Vipin Khandelwal

Vipin is a SEBI Registered Investment Adviser, entrepreneur and is currently building Unovest. He is involved in enabling individuals to lead empowered lives by providing learning and actionable ideas on financial planning, investments and mutual funds.

Central KYC – I updated my KYC, completely online in just 10 minutes

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Central KYC - how to update online

One of the biggest pain points in mutual fund investing has been the KYC or Know your Customer. Most likely you have gone through it. I have certainly.

From just a plain application in a physical to a mandatory In Person Verification or IPV. Then came along, in 2015, FATCA and Additional KYC details.

The worst is you need a KYC with every new service provider including a bank, mutual fund, insurance company, etc. I always wondered why can’t the system use just one KYC. This time probably the policy makers heard it and decided to make financial lives easier.

So, a new initiative called the Central KYC Registry was started in July/August 2016. Now, all KYCs across financial services have to sit in this Central KYC Registry. 

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Are you still paying a high interest rate on your home loan?

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Interest rates on home loan, MCLR

As you would know, starting April 1, 2016, banks now use a new method of calculating the interest rates to lend. This new method is referred to as MCLR or Marginal Cost based Lending Rate.

How does it work?

So, now banks have a menu of interest rates based on the period of loan you want to opt for.

These periods are:

  • 3 months
  • 6 months
  • 1 year
  • 2 years

and so and so forth.

For every such period the bank will declare an MCLR, a so called base rate.

The bank will then add a spread or its margin to that MCLR and offer you a loan at that rate.

Interest Rate = MCLR + Spread / Margin

So for example, if the 1 year MCLR of SBI is 9.15%, it will add its spread / margin of 0.25% and offer you a home loan at 9.40%.

Get it!

Yeah, but how is that better than what I already have?

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Capital Gains Tax – A fact check

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capital gains tax saving guide investments - save taxes with mutual funds elss

Long Term capital gains tax is in the news. Apparently, there were some rumours which possibly also led the markets downhill.

For those not so familiar with the subject, here’s a quick primer and update on capital gains tax. 

Let’s first understand what is a capital gain.

A capital gain is a realised profit on sale of assets such as land, building, precious metals (gold), stocks, mutual funds, etc. Note, the gain has to be realised after sale of asset.

As per the current status of tax laws in India, this is how capital gains tax is charged.

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Christmas Surprise from Santa!

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Santa gave me a gift - Seeking Wisdom

It was Christmas eve and I was wandering in a mall. I saw guys at various outlets dressed as Santa.

It was fun. Memories from the past came rolling back. In earlier years of my life, as Christmas approached, I used to imagine what would Santa bring to me.

The first time Santa (yes, a fake one) approached me was in one of my jobs, where the most obese guy in office was made to wear the dress and jump around, giving away candies to everyone.

Well, the real Santa never came. And then I grew up to know the reality.

I came back home from the mall and sat down to watch a movie.

At around midnight, the doorbell rang. I was surprised who could it be at that hour.

I opened the door reluctantly. I couldn’t believe what I saw. Then I thought someone was pulling a fast one on me. I too decided to have fun.

“Hey! Santa is here. What have you got for me?”

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Health Insurance Premium – Tax deductions you should not miss

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HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUM

Wealth is lost, nothing is lost

Health is lost, something is lost

Well, times have changed. Today, a bill from a hospital can leave a large hole in your pocket.

If you talk to advisers and financial planners, their primary focus is to build your protection or insurance portfolio even before they start talking about your investments. The reason is simple.

You see, it may take you years to build adequate wealth. But an insurance cover can easily help you tide any large medical emergency requirements.

The better news for you is that even the tax department guys support your purchase of an insurance cover. They do it by providing exemptions on life and health insurance premium.

Under section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961, mediclaim / health insurance premium that you pay is exempt from income tax. In short, you don’t have to pay tax on income used for buying health insurance.

Here is how it works.

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