photo by coloros

In January 2008 SEBI abolished entry load on Indian equity funds if you’re investing directly. However, it is mandatory to pay an entry load of 2.25 percent if you transact through intermediaries, better known as distributors who take this charge to service investors.

Suppose you are investing Rs 1000 and the NAV (net asset value) of the scheme that you are buying is Rs 10. This NAV is multiplied by 1.0225 (2.25 percent of Rs 10) to factor in the entry load and operative NAV for you becomes Rs 10.225 (Rs 10 as the actual NAV and Rs 0.225 as the entry load). [Read more]

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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. [Read more]

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A friend of mine recently applied for a personal loan from a leading bank and was shocked to know that she would be paying almost 50% of the loan amount as interest, spread over a period of 5 years. The purpose of this personal loan was to settle some outstanding credit card dues. Agreed, the rate of interest on a personal loan (16-22% per annum) is lesser than that of a credit card (35-44% per annum). But is a personal loan the only way out? Nope. [Read more]

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