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How to invest Business Cash ?

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One of the dilemmas facing businessmen all over the world is , how do I make the best use of the cash being generated by my business ? Should I reinvest it in the business or is there any other use of the same where I can get better returns? So, to answer this question, we must first analyse following ? 1. What is the return expected from your business? Is it less than what you would get from investing in Bank FD or Mutual funds? 2. How much risk appetite you have with this surplus cash ? If your risk appetite is less then you may invest the money in FD with banks. If you can take little bit of volatility , then invest in Mutual funds. If you have stomach for equity markets, then you would be better off investing in direct equities and let the market work its magic on your surplus cash. 3. Whether you would need money in near future to run your business? If you will need this cash in near future , then simply go for FDs which can be liquidated anytime, else look for suitable inve

How to invest in "Cheap" Mutual Funds ?

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Investing is all about buying cheap and selling for a profit and thus we all are always on the lookout for the next big investing opportunity where we can buy cheap and sell for a premium. Is this concept possible when it comes to Mutual Funds ? Can we buy cheap mutual funds ? or better are there any cheap mutual funds? What are CHEAP Mutual Funds : Lot of people consider mutual funds with Low NAV as being cheap mutual funds to invest , which is a completely wrong notion since NAV being high or low has no bearing on the returns given by the fund. For example , a fund with low NAV may give lower returns than fund with higher NAV is the underlying stocks of the second fund do better. Also low NAV may be indicative of poor past performance . Thus simply investing in mutual funds with LOW NAV may not be same as investing CHEAP for selling for a PREMIUM. Understand this difference. So, what should you do if you are looking to invest CHEAP and sell for a PREMIUM? If you are from United
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Should you buy Gold from Banks ??

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The dream run up in Gold prices in last few years has enticed all and sundry as an attractive investment asset class. It has not only proved to be an excellent hedge against inflation a, reputation it holds with elan since time immemorial, but also, has delivered returns in excess of debt, equity etc as an asset class. Thus , it has emerged as the Best Investment Option in last few years. However, skeptics believe that gold has had its share of dream run and may not be possible for investors who are entering into now, to expect the same kind returns in future . But, if you are on of those who believe that best years of gold as an asset class is still ahead of us and want to invest in physical gold then you must be pondering where should you buy the gold from? These days we have seen most of the banks aggressively positioning them as place where one can buy physical gold bars/coins etc. The other option is offcourse our old Jeweller , both unorganized and large organised players

Does Pension Plans make sense ? - Should you invest in Pension Plans?

Recently IRDA has allowed Insurance companies in India to launch Pension plans after a gap of over 2 years . Earlier, the insurance companies did have pension plans in the market, but , the regulator viz IRDA had asked them to withdraw all such plans and as such we had a situation where there were no "Pension" plans available in India for some time. However, it has been allowed again . While doing so IRDA has mandated few changes in the product design/features which are aimed at safeguarding the investors interest like offering minimum guaranteed returns etc.   So , as a person wanting to secure your post retirement years, should you be investing in them? The short answer to this question is NO . Let me elaborate on this.   1. High charges :   Most of Pension Plans offered by Life Insurance companies today, have very high cost structure. Most of the Products have charges to the tune of 4-5% of the overall yearly premium/contribution that you make in the plan. This is ag

Retired Recently? -Best investment option for Retired Person

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Best investment option for Retired Person There are broadly 2 kinds of retirees viz 1. Those who draw pension from their employers 2. Those who dont have any pension from Employers . Now lets look at how each one of them should approach their investments for post retirement phase. 1. Retired Persons having Pension from Employers  Since they already have some kind of pension income coming in they are better placed and have less daunting task to plan for this phase of their life.  They need to do following things : 1. Buy a comprehensive Health Insurance Plan - There are lot of general insurance companies in India who are offering health covers upto 65-70 years . There are few options from Life Insurance Companies where one can have the health plan before 70 years and then can continue to renew it for their lifetime. Example is Health Assure Plan for HDFC Life. It is an absolute must that you cover yourself adequately against any untoward health shocks at this stage, since on