@liveankit

Don’t put off today what you can’t afford to do tomorrow. In spite of the world wide pension crisis and a growing acceptance that we must plan and save for our retirement, the harsh reality is we are actually not saving enough. Research reports reveal that only 15% of the individuals are saving sufficiently for their retired life. Here are a few tips on things to do before you retire so that your retired life is more comfortable and enjoyable. Get Rid of All Your Debts If you are taking a housing loan, personal loan, car loan or any other loan make sure that you will be repaying them on or before your retirement. You need to choose the term of the loan in accordance with your retirement age. You can enjoy your retired life when you have 100% financial freedom, not when you have to repay your loans. Protect Your Emergency fund Emergency expenses can happen any time. But the possibility goes up during the old age. So we need to enhance the emergency reserv...

Health care costs are sky rocketing day by day. Therefore the need for having a mediclaim policy for you and your dependents has grown. Suppose you have to undergo some medical treatment or need to be hospitalized for certain reason, then a mediclaim policy will be of immense help to you in covering your health care expenses. The reason is Mediclaim offers protection in case of unexpected medical and health care emergencies. Hospitalization expenses in case of illness, disease or accident will impose a heavy financial burden on individuals and families. This is where the mediclaim policy comes in handy. The mediclaim policy can reimburse the hospitalization expenses or can pay the hospital directly on behalf of you. A mediclaim policy provides a health cover of certain amount of money. This amount depends on the amount that the insured person was insured for. The mediclaim policy can be taken for an individual or for an entire family. Some insurance companies allow a d...

It may look very strange when everyone is advocating Mutual Fund Sip for long term, what is the necessity for this debate on ‘Is Mutual Fund SIP for Short term or long term?’. Theoretically doing a Mutual fund SIP for long term will work for investors. But for practical reasons we need to commit a Mutual Fund SIP for short term. That is we need to break that long term into many 6 months or 1 year periods and commit your Mutual Fund SIP for first 6 month or 1 year. Then at the end of 6 month or 1 year renew your SIP for another 6 month or 1 year. You need to renew like this till you complete your predetermined long term period. You may think it is an unnecessary paperwork and waste of time. But you will be completely convinced when you have finished reading this article. Contribution towards Mutual Fund SIP Changes: How much you are contributing towards Mutual Fund SIP changes over a period of time. Ø   At the beginning of a career a person will be able to commit Mutual Fund ...

Eight Simple Ways to Plan your Taxes. You have got only a few more months to complete this financial year. Very soon you will get a call from your company to submit the proofs for tax saving investments. So why don’t you spend some time on organising your tax plan? 1)      Proper Allocation of Annual compensation Restructuring your salary with some additional components can reduce your tax liability. This restructuring doesn’t require any additional cash outflow. The following components can be efficiently used to reduce your income tax liability. v   Transport allowance to the extend of Rs.800 is exempt v   Medical expenses which are reimbursed by the employer are exempt to the tune of Rs.15000 v   Food coupons like sodexo or ticket restaurant are exempt from tax up to Rs.60000 v   Individuals who are all living in a rented accommodation can include House Rent Allowance ( HRA ) as a part of their salary v   Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) c...

The author is Ramalingam K , an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner . He is the Founder and Director of Holistic Investment Planners ( www.holisticinvestment.in ) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in .   The 10 Financial Doctrines of Wise Retirement Planning 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...

The author is Ramalingam K, an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner. He is the Founder and Director of Holistic Investment Planners (www.holisticinvestment.in) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in. 11 ways to get out of debt and stay out of debt In spite of steady, regular income there are so many individuals who live paycheque to paycheque, carry their credit card outstanding, and fail to save anything for retirement. If you are one of them, now is the right time to take action to come out of debt and stay out of debt. It is not only possible; it is unbelievably achievable. List down all your debts You need to take stock of all your loans. It could be credit card due, personal loan, car loan, housing loan, education loan, loan from FD, loan from insurance policies, loan from your employer, hand loan and so on. For each and every loan you need to note down how much you owe, the present interest...

How & Why Should you invest in Stock Markets Even After Your Retirement? 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 inve...

Is lack of time making you go crazy in your attempt to plan your finance? Does your busy professional schedule offer you time to monitor your personal finance? Balaji is working for an MNC. Today he has got a deadline for a particular assignment. His day is fully packed. First thing in the morning, he receives a mail from his HR Dept stating that today is the last date for producing proofs for tax saving investments; otherwise a huge amount will be deducted from his salary as tax. He wanted to do some tax saving investments urgently and submit the proof on or before end of the day. Mahesh is an NRI, working for a software company in US. He has got a couple of crores in his overseas fixed deposits giving a return of 1.50% p.a. Returns are taxable. At times, he thinks that the return what he getting is very low. He wanted to check up with a professional financial planner in India. He thinks he will contact as soon as his present project gets completed. Like this he has not contact...

The author is Ramalingam K, an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner. He is the Founder and Director of Holistic Investment Planners (www.holisticinvestment.in) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in. Investment Myths To Be Avoided Today I am going to debunk a few investment myths. You will know ‘why individual investors are failing miserably and how you can avoid being one of them’. I am too young to plan for retirement Have you started planning for your retirement? You may be saying ‘who me? I am too young to be thinking about retirement”. It is not so! Rethink. You should have started thinking about it yesterday. Because time flies quickly. If you were smart, and planned for retirement when you are young, your retirement years will be really those “Golden years”. If not you need to compromise and you need to work longer and retire later than others. East or west FDs are safe and best No...

The author is Ramalingam K, an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner. He is the Founder and Director of Holistic Investment Planners (www.holisticinvestment.in) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in. What is Portfolio Management Scheme? Portfolio management scheme popularly known as PMS are specialized investment vehicle for lump sum investments. The portfolio manager invests the money in shares and other securities and manages the portfolio on behalf of the client. One can invest fresh money in Portfolio Management Scheme and the portfolio manager will construct a portfolio by deploying that money. Also one can transfer his existing share portfolio to the Portfolio Management Scheme provider. In that case, the portfolio manager will revamp the portfolio in sync with his investment philosophy and strategy. Once the Portfolio Management Scheme account is opened, the client will be given wit...