Real estate broker: Your house is the best asset that you can expect to create in your life. You can expect it to appreciate well over the long run. What to do: Your home will not appreciate. It is not a wealth creating asset. It will not make you rich. Remember it is an important […]

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Retirement Financial Planner: Retiring early is a great thing to aim for. Client reaction: Retiring early is a problem. Retiring at 52 will mean 45 years at home. This for my wife will mean more husband and less income! I have no hobbies, what do I do? Americans at least need to develop some hobbies […]

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Suzie Orman says: Keep enough money in ultra safe accounts to cover life’s emergencies, – say 8 months expenses – but no more. Financial planners talk only of an income emergency. They do not talk about an asset emergency. When your assets crash and you are reluctant to sell at the current prices it is […]

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Am doing this posting because a few journalists wanted me to talk about the Union Budget and the NPS. What a joke! There was NOTHING in the budget for the NPS at all. One cosmetic change is ‘on share purchases the NPS does not have to pay service tax’ – the impact at best can […]

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Madhu Soman of Reuters writes well – and is a keen watcher of equity markets and real estate (especially in Wadala and Kerala!). He had written an article for REuters – on 16th October, 2008 –  and it was subsequently carried in ET.Here are the first 2 paras where Shankar Sharma….read on! “The world of […]

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Voluntary Retirement Offer – Evaluation: For whatever reasons – voluntary retirement offers are now quite common and most people do not have a choice. However, if you do have a choice, see how to make the best of it. If you are given a VRS offer at age 45 and you have a transferable skill […]

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There is a big rush by the regulators to ‘protect’ the small investor from the big bad fund houses, insurance companies and their agents. The thought is surely laudable and one must appreciate the thought. However, most of the people involved see the markets and the investor with a very nice honorable telescope. They have […]

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