The tax-saving season is round the corner. Are you still running around to finalize tax-saving investments? Well, there are so many ways to save tax. There is PPF, EPF, NPS, ELSS, LIC policies, ULIPs, 5-year FDs, life and health insurance plans, pension plans and many more. In this post, I do not intend to discuss… Continue Reading
You have taken a personal loan an year ago. Interest rates have moved down since and you can get a personal at a cheaper rate. Lower interest rate means lower EMI. Without any friction, you would move to the lower interest rate right away. i.e., take the new loan at a low rate and use… Continue Reading
The Reserve Bank of India has issued master directions for Digital Payment Security Controls in its circular dated Feb 18, 2021. Among other things, the intent is to provide greater security to customers in digital transactions (internet, mobile banking, card transactions etc). The rules come into force in July 2021. The directions apply to the… Continue Reading
You just got your annual bonus. You want to decide between whether to use the bonus to prepay the home loan. Or put this money away in a bank fixed deposit or any other investment. The approach is simple. If the post-tax cost of your loan is HIGHER than the post-tax return from the supposed… Continue Reading
Loan interest rates have been going down over the past 18 months. It is also evident in the examples that we use for various illustrations in our posts. Earlier, we used 9-10% p.a. for long term loans. Now, we use 7-8% p.a. in the illustrations. If you use Amazon or Flipkart, you would have noticed… Continue Reading
I am a bit paranoid about using credit cards online. Therefore, I prefer to use wallets (such as PayTM) or UPI on new sites or the sites I do not trust much. A problem with this approach is that you cannot use wallets or UPI on international websites. In addition, there are a few minor… Continue Reading
It is a new year. And A new year brings new resolutions. Let us look at some of the credit resolutions for 2021 you can consider. # 1 Reduce Debt This applies to those who are currently struggling with credit burden. There are only two ways to reduce credit burden. Reduce the quantum of debt (Possible… Continue Reading
I spoke to a client a few days ago. She told me that she ended up spending over 5 lacs in the recent Diwali season towards all kinds of purchases including gifts. A few insurance premium payments also came due in the month of November. While she had an idea that she will run a… Continue Reading
How much debt do you have? How do you answer this question? A) Rs 50 lacs for 15 years OR B) EMI of Rs 47,782 per month for 15 years? Both have the same meaning. If you track your loan amount properly, you will answer in terms of the outstanding principal amount. However, when it… Continue Reading
Many of us are worried about fraudulent transactions on our credit card or debit cards. And why not? We keep hearing or reading about new and innovative ways of perpetrating card and UPI frauds on unsuspecting account holders. While the fraudsters are usually a step ahead of us and the regulations, a little bit of… Continue Reading