Bank FDs or Liquid, Ultra Short funds plus MF taxation

Alternative to a Bank FD- ultra short term, liquid

There are 3 posts that appeared on Unovest Blog and unless you have signed up to receive the posts in your inbox, you are likely to have missed reading them. What is the investment alternative to Bank FDs? Alternative to Bank FDs has been one of the hottest searches by investors. Low returns plus the taxation doesn’t make it attractive … Read more

Why am I not investing in NPS?

NPS - why i will not invest in national pension scheme

Well, as you would know, under section 80CCD, an additional Rs. 50,000 of investments in National Pension Scheme or NPS can be claimed for tax deduction. Basically, you do not have to pay tax on investment upto Rs. 50,000 in NPS.

So, my friends have been calling me asking “Should I invest in NPS? There is an additional tax saving on Rs. 50,000 of investment.”

My simple answer to them is “I would not invest in NPS“, to which I receive surprised uhhs, ahhs and a variety of other expressions. In some cases, they strongly put forth their arguments as to why I am wrong.

It is amazing that tax savings still continue to drive our investment decisions. In this case too, the die hard fans of NPS are actually not the fans of NPS, but merely hunters of more tax benefit. 

The ‘bhakts’ of this benefit leave no stone unturned to make you believe that this is the best reason that one should invest in a high lock-in product like NPS.

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Surrender Value Taxation – Must know insurance facts

surrender value taxation

I am increasingly convinced that insurance (specially the investment variety) is a super complex product. There are so many ifs and buts attached to the product. It could have been otherwise so simple to understand and buy.

With the current product structure, it is just not possible for a layperson to understand and evaluate the product and make an informed decision. And on top of it, there are tax laws.

Well, I guess there is no point complaining. We will have to learn to navigate through the jungle.

Recently, I received the following query from a reader. It is about surrender value taxation of a life insurance policy. 

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