Well for all those people who thought that 2008 is long past us should wake up. The world economy is not picture perfect as yet, and we are still in tough times – but it may look smooth. After all the world is also seeing this kind of turmoil for the first time. The Pre [...]
An asset should bring you money. If this is the definition of an asset – your golf kit, your gold jewellery, your Mercedes, the house in which you live, – normally what people consider assets suddenly look like ‘expense’ rather than an asset!
Every cheque that you sign is either an expenditure or the purchase of [...]
If you have a financial planner with a ‘product sale’ mentality – especially who has sold loan products also in the past, there is a good chance that he would suggest leverage. Leverage means borrowing. So read on…
Financial planner: Borrowing sensibly is a good way to build wealth. Do a disciplined borrowing and you will [...]
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 equivalent [...]
I recently received the annual report of a financial services company. Like all financial services company this company also has an insurance business, a financial distribution company, a mutual fund, …the works.
A quick glance clearly shows that this company will NEVER make money in ANY of the abovementioned businesses during my life time. Surely over [...]
I was aghast when Capt. Ajoy Athalye walked into my office with his wife Sunita announcing that he wants to buy a Rs. 50 lakh commercial space in a suburb of Delhi.
Aghast because he had come to me a week earlier to share his portfolio and seek remedies to that. He and Sunita were employees [...]
It is amazing that financial services – mutual funds, life insurance and banking are seen as villians in terms of charges in a country which has so many real estate deals!
Who can become a builder, who can become a broker, how much brokerage to charge, should prices be quoted for built up, super built up….NOTHING [...]
The cheer leaders are screaming once again – welcoming the 10,000 index. Whether it is television, print, or the internet – all of them have headlined the great reclaiming of the 10k index.
The typical middle class guy is happy, but of course skeptical. The questions he is asking are the following:
Will this market rally last?
Does [...]
this appeared in the personal finance section of reuters.in under my byline
Escape from Debt
If all the people who talk to me are sensible, well educated people, how is it that the Human Relations Managers of many companies call me for asking questions like “Can we do a 3 hour session on how to handle debt?” [...]
Recession, slow down, pessimism about the Indian economy (of course because of the recession in the U.S. economy) are words that become common place in local lingo!
Everybody and his aunty is now convinced that the Sensex will touch 5000 very soon, and the last place to be investing now is the equity markets. Of course [...]