The keyword here is “plan”. We don’t focus on instances when your big purchases are forced, say your mobile phone or laptop conks off suddenly. Or your bike or car is suddenly showing problems and the cost of repair is too high and not justified. There is not much you can do about such instances.… Continue Reading
Are you ready to buy your first house? Some are never ready. Some think they will never be ready. Some want to buy after working for a few years. And some are eager to act with their first salary. Buying a house is a big life decision. Emotional security, your past, upbringing, peer pressure, social… Continue Reading
EMIs make it easy and convenient to buy online. But even with EMIs, you have multiple options. You can opt for Instant EMIs (also called Merchant EMI) directly on the merchant website. Or you can pay the full amount upfront and later ask your bank to convert the purchase amount to EMIs. Which option is… Continue Reading
You get tax-benefits on repayment of many types of loans. For home loans, we get tax benefit principal repayment under Section 80C and for interest payment under Section 24. If you have taken an education loan, you get tax benefit for interest payment under Section 80E of the Income Tax Act. Do you get any… Continue Reading
Diwali is here. The festival of lights. Time for a vacation, family get-togethers, sweets, and bright crackers and fireworks. This is also a good time (just like any other day on the calendar) to review and throw light on shortcomings in your financial planning. To see if you have got your personal finance basics covered.… Continue Reading
We plan for regular monthly expenses. We call it budgeting. We plan for long term goals through a diversified asset allocation portfolio. However, we tend NOT to plan properly for non-monthly but periodic expenses. Common examples are: Insurance premiums Travel and Vacations Birthdays and Anniversaries Vehicle maintenance Gadget purchases Annual Subscriptions We know that these… Continue Reading
A car is an expensive purchase, and many families take a car loan to purchase the car. In this post, I discuss aspects that you must keep in mind while taking a car loan. #1 Processing Fee Car loans are short to medium term loans. Usually, 3 to 5 years. Hence, the impact of processing… Continue Reading
The simplest way to assess the affordability of the loan is to look at the EMI. Lower the EMI, the more affordable the loan is. Because that’s the hard cash you must pay every month. The EMI depends on the loan amount, the loan tenure, and the interest rate. And you can tweak around these… Continue Reading
You do not pay any interest during the interest-free period on the credit card. But the bank cannot afford to lend you money for free. The bank must be compensated — two major ways and a few minor ways. High Interest on Unpaid Amount First, when you do not pay your bill on time, the… Continue Reading
An interest rate hike hurts all borrowers. For the same service (loan), you must pay more every month. Or pay the same amount but for a longer period. Neither is a desirable outcome for a borrower. And yes, the rate hikes hurt the borrower running a tight budget a bit more. In such cases, the… Continue Reading