10 things you can do with your old phone

Car insurance is as important as the car itself
The other day, I was just checking the exchange value of a two year old HTC phone, perfectly functional, never went for a repair, all functionalities intact. To my surprise, Nokia offered me Rs. 1450 for that phone. I must say I checked online. So, there were nobody checked my phone and its condition, a random price popped up, yet as I was searching the deal on internet with the phone, AI ensured that the deal was for the same phone and model number I was checking for. I was impressed by the technology Nokia used to confirm my handset detail. However, disliked the fact that my careful handling of the device didn’t fetch me a fair price. I took it upon myself to find out how well I can use this phone as a spare handset, and if it would be value for money deal for me. And here are my findings, many of the functions don’t even need internet connection.
After re-checking the functionalities, I have noted down the things I will be able to do which will not only be beneficial, also will save me good money.

1. Calculator – In a daily mundane work, you need calculation every now and then. Be it calculating for grocery buying to checking the compounding effect of your long term investments. This function come handy all the time.
2. Digital Note book – if you have a habit of forgetting or you suddenly remember some important work, you just scribbled it down in the digital note. It may not be an exact function, you may use gmail, Microsoft word etc. as an option. The point is you have a handy digital note book. 
3. Calendar and Organiser – From an alarm to health tracker, it can do a lot for you. The phones are unanimously voted as the most important material object in one’s life. With the functionality of the smart phones, its even more. If you have an android phone, google pull all the data from gmail and other apps make a note in your calendar, if you have not noticed that yet, check it out. Additionally you can put reminders for meetings, alarm to wake up etc. It works like your personal assistant without a visible reccurring cost.
4. Extra files and folders – for saving photographs, important scanned documents. After data, storage is next more important thing in life. The phones more than functionalities priced on the amount of space it provides. So, if you have a smart phone, it will come with some memory. So the memory itself is the value for money option for saving your important data files, photographs etc. 
5. Browser – A smart phone is equal to mini laptop/ work station. If your old phone doesn’t have any technical issue, you can use it for your daily browsing needs. Research says, on an average millennial spends a significant waking hours in web surfing. So put your old phone to task, give some rest to your new phone.
6. Camera – Data, storage and camera are top priority while buying a phone. If your old blessed with twin camera, with over 5 – 8 mega pixel configuration, please dont sell your phone. It can be used for taking selfie and other photography.
7. Radio and musical device – are you a music buff? Most of the phone comes with an inbuilt radio. Just put o  the headphone, it will work like an antenna. Additionally if still have a spare sim, you can definitely diwnload the music app of your choice and listen to as many hours as you want.
8. Personal theater – with Amazon Prime, Netflix, YouTube need I say more that it is your personal theatre. You can also save movies in video formats and watch online. The best part is you dont have to fight for the remote, adjust with family members or roommates for keeping TV on for longer hours etc. Infact, many are opting phones over Television set for binge watching. 
You can also watch recreational and educational videos among others.
9. Shopping assistant – The days are gone when people used to plan for grocery and  home shopping for weekends. You just can keep bunch of apps on your phone like Grofers, BigBasket, FlipKart, Amazon, FreshMenu and Myntra. Then shopping out is just a choice or option not a neccesity.
10. Spare phone – Last but not the least. It is your fall back option if your phone faces some technical issue or lost etc. To sum it up an old phone still holds a lot of value, think before you opt to exchange it for a small money to buy a new phone.
There are many cool way of saving money, it need not be boring and stressful. Saving money is fun and makes one responsible. For the journey of Financial freedom, saving money is a first step. 

What is CAGR and What does it mean for your long term investment?

Hi, this is especially for existing mutual funds investors and the aspiring investors. The two things which come into our mind when we talk about equity or equity mutual fund investments are disciplined long-term investment and high-return over the long term. To promote the mutual fund schemes, AMCs showcase the past performance by CAGR. We often dont know what is CAGR return or how to verify the company claims. It is a simple calculation with help of square root calculator, you may check the square root of numbers with help of online calculators as well. 

Let us look at an example to simplify the word ‘CAGR’

The below-mentioned chart shows a comparative study of CAGR return. 

But we need not always depend on charts to calculate the year on year return. 
#CAGR or #Compound Annual Growth Rate is the average rate at which an investment grows over time assuming that it was compounded (re-invested) annually (periodically). CAGR has nothing to do with the value of an investment in the intermediate years as it depends only upon the value in the first year and the last year of the investment tenure.

(Source – cagrcalculator.net)

CAGR = [{(Final NAV/ Initial NAV) to the power 1/n (n = no. of years)} – 1]*100

Let us consider 3 years back we bought a mutual fund scheme at NAV 100, and now the NAV now is at 200, then the CAGR would be – 

CAGR = [{(200100)}to the power 1/3 – 1]*100
           = [Cube root of 2 – 1]*100
           = [1.2599 – 1]*100
           = (0.2599)*100
           = 25.99/100 or 25.99% 

3 years CAGR return is 25.99%

Hope, next time you will calculate the CAGR return on your own.  


Seven Money Lessons for your kids this summer vacation!

Indian summer is here in its brightest best. Its mid-May, most of the schools have declared Summer holidys, and rest will declare in coming few days. The vacation which lasts for 1-1.5 months for the kids, also means double activities for the parents. Addressing unending-demand list of kids become a daunting task for parents. The schedule for travel, signing up for summer camps, short hobby classes visiting grand-parents and relatives tops the list in this country. While my childhood summer holidays memory is all about relatives and grand parents, things have changed a long in last two-decades in India. Besides spending time with family, a trip abroad or a trip to hill station in India has become a must.

The vacation has taken a new meaning all together for children as well as for the olders. It’s a festivity. When fun-frolic stay at its best, it also can be utilised by the parents for inculcating some good habits in the children which go a long way, no less than their life time to be honest. Habits learnt in childhood stays long life. The small but important training may not always ensure the best results, but it definitely sows a seed of discipline.

Though the topics could vary individual to individual, my post would talk about the lessons of financial discipline we can impart on our  kids this summer vacation. We may chart out a activity calendar secretely and follow it slowly to achieve our goal. Financial discipline cant be taught in a crash course, but introducing during a holiday season will ensure it gets enough mindspace of your child, which can be practiced over the year. I have penned down 7 points you may consider doing, even achieveing 3 would be a good start. 
1. Take your child to bank branch 
On your next visit, consider taking your little one to the bank branch. Show him around. Show the deposit slip and introduce basic terms used in banking like demand draft, fixed deposit etc. Make him write your cheque book if you need to withdraw money. If your child is little older like 10 years, you can also show how bank statement looks like. What is a credit and debit.

2. Show them a mutual fund return calculator – This is easily available in mutual funds and personal finance website. You can show them the benefit of compounding, how a small sum each month could make a big amount in few years.
3. Make them pay electricity bill/gas bills – This mundane task will ensure that he /she is aware of household responsibility. A teenage kid can be introduced to this, be it manual submission or through online payments. It will give them an early introduction to their responsibilities
4. Fill up your health insurance form with your child by your side
If your child is older than 10 years  please consider this. You can make your child sit through this process, you already have a winner. In this process, you can introduce them to the importance of insurance, kind of insurance, what you should not hide don the insurance company.

5. Help them set financial goals – your kid may have various demands time to time. Buying a new cycle, guitar, games, travel etc. You may introduce him to the concept of “saving to buy”. You may give him a piggy bank to save from their pocket money to sponsor their object of desire. It may or may not fully sponsor, but idea of ‘saving first’ will be sown in the young mind.
6. Reward them on reaching goals – keep your promise and reward them with some goodies, a small treat to encourage their efforts however, don’t overspend on the reward. Remember the idea is to teach them financial discipline 
7. Teach them the small joys of life 
This is an important aspect to be taught to the kids early in their life. The life priorities should be aligned with the financial habits. Being frugal, disciplined, organised has its own benefits.
To introduce this aspect, you may give them live examples of recycling clothes, plastics. Cooking at home together is as much fun as dining out. Life is all about balancing. Teach the kids to enjoy the small joys of life.
Remember – they will follow your action more than words
Teaching kids good manners is a priority for parents. But, kids follow your action more than your words. They take up from visual cues more than verbal instructions. Overshopping, unplanned expenditures in household will be observed and absorbed by the young ones faster than you think!

Money management is fun thing. It’s a learning process and we can take it up anytime, may be this summer while teaching the kids, we end up learning some good habits and enjoy it too!

How to invest in IPOs online

While fixed deposits, mutual funds, ULIPs remain top investment options for Indian Investors, if you have an understanding in direct stock investing, Equity IPO is an option too.

Investing in IPOs are getting increasingly popular amongst the retail investors in India. IPO market in India has given big returns in the year 2016-17, IPOs like Avenue Supermart, CDSL, BSE, Salasar etc has helped investors get a listing gains above 50%. The websites like Chittorgarh and IPO central tracks IPO market very closely, listing of IPOs – current IPO, Upcoming IPO, IPO allotment dates,  etc. They also provide reviews on IPO shares. For a new investor, it will be a good idea to check these websites to get an idea of the upcoming IPOs and look for IPO reviews as one of the parameters to decide to buy new IPO. One must check few IPO reviews, read the company details carefully before investing.


What is an Equity IPO?

Many retail investors in India who have exposure in equity investments and mutual funds are unaware about IPO investments. 
An initial public offering (IPO) is the first time that the stock of a private company is offered to the public. IPOs are often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking capital to expand, but they can also be done by large privately owned companies looking to become publicly traded.- Wikipedia


IPO (Initial Public Offering) helps the equity shares to be listed on stock exchanges BSE and NSE. Once listed, investors can buy from any trading platform freely.


How IPO works for retail investors?

For the new IPO, Companies in consultation with book running lead managers come up with price band for the issue. The issue is then divided into lots. Investors can get the information on current IPOs and Upcoming IPOs in newspapers and business channels. The crucial details like price band, IPO opening date, closing date and lot size are key factors to look at. For example IPO issue of company A is opening on 15th April, 2018 with a price band of Rs. 95 – 100 and lot size of 150. An investor will be able to bid for a minimim quantity of 150 shares and multiples. Generally in normal IPO the minimum investment quota is Rs. 15,000 and the upper limit for application for individial investor in any IPO is Rs. 2 lakh.

How to invest in IPO online?

To invest through online method, one has to have an internet banking enabled Banking account. Trading account with a registered equity broker/platform and demat account with CDSL/NSDL which comes by  default with a trading account. 




Online IPO follows a process called ASBA, ASBA (Applications Supported by Blocked Amount) is a process developed by the India’s Stock Market Regulator SEBI for applying to IPO. In ASBA, an IPO applicant’s account doesn’t get debited until shares are allotted to them. (Source – Wikipedia)


For test case, lets take Axis Bank online banking. 

Step by step guide to buy IPO online –

1. Login to your internet banking

2. click on Investments, go to the Online IPO section




3. One clicking the Online IPO Tab, (it will take you to a registration page, which will ask for Client Id (trading account) and depository ID. On submitting them, Bank will generate an OTP to complete online IPO registration) it will confirm the demat details and you can click on equity and debt IPO. 




4. This post is dedicated to Equity IPO. Hence, click the Equity IPO tab. It opens up the next page with list of equity IPO. Once the IPO name is chosen it moves on to the next page where you have to choose the bank account and investor type, for Indian individuals, you may chose the highlighted option and go to the next page which lists the details of the IPO including IPO lot size, price range etc.  





5. Submit the bid – chose the lot size and multiples you would like to apply for and confirm your bid. The Bank will generate OTP to conclude the transaction. 



Following the procedure, bank will send a confirmation message. After closing date, you will have to wait for the allotment date. Depending on the application no.s, electronically allotment takes place, the bank will deduct the money only if you are allotted the shares. 



The following day, the company gets listed on the stock exchange, and many retail investors likes taking advantage of high listing price and sale it for listing gains. 

#IPO #current IPO #Upcoming IPO #personal finance

Grandfather clause in equity investments to protect you from some tax liabilities on LTCG

The famous budget speech by Arun Jaitley left the investors dissapointed with the re-introduction of Long-term capital gains tax. LTCG which was abolished sometime in 2004, by introducing STT was re-introduced for the equity investors with a 10% tax on capital gains over and above rupees 1 lakh for the financial year for the investments made above one year.

The shocker was too much for the investors, leading to a short-term fall in the market. The finance minister tried to tame the anger by keeping a grand-father clause applicable till 31st Jan 2018. Now the point is what is this grand-fathering clause and how is it going to make any difference to the investors?

As the LTCG was introduced, it simply meant April 1, 2018 onwards one has to pay tax on income on equity sales over 1 lakh. However, this is not exactly the case. Grand-father clause give you some respite. According to.this clause, investor need not pay tax on the notional profit accumulated till 31st of January. The returns generated over and above on the closing price of the equity as on 31st January will attract LTCG of the return is over 1 lakh. However, the return will be grand-fathered upto 31st July, 2018, post which investors will have to pay 10% tax on LTCG.

Let me give you an example with a real equity test case example. Lets take ESCORTS as a test case. Assume I purchased ESCORTS share on August 9, 2016 at a price of Rs. 260 per share. It reached a peak of Rs. 811 per share on Jan 31, 2018. So, according to grand-father clause, If I sale the shares at or below 811, I dont have to pay any tax on the same (before 31st July, 2018). Assume I sale it on 3rd April, 2018 at the price of 884 per share, my tax liability will be based on 884 – 811, 73 Rs. i.e. my tax liability would be 10% of Rs. 73 (Upto 1 Lakh tax free inclome still applies here)
Step by step guide to buy ULIPs

The Grandfather clause is applicable to domestic investors for equity and mutual funds investments on LTCG.

grand-father-clause-in-equity-LTCG, Long term capital gain

Your nominee may not be your legal heir

Know the difference between nominee and legal heir 
While filling in the request for a online fixed deposit, the site popped an request to file in nomiation details for the fixed deposit. How strange is that? I was just blocking a small amount of money as a fixed deposit for a period of two years. It just stuck on my mind for a while and I assumed that it means incase of my death, the nominee would receive the money as a beneficiary. But my inquisitive mind doesn’t stop that easily as I have been reading too much on the latest stories on e-will, importance of making a Will. I decided to do a brief study on the same, While doing an online research I came across numerous queries and news piece on the conflicts on this topic.  
The confusion over legal heir and nominee may even create fights and create chaos amongst family and close relatives. The question arise here is if nominee is requested for all large investments, why Will is required, isn’t it natural that after demise of the individual, nominee is naturally handed over all the possession,? the answer I found here is different. While it is acceptable to nominate any family member for the assets, nominee only refers that he/she is eligible to take the handover of the possession incase of demise of the investor as a custodian or trustee. And the actual beneficiary of the assets will be the legal heir. 
The assets and properties include – assets like house, jewelery, art work, land, valuables, mutual fund, Insurance policies (Endowmwent, ULIPs, Term plans), Bank fixed deposits, company fixed deposits, bonds, PPF, NSCs etc.
Who can be a nominee and what is nominee’s role?
Nominee can be any member of family – mother, father, brother, sister, husband, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, son, daughter etc, but they have to be a relative of the individual. Incase of no immediate family, one can make nominee outside family, however, incase he/she acquires family the previous nomination will be cancelled and a fresh nomination needs to be filed. Nominee is nothing but a trustee who is authorised to receive the assets/ funds post demise of the individual. It doesn’t give the individual the right on the assets of the deceased.
Who is legal heir of your assets? 
Legal heir simply means the person who is legally inherit your assets and properties according to your Will, if will is not in place, it will follow the ‘provision of succession law’.  As per succession law of Hindu, heirs are divided in two classes, Class I and class II. 
Class I heir has the first right on the assets and properties of deceased. It includes Sons, daughters, mother, widow, sons of predeceased son, widow of predeceased son. However, incase if the widow of the deceased son is remarried, she  wont be legal heir anymore. 
ClassII heir – Incase of absence of class I heir, Class II heirs have the right on the assets of the deceased. The class II heir includes Father, Brother, sister, niece and nephews.  
Registering a will is important and saves lot of hassles for the closed ones of the deceased, especially if you are clear about whom you want to passon your properties. So, to stay away from conflicts, make informed decision.  The nominee and legal heirs are two different things, you should keep in mind and educate your family members and near and dear ones for making informed decision. 
#HappyInvesting #moneystreets #legalheir #nominee 


Know the difference between nominee and legal heir

How to start investing – Chapter 1 – popular Bank deposits

Wish you all a very Happy New Year. Am sure you all have had a good party and a host of new year resolutions. I am eager to share mine. With full of excitement and commitment, I would like to make the topic ‘finance’ easier, and help you become wiser to check on your financial health and get better. The first of the year, I am dedicated to understand what are the simple things you need to do to begin the process of investments.
To begin, needless to say you may consider the following things for smooth execution.
Also read – Smart ULIP
Online Banking – Very customer friendly process, you can start online banking just using your debit card. You can go to the bank website and choose net banking/ Online banking option. You will be guided with the process, if you don’t have the pin handy, you can generate one easily, following the instruction.
Bank account – For easy tracking and smooth transaction, I follow one account for last 8 years or so, be it mutual Funds, insurance or paying credit card bills, it also helps in maintain records
Lets start with the most traditional investments, Bank deposit.
Savings account – This is the default savings/ deposit option for any individual with a savings bank account. The cash lying in the account earn a nominal 3 to 4 percent interest per year. Though I highly recommend Liquid Mutual Funds over savings account, still it is an available default option. 
Fixed Deposit – Though I am a fan of debt mutual funds and am aware that fixed deposit cant give an inflation adjusted return, I can’t deny the fact that some of my money stays in the bank account and in the form of fixed deposits. If you already have online banking, you just need to tap on the deposits tab and you will be guided with a small 30 seconds process wherein you have to key-in basic details like – the amount, branch you choose for the deposit (this comes handy if you are depositing a large sum of money, for which you may need to visit the branch for pre-matured withdrawal). The amount you choose for the fixed deposit must be lesser than or equal to your savings bank account. You need to check the interest rates, as it varies for different tenures and then chose the term for which you wish to block the sum and interest payout instruction – Monthly/ quarterly, annually or maturity. You may also need to fill in the details like what you want to do with the maturity proceed, you may choose to get the proceed credited into your account or you can choose reinvestment option (personally, I dont like this option). Do remember to keep you PAN card  handy incase you are depositing a sum above 50,000 rupees. 
One can have multiple fixed deposit parallely with different combination of amount, term and interest rates at the same time. Minimum amount could be Rs. 1000/ 5000/ 10,000 depending on the bank you are operating in.  Choosing a nominee is advisable for a large fixed deposit, its available in online deposit window. 
Recurring Deposit – Another traditional Deposit named as Reccurring deposit is somewhat a precursor to the SIP of mutual Funds. Similar to the fixed deposit option, you need to click the deposit option, choose the tenure (mostly year and multiple of years or 6 months). In this  deposit scheme, you need to choose a fixed sum of money to be added to your kitty every month and the interest is accumulated on pro-rata basis. This is a good option to create an emergency fund or accumulating wealth in 1-2 years times span.
Advantage of Deposits 
1. It is the most liquid investment
2. It can be used as an emergency corpus
3. It gives fixed interest / return on the investment
3. One can take a loan against the deposit, most accepted collaterals by Banks 
Cons 
1. Bad vehicle for medium to long term wealth creation
2. Doesn’t have any potential for upside/ variable return
3. Fixeddeposits are insured upto 1 lakh Rupee. Money above 1 lakh is not risk free, so incase the bank goes bust, they will not have any liability over 1 lakh Rupee
4. The interest earned on the deposits are taxed basis the individual’s tax bracket
Adios for today. Will come back to you with guidance on how simply one can buy mutual funds, life insurance, ULIP, health insurance, PPF, NSC etc.
Stay healthy, stay fit, and be money wise!

View of an inquisitive average Indian investor

Yes, that is about me, the restless soul whose twinkling eyes forever stuck at the nifty graph! 🙂

2016-2017 have been quite a roller coaster ride for Indian Stock markets. Various factors have driven the Nifty to all time high and the bulls are not ready to hang their boots just yet. Having a sixth sense and lot of love for the markets (not to be confused as an expert, I am just an enthusiast in Investing) the current valuation makes me jittery. Keeping some extra bucks aside each month has been a practice for sometime, I am itching to invest it in the markets. However there are number of factors which is driving my mind towards fixed income space, here are few of them. 

Nifty 50 is trading above 25 PE. This is a dangerous level. In markets language, or whatever I can make if it is a valuation of 12-14 PE ratio is some how a fair valuation as an entry point. I am going sector agnostic. Every sector has its own metrics to decide on, for FMCG it is a little higher at around 18-22 PE. Trying for a better investing approach, I looked at individual stocks at specific sectors (I am talking about my favorites) are trading above 40 PE. All companies are good. But every thing has a fair price, premium for a better business proposition, but at the obnoxious valuation they are trading at, I feel its best to stay away till markets correct or company performance catches up with the current valuation. 
India is at its ‘super feel good days‘. Everything looks beautiful with new initiatives, disruptive steps by government, and continuous inflow of domestic institutiinal investors through mutual funds. Evergreen Indian consumption story is now selling double with Make In India tides. FII selling is not having any impact on the markets as domestic institution buying in every opportunity and pushing up valuations. Too much optimism may not neccesarily result into too much profit.  I am better off as a cautiously optimistic individual. 
GST not settled just yet, I believe this is an teething issue, and certainly believe, some of its impact should come on the coming quarterly results and market movements, giving some opportunity to buy in dips.

In the given scenario I often feel uncomfortable to buy new companies for my portfolio. But, my investment centric mind doesnt let me stop. I have figured out following few options to cautiously participate in the market yet staying away from being over zealous.

1. Continuing my SIPs in equity and hybrid mutual fund schemes. These are long term investments. I am continuing these for over 3 years to 5 years. Hence, the average cost of buying the units is pretty low compared to the current price. A dip in the market unlikely to blow away my capital.

2. Buying add on MF units on dips. Though overall marker remains highly priced, there are days when consecutively 2 or more trading sessions have been victim of profit bookings. I make some add on investments in my existing mutual fund scheme. I dont believe in bottom fishing, hence stick to a minimum amount and maximum 2 trades per month, discipline is the key for long term wealth creation. I even buy the nifty bees and junior Nifty, the Index funds on those days.

3. Investing in quality IPOs  – Given the optimistic markets condition, there have been an avalanche of equity IPOs this year. Being a small investor, I stay away from SME IPOs, as it has a huge monitory commitment (upwards of 1 lakh rupees for each). But I am always in look out for good IPOs. Few IPOs I applied for this year were BSE, CDSL, MBL, Dixon, Capacite, D-mart. Ofcourse I am not the only intelligent retail investor. Hence, most of the issues were super success with huge multi-times subscriptions. Hence, I was lucky to get three of the ten IPOs I applied for. No qualms to say, I made an average 60% profit on my investment and exited on the very listing day. One of the reasons of exit is IPOs are often highly priced compared to their valuation, so opportunity of cashing in on listing day looks safe to me.

4. I did invest in some debt funds. Interst rates going southwards, that was the only way to earn some extra bucks on cash. Fixed deposits rates are at multi year low, liquid and ultra-short term debt funds are at position to give 1-3% extra income on your idle cash. This money will be also used incase there is a significant correction in the market.

5. Though I dont recommend the stocks per say, but still these are learnings. Crisis many a times turn out to be an buying opportunity in equity market, if the stocks are like Infosys and JKumar Infra. Sudden news of shell companies being banned and erronously including JKIL in the list resulted in shedding a chunk of market cap on JKIL. It has given a brilliant entry point to the investors. Infosys management issues also has a similar story to tell. However I am not a certified stock analyst and their future growth potential needs to be studied well incase one makes a buying decision.

Investing is an art and science, and I am learning it with time. The insights and experience I share in hope that it eases some stiff negative and scary ideas about investing. Financial planning and managing money is fun.

Here is a low down on few more ideas you can look at at this point of time, are – 

1.If you have an existing investment in the market with a high profit in the book, and feel the PE is stretched beyond comfort level.You may look at booking partial profit if not full (assuming the equity investment is more than a year old,and the return is tax free). Parking this money in liquid funds/short term debt funds is wise, untill you see a good bet. If you are savvy investor, you can consider parking someportion in the FMCG stocks (I call them Evergreen).

2. If you have accmulated cash, and you may also park the cash in liquid fund, and using STP (systematic transfer plan) invest in equity mutual funds.

Would love to hear what are you doing in your investments given the current market conditions. Share your ways of inveating. Look forward to hear. If you like the post, do share and comment.  

Be disciplined and grow rich!

Building a good habit takes time, nurturing and care. Determination and discipline takes you a long way. One of such habits we have inherited from our wise elders is ‘savings’. I must also accept that the world has changed incredibly in last few decades and so the way we save money has also seen a major shift. 
In this ever changing world, the savings have shifted from real estate and gold to PPF and mutual funds, for few lucky ones its private equity and bitcoins! What I would like to focus in this post is not the tool but the discipline by which wealth can be created and enjoyed. A discipline of regular savings, discipline of curbing frivolous expenses can not only make you richer, it also makes you a responsible  and a content individual. The following 5 habits would definitely make you richer next year, if you follow them with sincerity, wether or not you get a salary hike! 
Spend as much is required 
The famous investor Warren Buffet, who has created huge wealth almost equivalent to GDP of a small country is frugal. He stays in 3BHK apartment since last 30 years. And he openly endorse the concept of ‘being frugal’. One of his famous quote is “if you buy something you donot need, soon you ll have to sell something you need”.
When you itch to buy that iphone latest series, just ask yourself, is it worth it to spend 80 thousand on the gadget. What would be its resale value. How long are you going to use it? What is the purpose of the phone. What is the value is it adding to yout life and what are the 5 important areas you need to spend on where those 80 thousand will make a big difference.

Follow a discipline in saving
How about chucking that hollow calorie filled grilled sandwich you eat daily for Rs. 50. Just shifting to a health snack of a fruit or a box of munchies from home would save the whole money. Do you travel that walkable distance from home to railway station for Rs. 18 each side making it Rs. 36 daily while commuting to office. Does your extra cup of sugary cutting chai cost you 20 bucks a day? If you calculate, cutting some of your unhealthy habits and walking that extra mile would save you a neat 100 bucks daily. 22 wotking days make it to about Rs. 2200. Do you know a one NCFM certification in financial markets cost you less than this. And you can add that in your CV too! 
And saving 2200 bucks per month would make you richer by Rs. 26,400 a year.
First Save then Spend 
In some personal finance book I read this- first pay yourself. You are definitely wrong if you think I am talking about shopping. ‘Pay yourself’ here signifies securing oneself financially. Protecting with future income, insurance from risks and contingency for uncertain situation. You should also take out some money for personal upliftment, skill development and nurturing yourself. You are your biggest asset.Investing in yourself will yield you much more return than any external investments.

NPCI – Enabler of the Indian cashless dreams  
Give back to the society 
The most common traits of the richest people in the world are they are also biggest philanthropists, be it Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or Mark Zukerberg, all of them have pledged large part of their fortune for noble cause for humanity and world at large. 
You may argue and you are right at that. You are not Mark Zukerberg. But you have a way. And a great way. The money you saved cutting your everyday expense, can be used in some productive way, like providing for needy, sponsoring education for maid’s children, helping your maid with some medical expenses etc to name a few which can be done way within your means. The immense satisfaction it gives, can fill you with whole new enthusiasm of growing rich to give it back! 
Recycle
Wealth is not only bank full of money. Wealth signifies sustainable and balanced life, where needs are fulfilled at ease and there is always more than required. Recycling is one way of doing it. Recycling goods doesnt only help saving environment, it also can help reduce a chunk from your monthly budget.
Earning big money is onething. But rich is whose expenses are much less than income. You can only become rich when your expenses are in control. A person who is earning a million dollar and spends the whole money is not riche than someone who earns 10 thousand and saves 2 thousand.
Your water tank will never fill if it has a big hole at the bottom.  It is about managing money and not only earning. 

Financial awareness – planning helps


Win Rs. 500 BookMyShow Cash – Fortnightly.. now you can participate till 9 am on 3rd october!!

Rs. 250 PayTM Cash for participants who participate 5 quiz consecutively and given right answers, and not won the fortnightly prize. Entry for the quiz closes on 30th Sep, winner will be announced by 3rd October

About the quiz – (You need to do all 4 steps correctly to be eligible for the prize)

To participate, you need to do the following – 

1. Follow the blog mymoneystreets
2. Like this on Twitter page , tag two friends and retweet (LINK) use #IamFinanciallyAware #mymoneystreets 
3. Post the answers in comments section in the post
4. Only one entry from one participant

The winner will be chosen with a lottery from all the correct answers, and contacted.

(Only Indian participants)

***************************************************************************
Quiz : 

1. Which of the following investment does not comes under 80c purview?

a) Tuition fees  b) Premium for life insurance policy c)interest repayment for housing loan d) principal repayment towards housing loan

2. The returns earned from equity mutual funds are tax free if the investment held for minimum of – 
a) 6 Months b) 1 year c) 2 year d) 3 years

3. What is contingency fund – 
a) Money kept aside for travel and movies
b) Fund for Tuition fees
c) Money kept aside for emergency situations like accident/ sudden illness/ job loss
d) None of the above

4. You should start saving money – 
a) As soon as you start earning
b) After marriage
c) When you need a downpayment of some loan
d) When your child grow up

5) SIP (Systematic Investment plan) in equity mutual fund helps in – 
a) Investing in discipline manner
b) Help fighting market volatility
c) Create wealth over long term
d) All of the above

6) What is a pure life insurance?
a) Term plan
b) Savings plan
c) Guaranteed plan
d) ULIP Plan

** End**

NPCI the enabler of India’s dream of less cash society

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