Dhan ki baat #3 – The milling stone

Dhan ki baat - milling stone

US Fed has hiked interest rates
Modi has won UP elections with a thumping majority
RBI is cautionary in tone with respect to inflation and rate cuts

With all these events, how do you see the markets unfold till 2019? How and where should I invest if I have a lump sum for the next 2 years?

FYI, I am regular investor and have investments in Direct equity and MF (large, mid, balanced).

This is a question from an investor.

Dear Investor

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Can women divorce the money?

CAN WOMEN DIVORCE THE MONEY?

Women and equality is a hotly debated topic. I am not sure how much equality is actually put into practice. Based on my interactions, very little. There is progress though.

One aspect of a woman’s life that has glaring inequality is in the management of money and investments.

I know you are not hearing it for the first time or even for the last time. Women continue to avoid matters of money and investments like the plague.

Let me share some stories and suggestions. The stories first.

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10 questions for your investment portfolio

10 questions to reflect on your investment portfolio

You are on this forum to learn more about money, investments and behaviour.

I am sure you have done a great job so far. You have made investment decisions based on your reading and understanding. And most of them have been ‘so far, so good’.

However, you would not mind an opportunity to learn more, right? Great!

It will be important to note here that the process of learning is powered by practice and reflection.

While practice is the art of perfecting, it is reflection which provides for insights through serious evaluation of the practice and principles.

Today, I intend to take you down the path of ‘reflection‘.

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I got my Free Credit Score & Report from CIBIL. Have you?

A credit score and report have come to play an important role in our financial lives. Financial institutions increasingly rely on your credit score to provide loans. A bad credit score number can shatter your plans for that dream home.

Remember, a good credit score is 750+ (out of 900). 

Hence it is important to look at your credit report on a regular basis and ensure that it reflects the correct picture. While you can always buy a report from one of the credit bureaus, you can now get it for FREE too.

In 2016, RBI through a notification had asked the credit bureaus to issue one credit score and report to every user on request. This one credit report can be accessed once a calendar year and comes without any cost, that is, FREE.

Finally, after some back and forth, the credit bureaus have started to provide one free credit score and report every year.

I too accessed my Credit Score and Report from CIBIL. There are other players too including Equifax and Experian, however, I feel CIBIL has the most comprehensive records of credit data.

You can also access your free report from other financial websites such as Bankbazaar but they ask you a ton of data which they are most likely storing with them too. Not too comfortable with that.

So, I used CIBIL to get my free credit score and report.

Here’s a step-by-step on how to access your Free Credit Report and Score from CIBIL.

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Dhan ki baat #2 – Banker at the gates

BANKER AT THE GATES

Welcome to the second edition of Dhan Ki Baat. In the previous edition, I had written about ‘making money even when you are sleeping’.

It is a very tantalising idea and in times to come, we will explore it further.

In this second edition, I want to cover the other side and that is – ‘losing money even when you are sleeping‘.

Sounds scary. It actually is. Protecting your money from undue influence is equally important.

There are several entities out there to rob you of your money in a very sophisticated, legal way.

You deal with them on a day to day basis and in some cases trust them blindly.

The one at the forefront of this robbing act is your bank. Once you enter in bank’s official records, it is hard to come out and it is even harder to resist their advances.

It reminds of the famous Eagles song – Hotel California.

The famous line from the song –  “You can check-in any time of the year, but you can never leave.”

The song is one of my favourites but for different reasons.

Now, let me recount a brief story to you.  

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