Here’s an unusual financial planning conversation I heard from a colleague at lunch today — Seems my colleague wanted to get a borewell dug at their residence. But when the contractor visited her premises for a site evaluation it was discovered that the compound wall of the house had to be torn down in order […]
Here’s a question that I often receive — Hi. I’ve recently started my career at a software firm. I earn Rs XX,000 per month. Being new to personal finance, I’m not aware of investment options for beginners. Could you please guide me towards suitable investment options? Whenever I see such a question or an equivalent […]
I followed-up with reader T S Ashok, the winner of the December book giveaway for the Savings and Investment Yearbook 2012 by Value Research what his key takeaways from the book were. Here’s Ashok’s response in an easy to read Q & A format — Q: What are your Top-5 key takeaways from the Savings […]
Some time last year, I decided to ditch my BSNL Broadband Connection in favor of one from Airtel. I wrote a detailed DIY post on how to surrender and close your BSNL broadband connection. Here are some interesting statistics on how many readers have downloaded my “connection surrender request letter” template — Data as on […]
A few days back, I happened to see an ad for this Monthly Income Plan from MetLife, a life insurance company. In this plan, you’re supposed to pay the premiums for about 10-years and then post these 10-years of paying premiums you’re guaranteed a fixed monthly income for the next 15-years. As it always happens, […]
I followed-up with reader Rakesh, one of the winners of the Jago Investor — Change Your Relationship With Money book giveaway in March, what his key takeaways from the book were. Here’s Rakesh’s response in an easy to read Q & A format – [There were actually two winners in March. I’m still bugging the […]
[Sorry if this topic seems a bit advanced and haywire in its presentation but I felt it’d be good to share with you.] I was reading-up on and strategizing the other day about the possibility of including high dividend yield stocks as one component of my early retirement portfolio. The general line of thought in […]
I’ve simply lost track of the number of horror stories I’ve heard about totally junk life insurance being forcibly dumped on your head by relatives/friends-cum-insurance-agents. Everyone out there seems to have bought a life insurance policy from either a relative, or a friend, or a friend of a relative, or a relative of a friend, […]
So, here’s some of the “expert” unactionable advise I’ve read of late (in a personal finance magazine) — Markets are receding, but it’s not the time to go bottom fishing. There will be enough opportunities and some! Which opportunities? When? How much? Are you willing to place a bet on your own advice? And I […]
I’ve no idea when I signed-up for earning them, but my debit card is somehow linked to earning Payback-points. Out of the blue, one fine morning, I saw an email that said I had 6,800+ points linked to my Payback-account. Wow! I don’t know for how long the points had accumulated but I must have […]
The recent Sodexo Meal Coupon fiasco seems to be causing a whole bunch of stress and heartburn to employees everywhere. Read through this FAQ issued by D’s office to see the kind of thought’s running through employees’ minds — Why are you changing the existing agreement? Why can’t we continue with the same? The Law […]
Perhaps the most often asked question/comment that I get is — “Why don’t you switch over to a more frugal car?” Here’s their case. I’ve driven the Swift 60,000+ kilometers. The fuel efficiency that I’ve always got is 10 kilometers per liter (the rev line was breached on day one but because of that the […]
Given all that official travel way back in January, I completely forgot to announce the winner of the January Book Giveaway. I was taking stock of all previous book giveaways only to discover that the January one was amiss. So here it is — The winner of the Stock Market Book by Dalal Street Investment […]