Category: Links

Does anyone remember when I wrote about the garlic bubble? If you thought that was crazy then check this out. It seems that the Chinese government is trying to cool down its property market by limiting the number of houses a family can buy, and couples there are getting fake divorce certificates to overcome those laws!

I present to you the headline of this week:

China: Go long property by shorting your own marriage @ Beyond Brics A lot of this is anecdotal evidence, but still makes for a fun read.

Shabbir does a great review of ShareKhan PMS

Weakonomics tells you about the 5 best investments for an infinite future

Read about how you can get a car loan @ The Digerati Life

Frank shocks me by looking at studies that say markets aren’t driven fully by economics

And finally, a combination of two of the best viral memes doing the round these days.

My friend Shivani really loves owls, and you just have to visit her blog My Owl Barn to see what I mean. Some time ago, she came up with this great idea of creating a calendar based on an owl theme, and after months  it’s completed and all done now. The result is truly beautiful, and you can check out and download her owl calendar for free here.

You can download a pre-made PDF copy, or even customize your own, as there are quite a few cute owl pictures to select from. A great idea and even better execution, go see the calendar now, then return to these other links.

Now let me present to you something else that’s very visual, but not in a cute way – if you haven’t seen the Economist’s world debt interactive , then that’s a good thing to check out as well.

It shows the change in debt level of almost every country since 1999, and has also got a world debt clock, which reminds me of a ticking time bomb. It’s quite something, go check it out.

Here are some other good posts I read this week:

Gold hits our $1350 target; now what? @ The Big Picture

How to buy health insurance @ Value Research

How to invest in a mutual fund online @ Subramoney

Difference between Chariman, CEO and President @ Weakonomics

Mint Money Guides @ Mint Money

Bank accounts for people with bad credit @ Digerati Life

4 Ways to build an emergency fund @ Smarter Wallet

Will the developed economies recover (any time soon)? @ Sandip Sabharwal

And finally, let me link to this great round – up and summary by Kid Dynamite on his blog. There are some good pieces there including the whole deal about firemen watching a house burn because the owner didn’t pay the annual subscription.

Enjoy your weekend!

The best thing I read this week was Wesabe’s co-founder’s post explaining why he felt Wesabe lost out to Mint. Most of you probably know about Mint because they have entered the Indian market as well, and Wesabe was a similar website which was launched ahead of Mint but couldn’t compete with them and shut shop earlier this year.

This post is really great because it is so brutally honest, and I can only imagine how painful it must be for an entrepreneur to not only close down their business, but then dissect it with the honesty that is showed here. It touches upon some important aspects of managing personal finances, and is a must read.

Bad Money Advice does these great posts at the end of every month where he highlights some trends from the PF blogosphere, and as usual it is witty and makes for a great read.

The Psy – Fi blog is becoming one of my favorite blogs because of the wit and the clarity of thought displayed there, and I present to you another great post titled dying to invest.

Among other interesting reads this week:

How to overcome communication fears @ HBR

Don’t trade a boss for something worse @ Financial Samurai

Best home based business ideas @ The Digerati Life

Commission oriented advice @ Capital Mind

Amazon debuts Kindle for web @ TechCrunch

How to make your Windows startup faster @ Digital Inspiration

Enjoy your weekend!

For me, the top two posts for this week are Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, and Sandip Sabharwal asking investors to be cautious. The markets have been booming lately, and you hear a lot of positive chatter on how this target will be breached, and that target will breached, so it is good to hear some cautious voices also.

With that said, here are some interesting links for this week: 

Risks to the market @ Sandip Sabharwal: Thoughts on the recent rally.

Jhunjhunwala turns cautious as stocks surge @ Bloomberg: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala sharing his thoughts on the market.

Marital Insurance: Protection from your better half @ Weakonomist: So there is this company that pays you if you get divorced! Not kidding, this is a serious post.

Eat your stocks @ Psy Fi Blog: A great read which tells you about an experiment to teach monkeys to trade, which showed how closely our thought processes really are.

China leads the clean economy race @ HBR: This post from HBR talks to how far China is ahead of other nations in terms of clean energy.

Getting a No @ AVC: A very good post from Fred Wilson about how to react when you get a no. This was a really good post, and I think a skill a lot of us need to learn. Personally, ever since I started blogging I’ve had to hear no a lot of times, and lately had to say no a lot of times as well. I am glad to see that I do the right thing according to Fred.

Should you pay off loans or invest your money @ Digerati Life: I’ve seen a lot of versions of this debate, the right answer really depends on your personality, but a good reminder of the factors.

I’ll start this week with a great economics video that I came across via The Baseline Scenario. It is about randomized experiments to see which measures are best fighting poverty. This video is really inspiring, and I’d strongly recommend watching it.

Other links:

P/E Expansion and Contraction @ The Big Picture

The rising trade deficit is a concern @ Sandip Sabherwal

Spamonomics @ Psy – Fi Blog

Facebook Places in New Hampshire turns into a real life PleaseRobMe.com @ TechCrunch

Principle, Bravery and the X – Factor @ HBR

How college students can save money @ Digerati Life

Smart Tips for Budgeting Your Money @ Smarter Wallet

Frugal Friday Back to School Edition @ Bad Money Advice

I discovered the Delhi Traffic Police page on Facebook today, and have been amazed by it. There are about 20,000 people who like it, and it appears to me that people report on traffic violations on the page, and then Delhi Police responds and takes action on the incidents (not all of them I guess). I just read a comment about a hospital that I know quite well, and how cars were blocking its entrance, and then the folks at Delhi Police responded saying that they are going to take immediate action!

The fact that Delhi Police has a Facebook page is quite amazing in itself, but when they respond to comments, and take action – that is quite incredible. Kudos to them for being so tech-savvy, and helping citizens in this way. Quite incredible!

I came across this via an awesome post at the India Business Blog, where they discuss other unusual, and inspiring uses of Facebook in India.

While we are on the subject, let me do a little bit of shameless self-promotion. I have recently created a Facebook page for OneMint, so if you are on Facebook, and like OneMint as well, then please do like OneMint on Facebook, and spread the word among your friends too.

On to other stuff now, – I really liked this post at TechCrunch – Bill Gates: In Five Years The Best Education Will Come From The Web. Internet is obviously changing the way knowledge is being delivered, and we will see some great innovations on this space in the years to come.

Finance related pieces that caught my eye this week:

Value Research had an interesting piece on the MOSt 50 ETF, and how it is underweight on RIL.

India  – the jewel crown in Standard Chartered’s crown @ beyondbrics was a good read about StanChart in India.

How does option “Exercise” Work? at Capital Minds is a good primer on the subject.

Learning about inflation from a box of eggs @ Ajay Shah is a good way of analyzing the subject.

DIY Projects to Save Money: Should you take them on? @ Digerati Life is a question that a lot of us have thought about at one time or another.

That’s all for this week, enjoy your weekend everyone!

Here are some interesting articles I found this week:

1. Firefox 4 Beta 1 is smart looking, snappy @ Reuters

2. 5 Golden Rules to save for retirement @ Smarter Wallet

3. Is A Liberal Arts Education Worth it @ Digerati Life

4. India, US sign final nuclear pact, prepare for Obama visit @ Business Standard

5. Lack of consumer spending points to U.S. economic slowdown @ Bloomberg

6. The web’s new goldmine: Your secrets @ WSJ

Enjoy your Sunday!

Here are a few interesting links I found this week.

By now you must have seen the new Rupee symbol, and if you are interested in using it with MS Word, there is a font available that lets you do it. This link tells you how to use it. As far as I can tell, the font will only work on MS Word, and if you send the document to someone else, that person should have the font installed to be able to see the Rupee symbol.

Capital Mind has a good post and great comments on how Direct Tax Code will keep equity gains tax free till April 1 2011.

Tip Blog talks about buying stocks which are seemingly high, or waiting till the next market downturn?

The Psy Fi blog has an interesting post on Weightless Economies and story of a tax gone wrong in the UK.

Scott Adams has a post on conversations on his blog that is quite good, and touches upon how a lot of people don’t understand what it is to make good conversation. He further talks about how the Dale Carnegie course gave him knowledge that was a life-changing.

Digital Inspiration tells you how you can watch Indian TV live on your PC or Mobile phone.

TechCrunch talks about voice blogging and how Bubble Motion’s voice blogging service has 1.2 million paid subscribers in India. I didn’t even know such a thing existed.

The Digerati Life has an interesting post on a healthy and colorful diet.

Enjoy these posts, and if you have a related blog, please leave links in comments.

I’ve had to unexpectedly travel and that’s why I have been quite over the past couple of weeks. There is still some travel in store in the coming few days, but I expect to get back on track as far as writing is concerned.

After several days I got a chance to read for a few hours today, and here are some links that I thought were worth sharing.

Too much anger, and too few ideas. America needs a better alternative to Barack Obama @ Economist

Why do we not have quality investigative reports in India @ Prof. Jayanth R. Varma

Mukesh back in telecoms with InfoTel @ Financial Express

TipBlog Portfolio Update 1h 2010 @ Tip Blog

Five Questions to build a strategy @ HBR

Greed’s not good for shareholders @ Psy Fi Blog

Why online banking customer satisfaction matters @ The Digerati Life

Ally Bank: Review of online banking services @ Smarter Wallet

Posting has been light most of last week, and is likely going to be light for the next couple of weeks as well. Here are some links that I got time to check out during the week.

S&P 500 Trading Video @ Smarter Wallet

Build a loan portfolio with Lending Club @ Digerati Life

Five questions to build a strategy @ HBR

Wall Street CEO are nuts @ Baseline Scenario

ComScore is now free for startups @ Tech Crunch

How to pitch bloggers @ Pro Blogger

Why big businesses will never win over mom and pop shops @ Mint