money Archives – Page 2 of 3

A saving you cannot do without

April 30, 2016 by Vipin Khandelwal

I learnt the importance of water, the hard way.

I spent my childhood in Alwar, a city on the eastern border of Rajasthan.

In my early years there, water was always scarce.

The daily water supply was for just 1 to 2 hours in the morning and about half an hour in the evening, if at all.

During peak summers, the evening supply was discontinued and the morning one reduced to only 1 hour.

And then there were days when the municipality did not supply water at all. We used to wait for hours, staring the tap connected to the local pipeline, with not a drop of water in sight.

10 money mistakes you should avoid for sure

March 15, 2016 by Vipin Khandelwal

“What money mistakes have you made?”, my friend asked casually.

“Well, tons of them”, was my confession.

“Really.”

“Oh Yes!”

“Would you share them?”

“Of course.”

10 money mistakes that you should avoid

Here are the money mistakes that I made, some of my friends made but probably you shouldn’t.

Let money sit idle in a bank account earning 4%
Go swayed by greed and get rich quick schemes
Excessive use of credit card, revolving payments and interest piling up
Invest all savings into fixed deposits
Do not have goals and a plan
Put all money into stocks and trade
Make tax-saving your reason to invest
Do not make yourself aware about money
Try to time the market – when to invest, when to get out
Don’t know the status of your portfolio

Investment decisions – How to get them right?

January 8, 2016 by Vipin Khandelwal

Investment Decisions Case 1 – Insurance Premium

A few weeks ago Rahul, a friend of mine, called up an insurance company to buy a term plan. He wanted a cover of Rs. 3 crores for 40 years.

The agent heard him and said that for a cover of this amount Rahul would have to pay Rs. 36,068 every year as premium.

The agent then told him that he wanted to make another suggestion.

“Yes, tell me.” Rahul was keen to know.

“Sir, I will give you an option where you pay premium for only 10 years but you will get a cover for full 40 years.”

Rahul was excited. This seemed like a bargain.

When should you not buy a house?

September 5, 2018November 13, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

There is some fancy about owning a house. For ages, a house has been considered the ‘best investment’. A house of your own happens to be a dream for most people.

There’s something emotional about it too. Your parents, your relatives, everyone recommends to buy a house.

“Khud ka ek ghar to hona hi chahiye” (You should have one home of your own).

And then you see those full page advertisements giving away fancy deals, offers that promise nothing less than heaven. The banks too are willing to give you loans at ‘easy EMIs‘.

Combine all this, you are willing to stretch yourself to any extent to get your dream home.

Knock, knock!

“Can we take a break please and look at some important issues?”

Your Ultimate Money & Investing Checklist

October 28, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

Lately I have been receiving several questions on “where do I invest xyz amount?”. Typically, the sender wants to know the funds for starting an SIP or making a lump sum investment in mutual funds.

The issue is that this approach is half-baked. There is an attempt to jump straight to investments not understanding that there are prior steps to be completed before addressing the investment question.

Typically this results in random acts of investments (buying this and that) without knowing whether something is really a fit. Such investments can hold back your investment portfolio from delivering the right outcomes. Buying traditional insurance policies and choosing dividend option in an equity mutual fund are examples of such nonsense.

As far as money and investments are concerned, one needs to take a step by step approach. Personally, I would like to see the initial steps marked complete before the investment question is raised.

One tool that can be of great help to you is a checklist.

The 3 investment mistakes of my life

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 by Vipin Khandelwal

“Have you seen the movie Kai po che?” Vijay suddenly threw this question at me. We had just finished seeing another movie and were driving back home.

“Yes, I have. It was on TV a few weeks ago.” I replied casually.

“Did you like it?” he asked.

“Yes, I did. A lot.”

“Do you know it is based on Chetan Bhagat’s book 3 mistakes of my life?” he continued.

“Oh! I didn’t know that. I haven’t read the book, in fact, none of Chetan Bhagat’s books.” I said with a tone mixed of curiosity and surprise.

“Even I haven’t read it. I got the information from one of the reviews of the movie,” said the movie buff with a twinkle in his eyes. I smiled.

There was a short pause.

I got thinking. I turned to Vijay, who was driving, and asked, “What about the 3 investment mistakes of your life?”