7 Ways to Avoid Debt Trap

The 2 Biggest Traps of Life are Marriage and Debt Trap :) Debt Trap is like a Chakravyuh, Its easy to enter but impossible to get out like Abhimanyu. Improper Financial Planning is responsible for falling into debt trap. There are few tips on how to avoid Debt Trap. 1. Avoid too Many Loans: As a thumb rule, EMI of all loans availed should not exceed 45% of take Home Salary / Net Income per month. If it exceeds this limit then we are inviting trouble for ourselves. If majority of loan portfolio Continue Reading

Retirement Planning – Non Conventional Way

Retirement Planning is most discussed but least understood topic in India. Until & Unless you have Government Job in hand, you have every reason to worry about your retirement. I will suggest that your Financial Advisor should be the last person in this world, whose advice you should follow regarding retirement planning. The Financial Advisor will prepare your retirement based on hypothesis and assumptions which does not hold true even after 3-5 years...The basic objective of your Financial Continue Reading

Online Discount Coupons – Save while you Shop

What about saving some hard earned money while Shopping Online through Online Discount Coupons...Sounds great :) Let's Check Out Personally i have almost stopped physical shopping as i found that i can save more if i shop online. On top of it additional discount of 20%-50% is a big bonus and can be handy in these difficult times of Recession. Some time back snapdeal.com and timesdeal.com tried to create paid business model out of online discount coupons on lines of Groupon but they failed miserably. Continue Reading

Why you should not buy Gold Coins from Banks?

As i have mentioned in my previous posts also that we Indians are obsessed with Gold. You might be aware that it is mandatory to provide photocopy of PAN if investment in Physical Gold is more than 50k. Now more and more people are buying Gold Coins (Purchase is under 50k for obvious reasons). Secondly, Thanks to the Relationship Manager of the Bank (Also read Beware of Relationship manager) for pitching gold coins as one of the best investment avenue. Gold Coins remind me of Mahabharata where Abhimanyu Continue Reading

Why do we need Health Insurance Policy?

Most unexpected expenditure in Human Life is Medical Expenditure. Recently i underwent Major Surgery & my tryst with Indian Medical System was not so good (Financially). Thankfully i had Health Insurance policy and i was saved from Huge Medical Bills. Indians mostly prefer Private Health Care Institution over Govt Hospitals despite the fact that Govt Medical Services are Free or provided at very nominal cost. Reason is very simple "Quality". I need not to write much on same, you may visit any Continue Reading

How to make a Will?

How to make a WILL? is one of the most common question among readers. In my previous post on Personal Finance, i explained the difference between Nomination and a Will. In this post, i will explain How to make a WILL? Entire Banking system work on an assumption that "All the depositor will not withdraw entire amount on a single day". Similarly we live on an assumption that "We are going to LIVE forever". Whenever i recommend my young readers to make a WILL. He / She fire reverse question that i Continue Reading

Difference between Nomination and Will

We Indians live in Future. We are more concerned to secure our future and future of our children. The savings rate in India is 35% which is much higher than world average. Gold & Property are 2 most popular investment modes. Whatever we earn during our life time, we assume and take it for granted that it will be passed on to our loved ones after our death. Unfortunately We are Wrong and Life is not that simple. It is very important to understand and ensure that after our death, our assets/funds Continue Reading

7 Tips To Select The Right Credit Card

Lot of my readers requested me to write a post on tips to select the right credit card. In my previous posts on Credit Card, i highlighted the benefits of using credit card and how can we use credit cards smartly to our advantage. In this post i will suggest 7 most important tips to select the right credit card. It is very important to select the right credit based on your requirement else rather giving benefit, it will eat into your savings from credit card. 1. Say No to Co-Branded Credit Cards: Over Continue Reading

CIBIL Credit Score – A Tool to Blackmail / Harass Borrowers

Credit Score is nothing but the creditworthiness of a person i.e. his/her ability to repay the loan/debt or we can say that higher the credit score, lower the risk of default by borrower & vice versa As i have mentioned many times in my previous posts that we Indians are very good in copying the alien concepts without understanding the core concept (No offence to anyone). India's CIBIL Transunion score is one such example, its a copy of American Credit Score concept i.e. FICO (Most widely Continue Reading

How to use Credit Cards Smartly?

In my previous post on Credit Cards Credit Card - SAVE while you SPEND , i highlighted, how a judicious credit card spending help in substantial saving over a period of time. In this post i will discuss, how we can increase our savings by juggling between 2 credit cards. Yeh Dil Maange More !!! I am using the HDFC bank credit card from last 8 years & not using any other credit card as of now. Based on my research, i found that i can afford 1 more credit card without impacting my CIBIL score. Continue Reading