Ramesh is 45 years old. He has read enough about importance of purchasing an adequate life cover. Till now, he has relied on traditional life insurance plans for life insurance. He had never given any serious thought to purchasing life insurance. Even these traditional life insurance plans are more a result of hectic tax-planning than… 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
The latest Union Budget is a mixed bag for many investors. Though the budget had many sops for the borrowers & middle class folks, there were a few setbacks too. Let’s look at ten most important takeaways from the latest budget. 1. Tax Relief for First Time Home Buyers First time home buyers have been… Continue Reading
Most of us are quite clear about the tax incentives associated with home loans. You get tax benefits up to Rs 1.5 lacs for principal repayment under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. Additionally, you get deduction of up to Rs 2 lacs per financial year for interest payment on home loans. Must Read:… Continue Reading
State Bank of India has recently come out with a home loan product, SBI FlexiPay Home Loan scheme. As with all the SBI home loan products, it has created a lot of buzz among the prospective borrowers. In this post, I will discuss the important features of this scheme and what makes it different from… Continue Reading
With real estate prices at elevated levels, purchase of a dream house is not easy anymore. Higher residential real estate prices lead to requirement for higher value loans too. If the bank or housing finance company feels that your salary is not enough to service the loan comfortably, it can even decline your loan application.… 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
The current market value of my flat in Pune is close to Rs 65 lacs. I purchased it for 17 lacs in the year 2005. Until recently, I used to feel really proud about my investment decision. It was something that I boasted about to all and sundry. Rightfully so, as my investment had multiplied… Continue Reading
In our previous article on the Rent Vs Buy, we had discussed about the financial factors that impact the home buying decision. In this article we will cover some of the non-financial factors that influence this decision. Once you’ve done your calculations and arrived at the conclusion that financially you are in a position to… Continue Reading
One of my friends had made up her mind to buy a house. She went about the whole thing in a systematic way. Since she was working with an MNC and earning well, getting a pre-approved home loan sanctioned from her bank was fairly simple. After the pre-approval she identified a house, the purchase price… Continue Reading