Don’t forget this — ever.
With the number of services being brought under the service tax net increasing continually, it’s good to keep the applicable service tax charges in mind when perusing a financial product or service offer.
For example:
Though your monthly cellular rental might be quoted as Rs 249, the actual rental is Rs 249 + 12.36% service tax = Rs 279.78. In general, the higher the bill, the higher the service tax charges.
Given human psychology, there’s good incentive for service providers to hide the service tax charges within fine print. It’s therefore prudent on your part to ask what the service charges are if you don’t find them published.
Tip Tuesdays is my new initiative to share practical personal finance tips — every Tuesday. I’d be delighted if you could share a tip or two from your own experiences. Drop a comment or use this form to submit your tip. And, as always, do spread the word if you find this useful.
Further reading:
- Tip Tuesdays: Before You Deposit a Check, Don’t Forget to Note Down Its Details
- Tip Tuesdays: Did You Know that Your Bank Should Compulsorily Tell You — in Writing — Why Your Loan/Credit Card Application was Rejected?
- Tip Tuesdays: When a Job Disappears, So Does the Health Insurance
- Tip Tuesdays: How to Close an HSBC Power Vantage Savings Account?
- Tip Tuesdays: Avoid the “We Can Help You Mimic Warren Buffett’s Style of Investing” Trap
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Vinaya,
Great to see the reviews that you keep posting on Insurance products. I too have become sick and tired of the constant flow of tell-calls from these companies. For a long time I am thinking (too lazy to put in the effort) about the merits/ demerits of a plain vanilla term insurance plan. Is there a place where all such plans can be compared and purchased online ?
Hope this gives you juice for a post
-Ashutosh
Hi Vianaya,
Till recently, I use to keep all my earned money in the normal savings account in the bank. I never bothered to check what is the interest rate I am getting on the money I have in my bank. Later while talking to a friend, I found that it is almost nothing.. He suggested me to move my money into some Fixed Deposits (which I can do directly from online) and while I was exploring that I found that in a year I almost missed making at least Rs25K out of interest!!. Financial literacy is what all it comes to. Still I am not clear with other options I may have. I hope you can make us more aware of such small day-today things we can do to save our own money.
-Pavan
cheers mate too good….thx for the form……im cancelling mine now……….cheers again….
Stephenson V.
Thank u Mamu.
an ULIP agent is bugging my life by constantly calling me all the time……i so very much regret that i said yes to him coming and giving a free financial planning advice.
what do u think a single 30 year old female should invest in before getting married in 4 years time.? ppf ?rbi bonds ?elss. i already have fixed deposits