photo by The Consumerist
A credit card can be an excellent tool for saving money and getting discounts. If one goes haywire it can lead to additional costs and penalties. Credits cards are often blamed for debt woes as well as other consumer-related ills prevalent in society. But, in reality, most of such woes result from the misuse of plastic money or the ignorance of consumer himself rather than keeping a credit card in your wallet. Here are some tips to make the most of your credit card: Continue reading “7 tips to make the most off your credit card” »
photo by orangeacid
Investment experts keep advising us to “invest for the long term,” mainly so that we may benefit from the power of compounding.
Take an individual who decides to invest Rs. 50,000 for 20 years. Assume that he earns a constant return of 8% per year. In the first five years, the Rs. 50,000 invested grows to Rs. 73,466. (see table) This means, he gains Rs. 23,466 in absolute terms in the first five years. Continue reading “Power of compounding” »
photo by demibrooke
Buy land. They’ve stopped making it. – Mark Twain.
Banks and housing finance companies (HFCs) in India provide loans for purchase of plots (land). Usually, the banks/HFCs insist that the plot of land is purchased from a recognized authority like a development authority, from a society, or from a recognized developer. Financing purchase of plots is a bit risky because of difficulty in documentation. Continue reading “Buying a plot of land?” »
Here’s another carnival of Money Hacks. A fantastic collection of posts all at one place. The post What if I gave you 100,000 bucks? by yours truly has qualified as an Editor’s Pick! The posts in the carnival are classified into different categories so you could jump right to the one you’re most interested in.
Look no further, check out the Money Hacks Carnival #29.
Thank you LAL.
photo by thelastminute
Everyone might be familiar with mutual funds especially ELSS (Equity Linked Savings Scheme) coz that seems to be one of the favourites with salaried-class people. After all, it’s eligible for that deduction under Section 80C and plus has a potential to give you returns far better than traditional investment avenues such as Provident Fund (PF) and National Savings Certificate (NSC). However, investing in ELSS means a lock-in period of 3 years.
Consider this – you’ve already invested in ELSS and have some extra money that you wish to invest in stocks. You could be one who is a pro when it comes to investing directly in stocks. Or you could be someone who depends on friends / family for guidance. Then there are times when you really don’t have the time to track the stock market, more specifically, trying to figure out which are the stocks that you should ride your money on. In such a case, index funds are a good avenue to look at. Continue reading “Not Peter Lynch or a Warren Buffett? Try Index Funds” »
photo by aubergene
National Savings Certificate (NSC) and Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) are the two of the most commonest investment instruments in India. Well, if you have invested in these and you’re based out of Mumbai, you’re in for some good news.
The postal department has been running a pilot project in Mumbai to electronically credit NSC and KVP details in an investor’s demat account — just like shares — instead of issuing the usual physical certificates. Thirty five major post offices in the region (Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai) are authorised to offer NSCs and KVPs in demat form. Now post offices in Mumbai are urging investors to opt for NSCs and KVPs to choose the demat option during the application process. Continue reading “NSC and KVP take the demat route” »
photo by pshutterbug
Imagine if you had Rs 100,000 and had the full freedom to decide where to park (invest) it — where would you put it? Rewind — last quarter of 2007, no doubt it would’ve been the stock market calling your money. But hey, considering the bearish sentiments in the stock market today you’ve got to carefully evaluate your investment decisions.
Here’s how you could look at investing the amount:
CASH IS KING
With the inflation rate at 12.40% (approx as on Aug 28, 2008) you’re gonna have higher outflows in your monthly home budget. Make sure you have about 3-6 months of your living expenses set aside in either:
(1) A savings account that’s linked to a fixed deposit. This ensures you enjoy a slightly high rate of interest (as compared to a normal savings account) along with the liquidity of a Savings Account. And hey, you don’t even pay any penalty to access your funds which otherwise is the case when you access your funds in a normal Fixed Deposit account. Continue reading “What if I gave you 100,000 bucks?” »
Your neighborhood ATM could soon boast several value additions to ease the banking chores. Some of these features have been launched on a trial basis, while others are used abroad and could soon find their way to India. Here are those features:
Instant Cheque Deposit
The cheque truncation solution, currently in place in most leading banks in the NCR, cuts short the time required to process a cheque. When this facility is shifted to ATMs, you can have the cheque scanned and the amount will be credited ‘instantly’ to your account and you will also get a copy of the cheque for your records. Wow, how cool is that? Faster than NEFT / RTGS …! Continue reading “3 Things Your ATM Will Soon Do” »
