Archive for December, 2010

Happy New Year to all!

Hey kids…there is no Santa…Wikileaks. Actually the kids know it…it is the adults who need to be told about this! so even if you are going on a short ride on your slow cycle…wear a HELMET even if you are in the pink of health and feeling great….take MEDICAL INSURANCE one day if you are [...]

Housing interest tax deductions!

I know this may sound sacrilegious, but the housing loan (mortgage) interest deduction is the most over-rated tax strategy in existence. I constantly hear happy “homeowners“ boasting about how much money they “saved“ with their mortgage interest deduction. Asking your boss to reduce your salary would perhaps have the same effect. If you are in [...]

Is Gold a good buy?

Well I have no strong views on Gold – however I have never bought any gold as an investment. I wear no gold on my body, but I guess my mother, sister, wife, and daughter do wear. However as a family also there is no interest in the gold – except to the extent that [...]

Basic investment lessons…

I had done this post on Moneycontrol long back… Immaterial of whether you are in your 20′s or in your 50′s and you are looking at an investment you should know some of the basics of investing, so here it is. By and large at some stage you must have been approached by some investment [...]

My Meru story……

I started off as a big fan of Meru….a few years back, not sure about the dates but I think this is circa 2006-7. Used it extensively by standing in a queue at the airport, called them in the morning for going to the airport. Outside of Mumbai, it was clearly THE choice – so [...]

Do not lie about money: at least not to yourself!!

Last week I was speaking to a friend who has just retired – and is likely to get a few million in retirement proceeds. Make no mistake she is rich and not really dependent on this amount of money. Her husband earns very well and they are what can be called “upper middle class” by [...]