mention that SIP (systematic investment plan) is a great way to invest in equity. In fact I also advocate that investors must refrain mixing the 2 giants- insurance & investment. Normally when we say don’t mix insurance & investment – we were ...

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Should I call it a side effect of higher gold price that SBI Mutual Fund is launching SBI Gold Fund? And, SIDE EFFECTs are normally bad… what do you say?  Globally first Gold ETF (exchange traded fund) was launched in 1993 but in India oldest fund come to existence in 2007. In 2008 & 2009, two gold related funds were launched but in 2010 & 2011 nine funds were launched including SBI Gold Fund – ...

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Accidental insurance is one of the most ignored insurance category in India. As we all know majority people buy insurance either for tax planning or investment purpose but unfortunately both these benefits are not available in Accidental Policy. But does that mean you should not buy accidental Insurance. Think..  This article will cover: What is personal accidental insurance & its features Benefits of accidental insurance Comparison of accidental insurance policies How premiums are decided in ...

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Freedom is not a word, it’s a feeling. Freedom is what you feel when there are no doubts, barriers or worries. Freedom is when you feel confident, knowing that you have done everything possible to ensure a secure future for you & your loved ones. Even if we talk about Financial Freedom it is not only about your assets & investments but lot other things. Financial Freedom is not about having best house in town ...

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Recently President Pratibha Patil made her assets & investments public – same on the lines of prime minister & few other ministers in recent past. She is holding assets worth Rs 2.49 Crores. Money Mantra Magazine asked me to share my views on her portfolio & I loved this. I am sharing what actually I advised – you can also share your ideas.  I was having some word limit & few other limits but you ...

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Have you ever wondered why your salary is called income and not wealth and if you are a businessman, then your profit is called income and not wealth. Well my question is not in accounting terms but in Financial Planning terms. Well let us understand the difference between Income and Wealth from Financial Planner’s perspective. Difference Between Income & Wealth Income is something with which you maintain your life style. For example, with every month’s ...

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Your views on this…

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ETF as an investment concept has failed in India. The introductory stride has been lost. Even with 10 years of existence in Indian markets they have not able to make any space in investor’s portfolio. If we talk about Indian Mutual Fund industry ETF share is less than 1% & if we remove Gold ETFs which were or are in fancy these days picture is even worse. But let’s first understand basics about ETF & then see why ...

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Which is the best mutual fund for SIP? I think this is the most common question I came across; be it TFL, through mail or even newspapers where I answer personal finance query section. Sometime I replied – sometime I ignored – sometime I made up my mind to write but dropped idea after few minutes. People who are regular readers must be knowing why I am not able to answer this question – others ...

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A birthday is just the first day of another 365 day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip!! Yes, its time to celebrate. Our TFL is now a two year old kid. We call it a kid because it has just started and there are lot many things The Financial Literates(TFL) has to do. TFL was born to educate masses, masses which are ignorant about handling financial matters, masses which are literally crucified by greedy ...

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“To save must be a habit of childhood, but to invest must be the habit of adulthood” One survey conducted in the Indian urban class people revealed the fact that only 4% of the population was confident of the future financial security of self and family as they had generated enough wealth. More than 60% of the population has to work part-time even after retirement. (Read Budget for your savings & not investing) Story on ...

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Warren Buffet had said, that we should not save what is left after spending but spend what is left after savings. And these words come from a person who is regarded as the Best Ever Investor in Human History. People are not able to plan for their savings because there is no financial plan that they have which clearly spells the requirement for savings to meet your future goals. Many a times, people find that ...

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The birth of a child is one of the most important events in one’s life – other than the celebration; it brings maturity and responsibility to the parents. It also brings seriousness regarding our financial life and if we talk about priority of goals, sometimes Child Future Plan is even a shade above retirement planning. There has been a paradigm shift in the thought process of people and generally they don’t make any distinction between ...

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What’s the easiest way of earning money? Watching business TV channels & following their advice to buy or sell stock/market. This is true for many of the investors who start their day with a business channel and follow so called experts blindly. I would not like to add more – just check the video & picks. Decide what is right for you – experts are not loosing anything from your financial decisions but you…… Disclaimer: ...

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Premium payment is always a head ache. But in life, few basic insurance cover are must go. Regular readers know I am referring to the Term Insurance, Accidental insurance and the Mediclaim. I have already written a lot about these too, so today we shall discuss a common confusion over Health Insurance. These days’ lots of people are coming with queries that they are having mediclaim from employer – do they still need to buy ...

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Is it a good time to invest in equity? Sorry to say but if you are having this question in mind; you have already lost half battle. Don’t get disappointed – I assume you are new to this game & don’t know much about its rules so let’s give you one more chance. Happy!! Sometime people also ask “which are the mutual fund where we can get HIGHEST Return”. I think there is no definition ...

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Everybody seems to be shaken up with the rise in kerosene, diesel and LPG prices and how it is going to impact the family budget. Was it required or not? Did government had any other option or they were economically tied up? Opposition parties have sensed this as a political issue that can swing votes in their favor. They have untied and talking about BHARAT BAND etc. Overall a common man feels that he is ...

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Last week I wrote an article on “Are you ready for your retirement?” based on a survey which says 74% are financially prepared for their retirement. I raised my doubts on that survey & showed that there is an illusion. There is huge gap between our perception regarding goals & actual goals – this gives us confidence that we will achieve goals but when we reach closer to goals……. Why people are not able to ...

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Recently I was talking to a client who was approaching his retirement very soon – both of his parents are alive. I asked “do your parents stay with you” & he politely said “NO, we stay with our parents”. This one line created lot of respect for the client but the question is will we be that lucky in our retirement days. These days retirement is a real challenge due to low pension or no ...

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When it comes to financial products no brand can be bigger than LIC. Recently LIC Launched LIC Jeevan Arogya & queries started showering: Deepak “kindly advise me of the new lic plan jeevan arogya. Whether I should purchase it.” Kiran “Please give me details for Jeevan arogya lic plan I want to take this” Anup “Suggest me about lic’s mediclaim policy jivan arogya……..” Munish “Query on lic Jeevan Arogya – can I go with this ...

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As credit card usage grows, and you get more and more calls from banks trying to sell you their credit cards you will need some parameters to help you evaluate the best credit card for you. Today, we’re going to take a look at 5 factors that you should keep in mind while deciding which credit card you opt for.  These factors are fairly easy to evaluate and it shouldn’t take you more than 10 ...

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Financial Planning is an art of fulfilling ones goals. It is a typical experience when one is doing it for himself or his loved one. If you are doing it and need an answer to a particular query you may search the questions mentioned below. If you are still not able to get the solution do ask me through the below comments section. Financial Planning Questions What is the tax liability on selling property? Can ...

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Investment is the backbone of financial planning. So if financial planning is battle training, investment is the Kargil. This is an ultimate practical experience and while doing this question or query is bound to surface. Hence this is the page where I have collected the common investment questions that arise in every once mind. You are likely to get solution to your query here or else ask me through the comments section. Investment Questions: Should ...

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Insurance is one of the greatest inventions in the field of personal financial products. But it becomes fatal to financial life and costly once you end purchasing a wrong insurance solution. I have selected most common questions that keep coming on TFL. You can also ask your queries in comment section. Insurance Questions : Are all traditional polices useless? What are expenses in ULIPs after 3rd Year? Should I go for Term Plan or Endowment/ULIP policy? ...

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Before you start reading about sector fund – I would like to tell you clearly that this is the riskiest category in mutual fund. Time to time few of the sectors have given phenomenal returns but end of the day losers are more than winners when we talk about investors. My suggestion is they should never be part of your core portfolio but depending on the individual you may think about this in your satellite ...

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You would have noticed that there are no updates on TFL from last 10 days – behind curtains we were making “The Financial Literates” a better experience for you. Changing name from tflindia.in to www.tflguide.com was not small decision, but keeping long term future of TFL in mind we have to do it & instead of delaying, we thought of doing it now. Most of the things are working fine but we lost some 30-40 ...

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The real estate market has been heating up in India; you can see people advertising real estate jobs on Facebook and the other day I received an email on doing a Diploma in Real Estate! All this reminds me of the real estate crash in the US that took place about 2 years ago, and there are several lessons we can draw from those events. Keeping these things in mind may end up saving you ...

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Who will not like to earn a lot of money & the easier you can earn it – the better it is. What about paying Rs 10-12000 in a year & getting Rs 52000 back? Let’s sweeten the deal – also get huge passive income. Yes this is the plan that is shared by Speak Asia – an online survey company (they claim). You just have to play some tic-tac-toe in survey form & earning ...

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Mutual Fund is a new baby for most of Indians – I keep getting lots of mutual fund question through Comments on post, Ask Us or Business Bhaskar newspaper where I regularly write query section. I have selected most important & most frequently asked questions (faq) out of that. You can also ask questions in the comment section. Mutual Fund Questions Is a mutual fund with low NAV better? Difference in performance of a Dividend ...

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Financial Planning & Financial Planner is a misused term in India. Anyone who inherits a post office or life insurance business from his father attains a title of being a Financial Planner. In absence of any regulation or anyone with shallow financial knowledge can call himself or herself a financial planner. The 80-90% people in this fraternity will carry business cards with designations like “Financial Planner” or “Authorized Financial Advisor” without knowing its actual meaning. ...

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There are more tenants than the landlords. And if you have had an experience of living on rent, the itch must have occurred. You must have you had an exchange of words with your landlord over maintenance, or some other issue. That is the very reason people are always on the lookout for a new roof, even though they are financially not prepared. Through this article we will help you take the measures before finalizing ...

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It is just the twentieth day of the month and you are wondering where all the money has disappeared? Thinking back you can count maybe two or three major expenses, but it still doesn’t sum up to the large hole in your wallet??!! Doesn’t this sound familiar? How many times have we all felt this, however how many of us really keep track of how we are managing our hard earned money. We have gradually ...

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Cricket mania is at its best…. Cricket has over shadowed everything…. Other sports, movies, & issues like corruption. No one was bothered about the state elections or finding whereabouts of Shah Rukh Khan. All were glued to the idiot box with a bucket of popcorns. So I will also not break the continuity and will not bore you with a heavy topic, instead would try to connect cricket with the financial world. 2nd April, 2011 ...

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We all are born with some instincts. Some of them can be changed and some can’t. Investment attitude is reflection of our basic instincts. It would be better if we could know our own investment attitude, behavior and style. There is nothing wrong in diagnosing ourselves. Knowing the category we fall into, we may devise a strategy to have maximum benefit of it. People say market moves in cycles – yes, but it is cycle ...

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Time & again I have written on importance of life insurance & why you should buy term insurance for that. But one question that haunts everyone – what will happen if my life insurance claim will be rejected?? Go through the article & share your experience. Recently one reader raised these questions on Ask Us. He wrote - I am your regular reader. I am little confused in below points 1. Why one should Buy Life ...

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What is common between January 1st and April 1st?  Very Simple! It’s a starting of New Year either Calendar Year or Financial Year.  So what we all do in the starting of New Year. We Take Resolutions. Is it not.. Resolution is typically to improve ourselves, promise to leave either bad habits or promise to start a Good one. So you all agree with this or not? But we all take resolutions on January 1st; ...

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A new innovation has arrived in the Indian Mutual Fund Industry – Franklin Templeton Family Solutions. Some time I tell people that “mutual funds are not investments but investment tool/vehicle to achieve once goals.” And now Franklin Templeton Family Solutions plan fits better in this definition. Let’s understand it in detail – Franklin Templeton Family Solutions features, benefits, process, and limitations. Also check the plan that I have created from it & compared it with ...

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We have grown up listening to Sant Kabir’s word of wisdom about where he emphasizes  that we must not procrastinate today’s work, as you will have no time tomorrow since there will be more work for tomorrow.  But now, we are grown ups and the world has changed & no one is there to correct us at every step. Not following Kabir’s rule of time will impact our financial life. Here’s how… If we look ...

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Financial Literacy level is at very low level but a latest survey shows Indian’s Financial Literacy Level is much better than others. This survey from ING shows that India Ranks at no. 2 out of 10 leading nations. But my question is what your target is: Being just better from others? If yes then enjoy you are already in top 10% Indians. (As 90% don’t even know what is Financial Literacy) Achieve your goals & ...

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A Picture is worth thousand words. So today I thought to share few charts that are really important for you to understand. Let me share one more thing that most of the charts that you find on TFL are out of my own research. And sometime it not takes hours but few days to make them. Hope you will appreciate them by giving your few minutes. Long term investment chart – this is 30 years ...

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What is Portfolio Management Services or PMS? Portfolio Management Services account is an investment portfolio in Stocks, Debt and fixed income products managed by a professional money manager, that can potentially be tailored to meet specific investment objectives. When you invest in PMS, you own individual securities unlike a mutual fund investor, who owns units of the entire fund. You have the freedom and flexibility to tailor your portfolio to address personal preferences and financial ...

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We keep getting lot of questions on how to choose the best term insurance plan or which is the best term plan or which is the cheapest one. So let’s go deep to understand more about it. To know the basics you can read what is term Plan? Let’s begin with understanding the importance of it & later we will see 3 criteria to choose best term plan. We all know death & taxes are ...

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This week we wrote review on LIC Samridhi Plus. The response was very good from the readers. It seems, TFL readers are getting smart or may be only smart people are reading TFL. The recent unfortunate update is that, LIC Samridhi Plus has already sold more than 75000 polices & collected more than Rs 300 Crore. And the bad part is these policies are sold by people who don’t know how it will work – ...

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Got a question on ASK US “Please let me know your take on the LIC Samridhi Plus, whether one should go for it. Any other option which will be better than the LIC Samridhi Plus. Is Guaranteed Highest NAV usually preferred or not?” and I simply replied “My answer is NO”. So let us understand why I said NO to this scheme. First check – What is LIC Samridhi Plus (Table No. 804) LIC’s Samridhi ...

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Sometime back when medicine were at its initial stage in India there were many quacks that used their half-baked knowledge to treat people & people were exposing themselves to huge risks. Even now you can find such quacks in smaller cities or towns. These quacks mushroomed as there were loose regulations and checks.  In another Industry, financial planners in India are facing a similar situation… any one can make a claim about himself/herself being a ...

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