Yesterday a cousin had to convert a pension plan to an annuity, and he had sought my advise. He had an accumulation of a small amount to be converted. They had sent him a form to his residence – he had filled it up and brought it. The form was complete in all respects…so he […]

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With real estate in a boom over the past few years, one thought that crosses peoples mind is to use ‘Home Equity’ as a Retirement Plan. Good idea? Feels so. At least at this juncture, however like all assets it has its ups and downs. Let us look at what I mean. What is Home […]

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Let me start by quoting Lord Keynes. He said ‘Of course I change my stand. When I get new data, I change my mind – what do you do Gentlemen?’ After spending a few years in college, and then3 decades in dealing with wealth instruments, intermediaries, manufacturers, banks, trainers and most importantly customers there is […]

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Some retirement advice was not bad to give even 20 years ago. People retired at 58 and promptly died at 65. Their PF and gratuity lasted till they did, and then it did not matter. Now chances are you will lose your job at 55, not have a pension, and live till age 90. So […]

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  One person came to me saying ‘This is a financial plan that my planner has done, is it good?’. The plan was elaborate – cash flows for 10 years into the future, what product for each goal, rate of return assumption, – all this was there. It ran into 59 pages and could be […]

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For people who have not done Economics – at any level, there is a good chance that they may not know the meaning of ‘Rent’ – in economics, here is the explanation. When you have got used to a certain annuity – generally undeservedly – the rent is threatened. Now if a shop is located […]

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This is a very broad question and the answer is not easy to give. First of all let us clear some myths about what the retail investor thinks a regulator should do and what the regulator actually does. 1. The regulator is here to protect the small investor: Very very very broadly yes, in real […]

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