You get a call from your bank. The executive tells you, “Since you are a privileged customer, we are offering you an upgrade on your existing credit card.” Such statements invariably massage your ego. Who does not want to be recognized as a privileged customer? In addition, you are getting better benefits and a higher… Continue Reading
You are planning to go for higher education. You got the admit letter from your favorite college. Everything is going smoothly. There is just one dilemma, whether you should finance the education from own funds or take an education loan. In this post, let’s look at some of the aspects that can help you make… Continue Reading
I do not think there will ever be a crisp answer to this question. First, when the “right property” comes along, you will convince yourself to stretch your budget and go for a larger home loan. So, all the calculations and discussion on this topic may be futile to some extent. Well, nothing wrong in… Continue Reading
In our parents’ generation, many had to wait almost till retirement to own a house. Now, with rising salaries and easy availability of home loans, you do not need to wait till your late 40s and 50s to purchase a house. Many want to take it to the other extreme and want to purchase a… Continue Reading
Whenever I write about credit cards, I focus mostly on things that can go wrong when you use credit cards indiscriminately. You may end up spending more than you can afford to. The debt can suddenly pile up if you don’t pay bills on time as the interest rate charged is exorbitant. In this post,… Continue Reading
Being self-employed gives you the freedom to work on what you want and how you want. You don’t have to deal with a rude boss and frustrating office politics. You may get to choose your work timings. Till now, everything sounds good. However, self-employment can bring its own set of unique problems. There is no… Continue Reading
Credit cards are easily available these days. The banks keep chasing customers with attractive offers (or so they say) on their credit cards. Personally, I am not against credit cards. If you use your credit cards judiciously, you can save a lot of money. You get an interest free credit period of up to 52… Continue Reading
In one of the earlier posts on Retirement Planning, I had discussed the importance of starting early, portfolio diversification and a few psychological investments to get you on right financial track. By starting early, you get the power of compounding behind you and your small (involuntary) contributions can result in a significant corpus by the… Continue Reading
Most people start thinking about retirement when they breach 35 and get serious about retirement planning when they hit 40. Most of them don’t have much idea about how much they need for retirement. Most are fixated to a randomly large number say, 2 crores or 5 crores. When they don’t know how much they… Continue Reading
What has to happen before you think you are in a debt trap? Does default of your EMI payments or credit card payments count as a debt trap? Or is there a less critical situation which can also be termed a debt trap? What about when you do not make your credit card payments in… Continue Reading