I Hope I am Wrong About Generation Y

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Income Tax, Indian Economy, tax savings

A few days ago, my wife and I dined out. It was a quiet celebration. We ordered well but we ordered judiciously. We were conditioned for years in the “waste not, want not” school of thinking.That’s not to say, we didn’t enjoy the meal. Of course we did, but we didn’t over order and we ate everything that we had ordered.

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Causes of Stress for Employees in India

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investments, Regus survey, Stress

You must be having your own ideas as to what factors cause the most stress to employees. You would probably say that work and personal finance rank among the top. If you did, your views match those of many of the 16,000 participants worldwide, who took part in a recent survey done by Regus.

IPOs backfire but look for “Fallen Angels”

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Indian Economy, IPOs, stocks

Reflecting the turmoil in the stock markets world wide, two recent IPOs in India had to be hastily withdrawn. The companies affected were Wockhardt, the healthcare provider and the realty developer, Emaar MGF.

The global turbulence in the IPO market saw as many as 10 US companies withdraw their IPOs so far in 2008. In Europe too the renowned fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger had to withdraw a two billion dollar floatation.

Investing to Create Wealth

Tags

Personal Finance, Rules for Investing, stock market

The stock market has been the talk of the town for the last few months. The Sensex shot past the 20000 mark and every man and his neighbour wanted to make a killing in the stock market. In such a context, I found an article in the Economic Times very useful.

As they say, the first rule to investing is ‘Don’t lose money’. The second rule to investing is ‘Don’t forget rule no. 1’! It is essential to stick to these rules when it comes to investing, in order to avoid the possibility of capital erosion.

To apply these rules successfully and to create wealth through equity investing, Raamdeo Agrawal, Director & Co-founder, Motilal Oswal Financial Services identifies a 5-step guide to locating a ‘wealth creator’ , Here are the 5 parameters that you must evaluate:-

1. Assess the entry barriers created by a company
2. Management should be competent and passionate
3. Management should have integrity
4. Buy low
5. Have patience

Read the article to understand why these tips can make you a wise and successful investor.

Use Credit Cards Sensibly

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credit cards

In an era of fast cash, people go around with an array of credit cards. Some flaunt a fistful of cards arranged like a sheaf from a pack of playing cards.

Does your spending increase due to credit cards? The thinking seems to suggest so. Shop keepers actually dislike credit cards because they eat into their margins but are pretty much compelled to accepts them-simply because other shopkeepers do. Competition is the name of the game.

MyIris gives some tips on using your credit card. So too does Deutsche Bank.

If you use them sensibly, credit cards are a boon. As we would say in India “Credit Card, Zindabad!” (Long Live, Credit Card)

Use Credit Cards Sensibly

In an era of fast cash, people go around with an array of credit cards. Some flaunt a fistful of cards arranged like a sheaf from a pack of playing cards.

Does your spending increase due to credit cards? The thinking seems to suggest so. Shop keepers actually dislike credit cards because they eat into their margins but are pretty much compelled to accepts them-simply because other shopkeepers do. Competition is the name of the game.

MyIris gives some tips on using your credit card. So too does Deutsche Bank.

If you use them sensibly, credit cards are a boon. As we would say in India “Credit Card, Zindabad!” (Long Live, Credit Card)

Sensex Rockets Past 18,000

The Sensex is a barometer of feelings about the economy. It is the name the man in the street knows for the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index.

Yesterday history was created in India with the Sensex closing at a high of 18,280 – up 789 points. For perspective, the Sensex was at 3390 on January 1, 2003, rose to 5000 in November 2003, reached 10,000 in February 2006, 15,000 in July 2007 and now up to 18,000.

The news that drove such an increase yesterday is attributed by many to indications of political stability with a patch up between the UPA and the Left- even if temporary. The market seems to have shrugged off the political worries with the Left and Congress deciding to take up the Indo-US nuclear deal issue after the festive celebration of Dussehra on Oct 22.

Fortunes, I am sure, were made or lost in the last few days. Invest carefully is my advice.

“October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February”- Mark Twain.

Earnings Abroad To Be Taxed

One of the drivers of the tech driven boom in India has been the earnings of Indian IT professionals while on assignments abroad.

India’s IT employees will have to pay tax on earnings from overseas assignments as per the Authority of Advance Rulings (AAR). A report in the Times of India quotes AAR as saying that there is no escape from paying tax on amounts earned during stints abroad with the employer’s foreign affiliates.

The gist of the ruling in the case of an Infosys employee is that tax on income earned during the deputation abroad has to be paid either in India or in the country in which the deputed employee was working.

IT ( Income Tax not Information Technology in this case!) officials said;”If the company is subject to Indian tax laws, the employee will have to pay taxes in India even if the income was earned overseas and the manager has claimed NRI (non-resident Indian) status by virtue of having spent the stipulated number of days outside the country.”

Educating a Kid in India

Quality education was and will always remain expensive. In recent years, education has become a big item in the expenditure basket. Primarily due to the huge increases in real estate, it has become much more expensive to establish and administer schools, especially in the big cities. The unbridled increase in school fees even led to the intervention of India’s Supreme Court which decreed a cap in school fees.

In this context, The Economic Times estimates that it would cost an average of Rs. 21 lakhs – at today’s prices- to educate a child through school till college.

Safer Banking

Modern banking is very convenient with internet banking, ATMs etc having changed the way we bank. However, there have been innumerable cases of people being cheated – sometimes due to their own carelessness or oversight.

Both tourists to India as well as many Indian themselves have been hapless victims who found huge amounts siphoned off from their bank accounts.

ICICI Bank, one of India’s leading banks has published a list of Safe Banking Tips which is well worth the few minutes it takes to read this.

After all it is better to be safe than sorry!