Property is seen as a safe asset. Most people have the following arguments for investing in property: – price can never go down – see prices in the last 10 years, my brother’s property has gone up 3 times !! Vow!! – God does not make more of it anymore, so prices can only go […]
This appeared under my byline in reuters india in their personal finance section 2-3 years ago… I have a difficult time explaining to editors in their 20s why there is a gap between what I say in my columns, what I do and what others do. The origins of this article can be traced to […]
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 […]
Money in the hand today is worth more than money that will come in tomorrow. Obviously money has a time value. However questions are never asked like this… For example a friend has a small cozy flat in one of the suburbs of Mumbai. He paid Rs. 77,000 for it in the year 1976 – […]
Sorry Minister it is a Systemic Failure! If you have seen 3 scams (big ones) and bribing (rampant) bribing in PSU banks all your life, this so called scam should not come as a shock (or surprise) at all. Once in a while such transactions erupt and the news channels have something to scream about. […]
It is very difficult to understand product pricing in Mumbai. One doctor in a Mumbai suburb recently sold off his practice – well he actually sold off his shop. It is not a very big shop…and now an ice-cream parlor has been set up there. Got chatting….with a couple of friends and found that the […]
There is a huge real estate mafia which holds prices unrealistically high in Mumbai. I have no grievances – but it is mispricing all the services available in Mumbai. A trust which owns a school in Santacruz, Khar, Ghatkopar or Chembur (just 4 suburbs) can charge whatever fee it wants. Does it mean the teachers […]