Money For Investment

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...

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 pl...

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,...

Filing Income Tax returns is one of the activities about which there is lot of anxiety among lot of people .  We need to understand that while filing ITR is important and necessary , it is also important that we do so correctly . So what are the things that you should keep in mind while filing ITR. 1. File ITR within specified time - The first things that you must ensure is that you file the ITR within the specified period and not delay it. Any delay in filing ITR ( especially wehere you have to pay taxes ) may attract penalty from the Govt .  And  as such , sticking to the timeline is a great idea. 2. Disclose all incomes - The most common mistake tax payers make is failing to report all the sources of their income. One type of income that is forgotten by many individuals is interest earned on a bank savings account and on Fixed Deposits (FDs). This income is taxable according to your respective tax slab. Usually banks deduct 10 percent as Tax Deductible at Sou...

Its that time of the year again when all of us scramble to do tax planning. We have lot of options under Sec 80 C of the IT act to invest upto Rs 1,00,000 and save taxes on it. Some of the options under Sec 80C are as under:- 1. ELSS 2. Insurance Plans - ULIPs 3.PPF 4.PF and VPF( Voluntary Provident Fund) 5. Tax Saving FDs There are quite a few other options as well like deduction on account of paying tuition fees for kids, housing loan deductions etc. Out of the 5 options listed above, ELSS is my own favourite for following reasons:- 1. It has lock in period of just 3 years . This is lowest among all the options available. 2. It gives you equity exposure while PPF and FDs give only debt exposure. 3. Is more likely to give inflation adjusted positive returns . So , if you are looking to invest in ELSS, following are the top ELSS schemes that you may consider. Happy Investing!!

What are CTS  Compliant Cheques ? CTS is an acronym for Cheque Truncation System . CTS is a new clearing system proposed by RBI wherein the need for physical movement of cheques between drawer bank and drawee bank will be eliminated. In place of physical cheques , only the image of the cheque having relevant information like MICR code , date of presentation, bank details etc will be sent for clearing. The cheques used for such clearing are called CTS complaint cheques. What are the advantages of CTS based clearing system ?  Following are the advantages of CTS based clearing system: 1. Since the need for physical movement of cheques is removed, the whole process of clearing will be faster . One will be able to get credits ion their account faster than is possible today. 2. This will result in lower cost in clearing since banks will save money which is currently spent in physically moving cheques from one place to another during the clearing process. 3. Lower scop...

Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme ( RGESS) is  s a new equity tax advantage savings scheme for equity investors in India. The scheme got it's approval on September 21, 2012. It is exclusively for the first time retail investors. The investors who invest up to Rs.50,000 in 'Eligible Securities and MFs ' and have gross total annual income less than or equal to Rs.12 Lakhs will benefit from a new section 80CCG under the Income Tax Act, 1961 on 'Deduction in respect of investment under an equity savings scheme' has been introduced to give tax benefits. Example : Let us say, you invest Rs.50,000 under RGESS, the amount eligible for tax deduction from your income will be Rs.25,000. Alternatively, if you invest Rs.40,000 under RGESS, the amount eligible for tax deduction will be Rs.20,000. So you may save about Rs.2,575, Rs.5,150 for income tax slabs 10% and 20% respectively under this scheme. Who can invest in it ?  Individuals who have never invested...