Archive for June, 2008

How to Calculate the Loan Amortization Schedule (EMI, Principal, and Interest Components) for Your Personal Loan?

Download my Personal Loan EMI Calculator Excel workbook.
This workbook has six sheets, one each for a loan duration ranging from one year to six years.
Select the sheet corresponding to the loan duration you’re thinking of. For example: select the sheet labeled “3 Years” if you’re looking for a personal loan that you want to repay […]

Why I Chose Star Health and Allied Insurance for My Independent Health Insurance Policy?

Reader Pavan asks,

Can you put some information on various health insurance schemes and which one is relatively best?

To beging with, the idea for having an “independent health insurance cover” was conceived during a discussion I had with a close relative. This relative was also the one who told me about Star Health and Allied Insurance, […]

Tweets on 2008-06-26

Yesterday, I talked about why you should opt for independent health insurance even if your employer currently provides one. Below, I’ve linked to some great reading material on this topic — don’t forget to read the comments on each of these posts.

Should I Go Without Health Insurance For A Better Career Situation?
My Company Just Announced […]

Why You Should Opt For Independent Health Insurance Even If Your Employer Currently Provides One?

When I put up my definition of financial independence, I said

I should have independent health insurance for myself and for my dependents.

I thought I should clarify the term “independent.” In saying independent health insurance, I am referring to a health insurance cover that is not provided by my employer. Normally, employers provide group health insurance […]

Personal Finance Tip: How To Obtain “Know Your Client” (KYC) Compliance For Investing In Mutual Funds?

It’s a pretty straightforward process:

Download and fill this form (PDF format).
Attach a copy of your PAN card and your proof of residence.
Find the nearest submission center.
Submit and collect your Acknowledgment. Remember to carry the originals for verification.

That’s it. You’re all set to invest in Mutual Funds. I completed this procedure today in about an hour’s […]

The Yamaha R15 in India — How Inane Laws Can Screw a Gorgeous Bike?

I’ll let the picture do the talking.

Saree guards on an R15? Seriously. How much lamer can our vehicle laws get? I wonder how a saree guard would look when fitted on a Ducati 1098S.

What do you think?

Note: Check out this photo set of the R15 taken at a Bangalore showroom. A colleague and friend at […]

Tech Tip: How to Switch On or Enable Intel SpeedStep on Your Desktop PC?

Over the weekend, I was looking for a way to turn on Intel SpeedStep on my Core 2 Duo-based Desktop PC. Here’s how:

Enable Intel SpeedStep in your Desktop’s BIOS.
Set your Desktop’s power management setting to “Minimal Power Management.”

You can read more at this “SpeedStep How To” from Intel. My rig immediately dropped from 2.66 Ghz […]

Tweets on 2008-06-21

I hate Mutual Fund ads that harp on completely useless facts and then expect you to invest in them. The latest issue of Outlook Money carries an ad from Sundaram BNP Paribas who tout:

Blah blah blah…

Over a 28-year period, if you missed just the 10 best market days, the number of times your investment multiplied […]

Tweets on 2008-06-20

For reasons unknown, ING Vysya believes that I have a spouse who I should immediately, but positively before the end of the day, go with to their office on Cunningham Road and collect a 3-night vacation-in-Goa package. In case my hypothetical spouse and I decide not to vacation for 3-nights in Goa, I can get […]

Site Statistics — May 2008

It’s been a roller-coaster since January. May was particularly bad, but expected since I suffered a bout of the blogger’s block. March had seen the same results; I didn’t write much in March since I was settling in at my new job.

I want to hit the 20K page views per month mark by September. I’d […]

How Would You Structure Your Emergency Fund?

That you need a solid emergency fund is a given. There’s really no guarantee for anything today (be it your job, your health, prices, etc.) and therefore it makes sense to build a solid emergency fund for those tough times. I thought a fair bit on how I would like to structure my emergency fund. […]

What’s Your Credit Card Usage Policy?

In my financial independence checklist, I mentioned as the first point:

I should not have any credit card debt.

While this is true today, such was not always the case. A long time ago, I had an outstanding debt in six-figures on an American Express credit card and no bank balance to pay it off. The youthful […]

Lame Finance: How Does Combining Insurance and Investment Benefit You?

It’s understandable to have an insurance cover for a liability. For example: It makes perfect sense to have an insurance cover for your home loan. If you were to get into an unfortunate situation where you wouldn’t be able to repay the loan, the insurance company picks up the tab. The premium you pay for […]

Tweets on 2008-06-13

All that talk about financial independence and what do I just get as an SMS:

Congratulations! You have been pre-approved a Personal Loan from HSBC for Rs 322,000. Blah blah blah… Conditions apply.

WTF mate? Given this method of lead generation and subsequent lending, would you be brave enough to deposit your money with HSBC?

Why Should You Be Financially Independent?

Continuing yesterday’s thoughts on financial independence, I made a list of the whys - why should you be financially independent? What does being financially independent really translate to in your daily life?

Here’s what financial independence translates to me:

Having no loans or debts means I don’t have to worry every second of the day about late […]

What’s Your Definition of Financial Independence?

Of late, I’ve been thinking a fair bit about financial independence. The Simple Dollar summarizes it best in defining financial independence to include:

Freedom from financial reliance on loved ones
Freedom from financial reliance on creditors
Freedom from financial reliance on employment

That set me into preparing the checklist below which constitutes what I define to be financial independence, […]

Great Advertising: Amul Macho — Now, Is There A Law Banning Vulgar Orangutans?

Background: And When We Do Create Great Advertisements, The Government Bans Them.

So, how does a creative team overcome the Information & Broadcasting Ministry’s definition of vulgarity? By employing Orangutans…

Refreshingly great advertising in a world full of lame advertisements. The creative team behind this ad deserves an award!


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