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The month of annual bonuses seems like paradise when we start planning in advance on how to spend it. This excitement will get us into impulses of spending on things that give momentary pleasure only. This leaves us regretting for our decisions later. Wise money management and productively using annual bonuses will help us to take care of not just present needs but also of future needs and contingencies. My idea of being a financially prudent and smart person would involve wise money management of bonus according to the life’s priorities and expenses. It is true worldwide that living in uncertain economic times after the global economic turndown, we all need to learn powerful lessons on wise money management. Every individual has his/her own peculiar set of priorities, but I believe that some suggestions would be well appreciated by all. Ways that have helped in wise money management of annual bonuses include:  Tax planning has and will always play a role in saving taxes and ma...

Most of us are aware of Form 16 given by our employers before April 30th each year that give details of the income earned, and tax deducted at source and paid to the government. This certificate proves useful in filing income tax returns. In addition banks also issuing Form 16 and Form16A to pension holders and those that earn interest income, with no Form 16 required when TDS is not deducted from salary. Knowing about Form 16 helps us to be a well-informed taxpayer and do better tax planning. The 13 components of Form 16 are: 1) PAN that stands for Permanent Account Number, a 10 digit alpha-numeric code that is generated by the Income Tax Department of India. It is mandatory for everyone- NRI, PIO & companies that wishes to conduct business, file and pay taxes, invest, buy and sell property, open a demat or bank account to have this number in India. The need 2) TAN is best known as Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number is another mandatory 10 digit alpha-numeric number...

Are you planning to go abroad and become am NRI? Today you are a Resident Indian. Tomorrow you may become an NRI if your employer provides an opportunity. When an opportunity like this knocks at our door, are we ready to face the change? Are we prepared? Creating a Checklist or ‘to-do list’ helps to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task. Becoming an NRI is a major transition which definitely needs a checklist. Here is a personal finance check list to be taken care before departing from India. NRO & NRE ACCOUNT: The first thing to do is to convert your savings bank account to an NRO or NRE account. An NRO or non-resident ordinary account is like an ordinary savings bank account that gives a domestic rate of interest. This account can be used for depositting your domestic earnings like rent, interest and dividends and remittances from abroad into this account. Cheques can be issued for EMI and investment, but there are restrictions for transferring money to the c...

Just put your mouse on a city anywhere in the world and the newspaper headlines pop up... Double click and the page gets larger...you can read the entire paper on some if you click on the right place. You can spend forever here.   http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/ Also, if you look at the European papers, the far left side of Germany will pop up as The Stars & Stripes (European edition, of course). AND, this site changes every day with the publication of new editions of the paper.

Are you planning to go abroad and become am NRI? Today you are a Resident Indian. Tomorrow you may become an NRI if your employer provides an opportunity. When an opportunity like this knocks at our door, are we ready to face the change? Are we prepared? Creating a Checklist or ‘to-do list’ helps to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task. Becoming an NRI is a major transition which definitely needs a checklist. Here is a personal finance check list to be taken care before departing from India. NRO & NRE ACCOUNT: The first thing to do is to convert your savings bank account to an NRO or NRE account. An NRO or non-resident ordinary account is like an ordinary savings bank account that gives a domestic rate of interest. This account can be used for depositting your domestic earnings like rent, interest and dividends and remittances from abroad into this account. Cheques can be issued for EMI and investment, but there are restrictions for transferring money to the c...

National Award winning actor Vikram in combination with a director who made heads turn with his unique style of narrating stories brings in high expectations in a project. However, this film which was touted to be an entertaining action thriller turns out to be an amateurish product from experienced men. The story which revolves around the infamous land grabbing mafia normally has more sting which is left to sway badly off track by director Suseendran by virtue of an unconvincing screenplay. The film revolves around Murugan (Vikram) who works as a gym boy in the extras department of film acting. His aim though is to become a villain in films. Things tend to take a different turn when Dhakshinamurthy (K Vishwanath) an old man is being chased by a group of men wanting to grab his property. Murugan then takes care of Dhakshinamurthy and in the mean time his love interest in Darshini (Deeksha Seth) also comes into the scheme of things. The twist in the tale though doesn't come ripping ...

It has always been a question of common belief that the male member or the bread winner of the family only needs to be insured. This belief has emerged due to the fact that the financial interests of the other dependent family memebers had to be protected in case of death of the bread winner. However changes of lifestyles and with more women being employed in lucrative professions both in big cities and towns the perception of insurance has changed. In addition the entry of many MNC-Indian insurance joint ventures, and their bringing out unique solutions and products, it is time that we all looked into taking insurance policies for home makers too. Home mekaers have been neglected all these years with regard to insurance. It would be interesting to study why home makers too need insurance:  It is significant to note that in a country like India, homemakers contribute to households in the form of cooking, education of children and other menial work. But their importance and valu...

Ursula K. LeGuin quotes “The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.” I agree with Ursula K. LeGuin for critical illness could strike anyone at anytime and in any place with the modern trend of rise in lifestyle diseases that call for prompt and costly medical care. The necessity of critical insurance or health insurance with critical illness riders was strengthened with my friend Mr. Karthik being diagnosed with multiple blocks in his heart that involved a treatment of 3lac. Then one more friend told us all about the necessity of critical illness insurance and health insurance with critical illness. Understanding all about critical insurance and health insurance with critical insurance riders would tell us that most such health insurance policies would cover 12 critical illness besides others. They could include heart attack, coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), cancer, kidney failure, stroke, coma, liver failure, p...

I am reminded of a Tamil saying, “Experience what it is to build a house, and get a child married”, probably that is the reason why wise parents invest to meet the long term financial obligations like education and marriage cost of their children. In addition the rising inflation rate also calls for starting savings early in a child’s life. However it would be advisable to know, evaluate and compare various means of savings. This could also enlighten you about how “child plans” need not be the only method. Disadvantages of a Readymade “Child Plan”  “Child plans” with insurance resemble unit linked insurance plans, starting early in a child’s life and ending only when the child attains maturity. The amount of money invested in these plans is insignificant considering an in-built insurance component, and other charges like premium allocation charges that are the commission paid to distributors. This could lead to low return in the initial stages and additional losses on leaving bef...

Just start the financial check-up: Noel Whittaker said, “Life is full of uncertainties. Future investment earnings and interest and inflation rates are not known to anybody. However, I can guarantee you one thing.. those who put an investment program in place will have a lot more money when they come to retire than those who never get around to it”. This meaningful quotation made me realize that we need to make regular financial check-ups to ensure that we have enough to meet our financial goals in life. Planning for financial goals require taking into consideration the present rates of earnings on investments, future earnings and rate of inflation that would affect our lifestyle and financial goals. It is vital that we all realize that regular reviewing our finances according to our changing dreams, needs and aspirations and making necessary changes would help meet our financial goals. Marriage and a merger of personal finance: Marriage could be the first circumstance that ca...

We all work and earn money. Do we manage our hard earned money effectively and efficiently? New Year is the time to take resolutions. Why don’t you take a resolution to prioritize and organize your personal finance? Here are the 10 commandments of personal finance that can help you in managing your personal finance better. 1. Create a budget Most of us hesitate to make a budget because we think it is about cutting all the fun in life. Budgeting is not about cutting all the fun; it is about conscious allocation of funds. Once we start spending consciously, our mind will find out a whole new way of having fun within the budget. You need to create a workable budget that gives you extra money and life. 2. Spend smarter and save more Spending less and saving more are lifelong living skills that need time to develop. Unless and otherwise, you have a clear written budget, you will lose your focus and go after consumerism and materialism. To save more, obviously you need to spend smar...

The start: As I grow older, the number of people I meet who are near, or close to retirement continues to grow. Certainly they’re all mentally prepared for leisurely rounds of golf, time spent watching the grandkids, and languid walks on the beach, BUT very few of them are financially prepared to realize their cherished dreams. I also have many younger friends, people still in their prime and just starting their careers. They’re many decades away from retirement, and they’ve fallen victim to the mindset of those with whose career horizon stretches out far into the distance. Although they “Talk” about investing for the long term, their actions…lavish spending…living paycheque to paycheque, ignores the future that will soon become their reality. Here are “5 what not to dos” on retirement planning that could seriously damage your retired life. The 5 bad choices that I have observed are: 1) I can start saving later: The decision to postpone savings and investment can’t be a goo...

Credit cards have turned into an integral part of modern living as they facilitating making purchases and paying bills without carrying cash. They make life easy and help maintain a record of our expenses and help us dispute charges for undelivered and defective things. In addition they enable us to earn reward points. However credit cards could make you overspend and get into debt. There are 9 ways that could help you to be credit card smart. One can be very smart in playing a game only when he knows the rules of the game very well and follows the same diligently. Similarly to be smart with your credit card you need to know the rules of the credit card usage. Let me unbundle the same for you. 9 ways to be credit card smart: 1) Do not have many credit cards: It is true that credit cards definitely help in emergencies and facilitate payments. But having too many credit cards could tempt us to overspend and get into credit card debt that could be difficult to recover from. In add...

Ethan Hunt is at a Russian prison and there is a team which from the outside successfully rescues him for a mission that is more spectacular and entertaining. The team now comprises of Ethan, Jane (Paula Patton) and the newly promoted field agent Benji (Simon Pegg). when Ethan makes his way into the Kremlin searching for some tapes which is of utmost importance in the context of national safety, things go bad when the Kremlin is bombed and as a result of which the IMF is shut down which leaves Ethan and his team on their own to take the mission in their own hands and at their will. Ethan then travels to Dubai along with a new team member in the form of IMF analyst Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and this time they choose the world famous Burj Khalifa Tower for the action to kick start. The action sequences at Burj Khalifa is simply mind blowing to say the least. From there, they track the main villain nick named "Cobolt' who in reality is none other than a Russian Nuclear Strategist na...

Let’s begin on planning finance for retirement: It is usual for many of us to aspire for a financially secure and happy retired life. However being financially prepared to meet the demands of retired life by saving and investing requires considering and following the 10 doctrines of wise retirement planning. A look at the 10 doctrines to wise retirement planning: 1) Provide for contingencies Most of us tend to underestimate our retirement needs. Provision for medical emergencies with inadequacy of medical insurance in old age requires financial provision. Lack of government social security schemes and retirement benefits to self-employed and private sector employees creates requirement for more provision for contingencies after retirement. 2) Think that you will live long: This is true with increased life expectancy. Now you will have more years of life after retirement. Thanks to medical advancements. So it is better to plan for the additional years and avoid living frugal...

If you are planning to invest your money in equity funds, there are plenty of options in front of you. Broadly the equity funds can be categorized into index funds, diversified funds and sectoral or thematic funds. Your friend could have told you index funds are safe and cost effective. Your colleague could have told you, infrastructure is going to be the next big theme. So invest in infra funds. As an investor you are confused with the information overload and would like to choose the right type of fund for you. I will unveil this to you today. Index funds Vs Diversified Funds Index funds are just index trackers. They aim to replicate the movements of an index. Index funds will hold all of the securities in the index in the same proportion as the index. There is no research and analysis on which stock to invest. There is no human input. They just track and replicate the index. There is no active management and there is no fund manager. So they enjoy the low cost advantage. On ...

Director            Milan Luthria Cast                  Vidya Balan, Nasseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi, Anju Mahendroo, Rajesh Sharma, Mangal Kenkre Year                 2011 Genre               Drama I must start this review with an anecdote from a few of days back. I was on my way back from the village (read Bangalore) and was taking the Indian Airlines flight.   My song of the day was “Oooh La La”.   Just kept humming it through the day.   En route to the airport we were having this conversation that The Dirty Picture will be one of the top 5 movies of the year and that Vidya Balan will clearly get 2 nominations for the year – The first movie of the year No One Killed Jessica and The Dirt...

Inflation and Retirement Most Retirees feel great getting a bulk sum as provident fund and gratuity, and wish they knew a magician, who could spin their money 2 to 3 times in just 5 years, in addition to ensuring a regular return for their day to day expenses. It is true we all want it to keep up with the inflation rate in the market. I know of no such magicians, and it is practically not possible to multiply your money 2 to 3 times in just 5 years. But I definitely know of smart investment planning and investment advisors that could help you to beat inflation. A step by step look at your considerations to come out with smart calculated investment decisions: • Post-retirement, you know that you would no longer earn a regular income and would have to stay on your savings, provident fund, gratuity, and other benefits that have been given to you. You would definitely want more good returns on your investments, but your appetite for risk is low, for you would not want to lose your p...