Mutual Funds | Insurance | Investment |

Since the lockdown was announced people have often complained of not being able to remember what day of the week it is! Our Sunday Mood article reminds you that another week has passed and it's a Sunday yet again! The past week can be termed as one of the most turbulent for the mutual fund industry with a leading AMC shutting its debt funds virtually trapping Rs. 30,000 crores of investor money. But, our topic of discussion today is not anywhere related to the debt market or the financial haircuts that banks and financial institutions take on their loans! Enough of that discussion has happened in the week that has passed by over phones, conference calls & Zoom conferences. Lockdown has also brought in another type of problem for men which is the inability to get a haircut! With the Home Ministry quashing the hopes on 25th April of letting salons open the Indian men realized that it is still days for them to get their much-awaited haircut. But here was me, not ready to be bo...

Guaranteed Return Products have been in existence for quite some time. These are one of the safest offerings of Insurance Companies and offer a plethora of benefits to the customers like A) safety from fluctuations in investment returns, B) reduction in reinvestment risk by locking in returns for longer periods (10-15 years), C) tax benefits on investment (80C), D) a life cover (usually 10 times the annual premium) and, E) tax-free proceeds on maturity. So much to offer in just one product is definitely attractive. The current return scenario The present returns offered by these products work as a cherry on the cake as it is an add on to all the features mentioned above. A typical guaranteed product today is offering a return in the range of 5.4%-6.1%, depending on the age of the entrant. For a person in his late 20s the return is around 5.6% (See illustration). For a person in a 30% tax bracket, the pre-tax return comes to around 8.5%. This at a time when pre-tax FD returns are a...

Motor insurance is probably the most popular form of insurance in India, not because vehicle owners love their assets way too much, but because motor insurance is mandatory by law. Any vehicle running on Indian roads must have a valid motor insurance policy without which the vehicle (two-wheeler, four-wheeler, etc) can’t legally ply on the roads. Today, our post is to explain the essential components to pay attention to while buying a motor insurance policy (primarily four-wheelers). Motor insurance is a tool to take care of any unforeseen loss or damage to your vehicles which in the absence of insurance would have to be borne out of one’s own pocket. Majorly, Insurance policies are of two types: Third-Party Insurance Policy Third-party insurance covers your legal liability for the damage you may cause to a third party while using your vehicle. The beneficiary of third party insurance is the injured third party. It does not pay for injuries or damages suffered by the policyhol...

Over the past few days, financial advisors and distributors have witnessed an increasing number of customer calls. Most of these are anxiety calls because of the massive fall in the equity indices spread over a period of just a few weeks. The customers today can be segregated into the following categories: The excited ones who want to invest more money in equity markets in the form of lumpsum and SIP. The anxious ones who aren't sure how to go through times like these i.e. whether to invest more or wait for more correction. The scared ones who are willing to withdraw their holdings even if it means suffering a heavy loss. Amid all this noise that has accompanied the market mayhem the importance of asset allocation is being stressed by AMCs and advisors alike. Asset allocation means allocating your money across different investment avenues in order to get the desired return for the investor’s portfolio. The investor’s money can be allocated to various financial and non-fina...