Archive for March, 2012

How do you reach your targeted savings amount? Once you have determined roughly how much amount you need at the end of say 10 years or 15 years, a rough thumb-rule below will allow you to know how much to save regularly to reach your target.

It is quite common that we overspend more on the things which we don’t need than on the things we need. More often than not, this behaviour can be due to any of these reasons – lack of self-control, no savings plan and proper budget, instant gratification, expensive lifestyle, show-off attitude, bad credit availability, lack […]

IRDA, the insurance regulator has notified new rates for motor third-party premium. The rates will go up from 5% to 20% from 1 April 12. Third party motor insurance cover refers to the mandatory insurance for a car-owner in order to provide compensation for the accident victims. After taking into account inflation, average claim amounts […]

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has reconstituted an advisory board to help the CBI in searching cases related to bank, commercial and financial frauds. The advisory board will have six members who would form a part of the organisational infrastructure of the CBI and Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The board will provide the required […]

The State Bank of India (SBI) decided to let its existing home loan buyers to switch over to the new floating rates that are much lower than the prime lending rates. An official from SBI said that the switchover will charge a small fee of 1% on the outstanding loan amount. The move is to […]

Recently, on March 16th, the Finance Minister while announcing the budget proposed that excise duty of 1% on unbranded precious jewellery must be levied. He also doubled the customs duty on standard gold bars, gold coins and platinum to 4% in an attempt to discourage gold imports. Jewellers in India, the world’s biggest buyer extended […]

Savings addiction is a rapidly growing concern mostly seen in urban areas. There are people who overspend money on items that are on discount or sale. They become addicted to this purchasing behaviour and buy things they don’t actually need or use

Spendthrift is a person careless with his money. He spends money carelessly to get instant gratification and is not worried of how his bills or debt will be paid in future. This uncontrolled spending behavior has an underlying psychological or emotional motivation. Know why people become spendthrifts in this article

Today, we can see many people who have messed up with their personal finance and leading a stressful life. If you carefully observe, you can see some common attitudes among them towards personal finance. Know what these attitudes are and overcome them to set your financial life right

Recently a report from Credit Rating and Information Services of India Ltd (CRISIL) stated that investment in an Equity-linked Savings Scheme (ELSS) of a mutual fund can yield higher returns when compared to other tax-saving investment instruments like Public Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificates (NSC). The research data showed that ELSS gave 26% […]

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks to avoid sharply difference in rates on deposits with similar maturities. RBI said that something is wrong with the lenders (banks) if their retail and bulk deposit interest rates vary too much. The Central Bank observed that banks are offering higher interest rates on bulk deposits to […]

The Finance Minister of India, on 16th March announced the Union-Budget 2012-13 in Lok-Sabha. For the financial year 2012, the union budget made almost everyone unhappy but for education sector, infrastructure sector and for capital markets it showed a positive aspect. The income tax burden for individuals came down but not for corporates. The following […]

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 21st March, tightened rules for lending against gold by Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), in order to lower the increased risk to the banking system and also the retail investors. RBI has restricted the loan size to 60 percent of the value (loan-to-value) of gold collateral. This means if […]

On 15th March, real-estate developers were very disappointed with RBI’s decision to keep key policy rates unchanged. These realtors sought for cut in interest rate to boost the housing demand. The Chairman of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) said that economic condition is getting worse day-by-day and RBI should consider the […]

The Indian Mutual Fund Industry’s assets increased to Rs.6.75 trillion by the end of February from Rs.659 trillion in January, registering an increase of Rs.161 billion in February. According to the research from Crisil, a month-on-month 2% rise in mutual funds in February 2012 was due to the mark-to-market gains accumulated by equity funds and […]