Understanding Reverse Mortgages

Once a person has crossed his (her) earning years, but has not planned for the retirement years, or financial planning has gone awry due to heavy unforeseen expenses/losses, or inflation has taken away the purchasing power of savings etc., what does he (she) do to live the remaining years on this planet without seeking handouts… Continue Reading

Apartment Vs. Independent House – Make the Right Choice

Our cities have started to grow vertically on account of residential apartment complexes, shopping malls and multi-storeyed office space, technology parks etc., being built at a frenetic pace. A City like Mumbai, of course, was forced to grow vertically due to several factors, much before other metros in India had embraced this model of growth.… Continue Reading

An Introduction to Savings and Investments – Part 2

We discussed some of the traditional investment products in the first part of this article. In continuation of where we left off, we shall look at some other investment avenues. To start with, let us look at another popular plain vanilla product – Recurring Deposit (RD). This product is available with all the banks with… Continue Reading

Educational Loans: An Overview

One of the vital assets a country needs for economic prosperity is an educated population. Economic prosperity cannot be achieved by plentiful natural resources alone. (Of course, there are exceptions like the gulf region which has plentiful deposits of hydrocarbon, and most of the population is not highly educated. They manage with expatriate talent). While… Continue Reading

A Credit Card Primer

In this age of consumerism one is lost without a credit card. In developed countries, all retail lending by banks happens through credit cards. In India, banks have categorized retail lending into personal loans, loans for purchase of durable utility articles, vehicle loans, home improvement loans etc., and these are separate retail credit products distinct… Continue Reading

An Introduction to Savings and Investments – Part 1

Managing your money involves optimising your earnings by planning your spending and investing your surpluses wisely. You can manage your spending and savings by budgeting for it and sticking to your budget. A Rupee saved is a Rupee earned. Saving involves certain amount of investment savvy for asset allocation to get optimum returns. There is… Continue Reading

Inflation and You

Inflation can be defined as across the board sustained increase in prices of domestic as well as imported goods and services and fall in the purchasing power of the home currency. Inflation rate can be measured through a benchmark price index. It can be wholesale price index (WPI) or consumer price index (CPI). A price index… Continue Reading

Guaranteed Land Titles in India

A title is the foundation of property ownership. It is the owner’s right to possess, use and transfer property rights. Transferring ownership of an immovable property is different from transferring, say, ownership of a car. Real estate is permanent and can have many owners over the years, as well as rights to use the property.… Continue Reading

Factors to consider in buying vs. renting a home

There is an adage which goes something like this: “Foolish people build homes for wise men to live in”. In other words, it is wiser to rent a home rather than invest large sums of money in owning a home. It is true that after you invest, say around ₹40 to 50 lakhs all inclusive… Continue Reading

Avoid these common credit card mistakes

“Oh my God, take a look at my credit score. Its awful!” cried my cousin showing his credit score along with the credit information report (CIR). “I have a salaried IT job & a healthy bank balance, have always paid the credit card balance in full and have never taken any loans. And this is… Continue Reading