The way the media is talking about the mutual fund distributor, the common man must be thinking that the IFA or the ‘agent’ as is generally known must be a big, rich guy, right? No. Most, if not all are agents by force. The financial service industry is very class conscious and recruits only MBAs […]

Read More →

“Mutual funds are no longer profitable”; “It is not worth being in the life insurance business” – you have heard this and variants of this from the ad driven media, right? Well the truth is not very close to this. Let us take the case of Hdfc Mutual fund. Given the huge AUM already under […]

Read More →

Real estate prices are rarely rational! It is just that there is not enough information available in a well organized manner, and people are resistant to change. Take a city like Mumbai. It is impossible to set up a barber shop, an inexpensive eatery (I mean selling dosa at Rs. 50), a general practice or […]

Read More →

When I say ‘Retire’ just too many people think it means old age. Sorry wrong understanding. Retirement, let us redefine. Retirement is when you can do what you WANT, not what you MUST. You do not HAVE to earn to pay off the EMI. Or for paying for the kid’s education or marriage. Thus retirement […]

Read More →

In the Indian markets when one asset class is losing, other asset classes also catch up fast. So if you think you have invested in real estate, equities and debt – you may not be diversified enough. In fact if you have diversified across asset classes at all points in time, one of the asset […]

Read More →

Three questions, same answer! 1. Subra I have been paying an annual premium of Rs. 10,000 for the past 7 years, but the amount accumulated in my ULIP policy is only Rs. 59,000. What should I do with the policy now? My agent tells me the upfront charges which were high have already been paid […]

Read More →

“No ulip has given REAL returns in the past 10 years” – said one analyst. I have no clue about the accuracy of this statement. His argument was even for those who started in 2002 and were in the boom, only HALF their money participated in the boom (thanks to the high charges). When the […]

Read More →