Money For Investment

What is an HUF?   Down the ages, the Hindu community has largely believed in the concept of joint families, joint income and joint property that is shared and enjoyed by all the members of the family. This concept is now recognized as a legal expression in the form of the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)– a rather efficient tax-planning tool under the Income Tax Act.   How do you form HUF?  As the name suggests, an HUF is a family of Hindus. However, under the tax laws, even Jain and Sikh families can set up HUFs. Typically, an HUF will consist of a person who have lineally descended from a common ancestor, and includes their wives and unmarried daughters. Do note: in Maharashtra, even married daughters are recognised as HUF members.   While the senior most member is called the karta (manager), the male members are known as coparceners, and the females are referred to as members. In the ordinary sense, an HUF should consist of at least two male members. Howev...

For those who travel abroad frequently either due to personal or professional reason have to carry foreign exchange with them for using it during their stay outside the country. Most of the people carry currency notes with them which is fraught with various risks. But if you want to avoid the risk of travelling while carrying currency notes , you may seriously consider taking forex cards given by the banks for this purpose.   What is Forex Card?  Forex card is a plastic based card like a debit card or credit card, which is prepaid in nature. The person taking the card can get the desired amount in the desired currency loaded on the card which can be subsequently utilised while on tour. The person needs to approach the bank and pay in Indian rupees for the equivalent amount in foreign currency which needs to be loaded on the card. Who issues Forex Card?  Most of the to league banks in India do offer forex cards to their customers. One can approach bank like ICICI, SBI,...

For those of us who have Demat Accounts and want to change from one Demat account to another for any reason will have to first get the holdings transferred to the new Demat Account before the account can be closed and you can fully migrate to the new account. So, if you are wondering how can you get the share holdings transferred from your current Demat account to the new one, then read on. 1.Transfer from one Demat Act to another Demat Act of the sole owner :- In case , the transfer of shares is from one Demat account to another Demat account held by the same person in his sole capacity, then he/she needs to fill delivery instruction slip giving the details of the shares to be transferred and the same shall be submitted with the depository. These delivery instruction slips are available with the depository and are like cheque leaves which we use to tranfer money from our account. 2.Transfer from Joint Demat Account :- In this case too, the delivery instruction slip will have to fil...

Till not very long ago, gold or gold jewellery was considered to be most sacred of family possessions in India, and a family would do its all to avoid selling it or  mortgaging gold for taking a loan on it. But, slowly but steadily things are indeed changing in India with many gold loan companies setting up shop and driving home the point that there is nothing wrong in taking loan over gold. One of the gold loan Finance company asks" Jab Ghar me pada hai sona toh phir kyun hai rona?". This has resulted in huge off take in gold loan sales in the country . But does it make sense for you? Do you really understand what it is ? How can you take benefit from it ? Lets try and understand each of these in the following paragraphs. GOLD LOAN - What is it? Gold Loan is a loan given against the security of the gold bar/coin or jewellery . The loan seeker needs to mortgage his/her gold with the bank/NBFCs against which they get loans upto 75% to 95% of the gold v...

Its not uncommon to find people among us who have suffered at the hands of the mediclaim insurers during claim settlement. There are numerous instances where claim is rejected by the health insurance company on technical/material grounds.  This defeats the basis purpose of getting help when needed. So, what can you do to avoid this? Try these steps :-  1. Check Fine Print for Expense Coverage - The mediclaim polices generally list down the limit of expenditure that is allowed to reimbursed under room rent/ambulance hire charges etc. This  limit varies between policies of various companies and hence before you get yourself admitted to any hospital , it is always advisable to check the expense limit allowed as per your mediclaim .Any extra expenditure done on account of thee heads is generally borne by the patient himself/herself.   2. Check for exclusion in Diseases - You must also check the number and nature of diseases covered under your mediclaim before you buy...

After stupendous success of mobile number portability introduced by TRAI , IRDA too has taken a cue and introduced health insurance portability in India from 1st October 2011. This is a huge step in the right direction considering there was lot of discontentment among the consumers about the manner in which they were being treated by their health insurers. Some of the common grouses were: 1. The health insurance companies mandated on a waiting period for covering pre existing diseases to each and every customer once he comes in their fold, irrespective of whether or not the person had any other policy where he had served out the waiting period. So in effect , every time you changed the company , you would have had to start the waiting period all over again. 2. The insurers generally were resorting to increasing the renewal premium by a steep margin for those policyholders who have had a claim in the year. This was mostly done to discourage the policyholders from renewing the policy wi...

Tax saving FDs offered by banks in India are good option for someone looking to save tax under Sec 80 C without taking any risk that is inherent in equity exposure that ELSS offers. So, if you are one of those conservative investors who want to save tax via FDs , then it would be pertinent to know which banks are offering you the best deal currently.  Following are the 5 best Tax saving FDs that are being currently on offer ( as on Sept 11).  Rank   Bank                                Rate On Int.(p.a.)  Rs 10000 will grow   1.   Tamilnad Mercantile Bank    10%                             Rs16386.  2.    City Union Bank                   9.75%           ...

There have been times , when we have been faced with situation of transferring money from bank account to another account without visiting bank branch. One can do cash transactions via netbanking if one doesnt want to visit the branch or the branch timings are over. But what if we in a place where internet isnt available and we need to transfer cash immediately . Relax, we have a solution now. Resereve Bank Of India has now allowed cash transaction upto Rs 50000 from mobile phones . To do so , we need to follow the following steps:- 1. Register with the bank for interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS). 2. Download the application on the mobile phone. 3. Log in to the application 4. Select bank account from which funds are to be transferred. 5. Select mobile money transfer service. 6. Enter 10 digit mobile number, 7 digit MMID and desired amount to be transferred. 7. Confirm all the details. 8. Done. You will recieve sms confirming the same. PROS OF THE FACILITY 1. Another p...

"The desire for gold is the most universal and deeply rooted commercial instinct of the human race." Gerald M. Loeb The above mentioned adage perfectly sums up the love investors have showered on the precious metal since times immemorial. This metal has retained its numero uno pisition as the "Metal of choice" over centuries. So what really makes this metal so desirable inspite of its very limited medicinal or industrial usage? Following are just the few of many reasons responsible for the same : 1. Its widespread use in Jewellery - It has always been used a metal of choice when it comes to Jewellery. In India, for instance, most of the gold demand is on account on Jewellery .This demand for gold jewellery has made India one of the leading countries as far as gold consumption is concerned. 2. It was used as Currency - Gold emerged as a major currency very early during human civilization where kings across continents used gold coins as currency in their respe...

We all use our cheque leaves while making payments to various parties/paying bills etc , but, have we ever wondered what all can go wrong with these cheque leaves? There have been numerous cases of fraud , where the modus operandi has been misuse of the cheque leaf. Hence it is imperative to know ,first, what all can go wrong and then what safeguards to take with your cheque leaves. What Can Go Wrong? 1. Cheque can be misused - Lot of fraudsters tamper with the cheque which one writes by adding a name of account number , making alteration, adding digits etc and then countersigning on it. This way they loot the unsuspecting guy , his hard earned money. 2. Cheque can be assigned - Since cheques are negotiable instruments , it can be assigned from one person to another and as such , one can simply cut the beneficiary name and assign the cheque in ones own name and then bank it with his own banker. This was he wont have to forge the drawers signature. He simply will have to sign for the...

Well like every year , this year too 28th Feb 11 was one of the most awaited days of the year. Everybody was waiting to see what our beloved FM dishes out to common taxpayers via his budget for FY11-12. The budget overall hasn't done much to enthuse common man. There are no major tax breaks for majority of the junta . But, he has done few things which we need to take note of :- 1. Increased tax exemption limit for male to Rs 1.8 Lakhs : The tax exemption limit has been increased by Rs 20000 from 1.6 Lacs last year to 1.8 Lacs this year. This is only for males as the tax exemption limit for female taxpayers is already at 1.9 lacs. The additional relief will save 2000 rupees for everyone who falls in ta bracket. Small relief, but, relief nonetheless. 2. No need to file ITR for salaried people: Pranab Da has also mandated that those salaried people whose annual income is less than Rs 5 lacs/annum need not file ITR separately. The same will be done by their company. They can decalrae...

January to March is that time of the year when most of us are rushing towards making our mandatory"tax saving investments". While we are all well versed with tax saving options available to us under section 80CC, but, this financial year government has offered us another option where we can invest in infrastructure bonds and save taxes. Here, an investor can invest upto maximum of Rs 20000 which can be claimed as deduction from his taxable income. This is over and above RS 1 lac that you can save under Sec 80 C. SO question to ask is should you and I invest in it? Lets first examine the pros of this option 1. Additional tax saving of Rs 6600 if you are under 30% tax bracket. Other than the above mentioned benefit , there isn't any other major benefit associated with investing in these bonds. Now , lets look at cons too 1. High lock in period - Most of these bonds are of 10 year tenure where minimum lockin is of 5 years and then these bonds will be listed on exchanges wh...