Debuntures DeMystified

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 5/17/2013 6:50:00 AM

'The Term Debentures is used very frequently in the Indian Markets and not many of us are aware of what they are or how they work. The idea of this article is to help us learn more about these debt instruments. What is a Debenture? Debentures function more or less like bonds. One can also term debentures as a variant of bonds. Debentures are issued by a company which offers to pay interest in'

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A Comparison between ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 5/10/2013 7:29:00 AM

'ICICI Bank is the Largest Private Sector Bank in India and HDFC Bank is a close second. If you talk to a random stranger on the road, there is a 50-50 chance that he/she has an account with either of these two private sector behemoths. Both ICICI and HDFC Bank are part of the National Stock Indices and are some of the most active stocks in the country. The purpose of this article is to compare'

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Do I Need Debt Instruments in my Portfolio?

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 5/7/2013 10:53:00 AM

'In the past couple of articles, we took a look at the Debt Markets in India as well as the different types of Debt Instruments that are available for us to invest in. However, the biggest question we all will have right now is "Do I Need Debt Instruments in my portfolio?" The purpose of this article is to, try to answer this question... If I were to answer this question in one word, the'

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Components of the Indian Debt Market

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 5/2/2013 4:52:00 AM

'As we saw in the previous article the Debt Market in India is growing at a rapid pace and is becoming increasingly interesting for Investors worldwide. Any market has a number of components or should I say participants. The Components of the Indian Debt Market include: 1. Investors - You and Me 2. Regulators 3. Debt Market Segments The purpose of this article is to understand more about the'

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Debt Markets In India

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 4/29/2013 3:07:00 AM

'The Stock Market and Stock Market related instruments like Shares & Mutual Funds have been discussed on numerous occasions in this blog. One thing which we have not covered in detail here is about the Debt Markets of India. Part of the reason being the fact that Debt Markets are considered Safe Havens and so, most people (including me) don’t really care about it until they are in their late 40's'

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All Your Questions about Employee Provident Fund - Answered!!!

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 4/26/2013 3:15:00 AM

'In the past few articles in our blog, we had taken a detailed look at the Employee Provident Fund Scheme of India. After reading it, I am pretty sure you would have a number of questions that come up in your mind. The purpose of this article is to try to answer all those questions. If any of your questions arent available below, please feel free to leave a comment and I would be happy to'

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Should I Invest in Gold Now?

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 4/23/2013 8:09:00 AM

'The price of gold has fallen to a two year low. Gold prices haven’t gone down like this ever in the past 30 years. Yes, you read it right. Gold prices haven’t fallen like the current fall in 30 years. I know that most of you are worried because your investments have fallen by almost 20% in the past few months and that’s a pretty big hit. In the previous article we took a look at the reason for'

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Why is Gold Price Falling?

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 4/22/2013 7:48:00 AM

'Is your mother worried that the price of gold has come down and that her precious possession is losing its worth? Is your wife nudging you to get her some jewelry because gold prices have come down? As a layman almost everyone in our country is bothered to a certain extent because of the fall in the price of this yellow precious metal. January 1st 2013 – the price of 1 gram of 24 carat gold was'

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What Options Do I Have if the EPFO Grievance Redressal Does Not Work?

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 4/19/2013 1:38:00 AM

'In the previous article titled "Can I Get my PF Related Grievances Addressed?" we had taken a look at the EPFO's Grievance Redressal Mechanism. As with any process involving Government Officials, there are chances that our request gets lost in the sheer volume of requests. So, if that is the case, what options to we have? Well, the only option we have in such a scenario is to use our'

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Is Buying a Second Home an Investment?

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 4/15/2013 6:12:00 AM

'Are you someone who thinks that buying a home is an investment? Do you hear from elders and random relatives about being an intelligent investor and buy a house in some place where you have absolutely 0% idea of relocating to? Buy it now, property prices are soaring, you can make a profit in future – this is the standard dialog you will hear almost all the time. Every month there is a property'

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Can I Get my EPF Related Grievances Addressed?

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 4/12/2013 12:47:00 PM

'"Can I Get my PF Related Grievances Addressed?" - This is a question that most salaried employees in India who have tried to withdraw/transfer or even try to access their accounts through the system get in their mind. Though there is a proper grievance Redressal mechanism that is present to help out people who are in need, not many of us know about it. In fact, I can make a safe guess and say'

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Historical Interest Rates Offered by EPF Scheme in India

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 4/2/2013 12:36:00 PM

'The Employee Provident Fund Scheme of India has been in Existence for many decades and is probably the main source of funds for the salaried class of India when they retire. As mentioned in the article titled "Employee Provident Fund - Demystified" the Government offers a fixed Rate of Interest on the contributions that we make towards our individual EPF Accounts. The purpose of this article is'

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How Much Pension Will I Get Through the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS)?

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 3/31/2013 2:53:00 AM

'In one of the recent articles we had taken a detailed look at Employee Provident Fund or EPF. One of the components of this EPF is the Employee Pension Scheme or EPS. We covered what the EPS is and what it is supposed to do. But, we never talked about how much pension we might get after we retire. The purpose of this short article is to give you a relistic idea of how much pension you may get'

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Employee Provident Fund - Demystified

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 3/26/2013 11:32:00 AM

'Employee Provident Fund or EPF is by far the most common Retirement Planning option for the salaried class of India and in some cases the only Retirement Option. Even though most of the Salaried employees of India or should I use the more popular term "The Middle Class" have an EPF account and contribute towards it monthly, not many of us know what it is and how it operates. This article is one'

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Are you utilizing all your Tax Saving Options?

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 3/22/2013 11:13:00 AM

'March is almost over and we are in the last few days of the Financial year where people are running around to save tax. Everyone knows about Section 80C which gives you tax relief if you invest in qualified instruments like ELSS Mutual Funds or NSC or PPF etc. Similarly people use their home loans, medical expenses etc as well to reduce their tax liability. A surprising fact that I learnt a few'

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Have You Thought About or Planned for Income After Retirement?

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 3/20/2013 3:10:00 AM

'"Retirement" is a word that is selling millions of ULIPs every year Across India. Insurance Advisors, Financial Planners, Bank Managers and even Bank Staff are trying to sell ULIPs to people when customers visit their offices for some reason or the other. The reason they give is simple "You need to Save/Plan for life after Retirement". Unfortunately - Most of the ULIP's and Retirement Products'

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Indian Union Budget 2013 Aftermath - An Outlook for the Banking & Insurance Sectors

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 3/17/2013 10:27:00 AM

'The Indian Union Budget was presented in the parliament by the Finance Minister of India Mr. P. Chidambaram last week. News channels in India have been bustling with news about the Budget and how good or bad the budget will be over the past few days. As days go by, more and more clarity is emerging on the details and plans announced by our finance minister. Last week, we had an article in this'

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Budget 2013 - Highlights & Things you need to know about Budget 2013

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 3/2/2013 4:12:00 AM

'After a long hyped up wait, the Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram delivered his 2013 budget speech in the Parliament yesterday. Motivated by expectations of a positive budget, the Indian Stock Market surged over 100 points during the start of the trading session. But, as the Finance Minister continued his speech, more and more news came in that affected investors negatively. As a result, the'

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Everything You Need to Know About Leave Travel Allowance (LTA)

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 2/27/2013 12:11:00 PM

'With the Financial Year winding to a close by end of March and Summary Vacations on the horizon in April-May, many of us are planning our vacations during the time when our kids don't have School. Many of us go on yearly outings with family but most people don’t know or don’t use their Leave Travel Allowance. In fact, many of us would have heard the term LTA at some point during their careers'

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Best Tax Saving Fixed Deposits in India - Today!!!

Author : Anand VijayaKumar      Blog : Anand's Blog      Date : 2/26/2013 12:55:00 PM

'Tax Saving Fixed Deposits or 80C Fixed Deposits or 5 Year Fixed Deposits are one of the most popular avenues for Saving Taxes for the Indian population. I did it when employed in India, my cousins did it, my friends did it and thousands of Indians deposit their hard earned money in these deposits to not only save tax but also to earn a handsome rate of returns. Because of the popularity and'

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