A lot of you reply to the daily emails with suggestions for posts, and I really appreciate that because it gives me post ideas, and I can write about stuff that is most relevant to you.
Normally, I take the gist of your suggestion; create a title of the post, and note it down on a virtual sticky note. But, the issue with this is that it is easy enough to miss an email, and sometimes the titles on the sticky notes don’t make any sense to me when I look at them later on.
So, I am creating a page here that is specifically for your suggestions for posts. You can leave a comment here suggesting an idea for a post, and if I know enough about the topic I will write about it.
That way we won’t lose track of anything you say, and if multiple people suggest the same topic for a post then I know that it should be written prior to moving on to other things.
Thanks for reading – and writing!
Please explain something about the processes that are being exercised in calculating Dearness Allowances for the Salaried Class
Dearness allowance? I don’t think I’ll be able to write about it – I don’t know anything about how that is calculated or what it entails.
Check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dearness_allowance
Suggested Topic: How ” INFLATION” rate is calculated.
Thanks for the subject how GDP is calculated. Similarly this subject of INFLATION may be explained in simple terms. Thanks regards.
Good suggestion – I’ll have a post on that in the future.
There is a lot of talk about GDP .Can you please do a review explaining how GDP of India is calculated , what are the activities considered in GDP,who calculates it Etc
Yeah, that’s a good topic, especially with the news in today. Thanks for your suggestion.
Makes complete seense. Thank you.
Hi Manshu,
Thanks for the interesting and informative posts. Have one question-
I want to invest a lumpsum amount of money to generate some monthly income for my parents after their retirement. They will be in lowest tax bracket. A comparison between different available options (return%, ease of maintenance etc) will be greatly appreciated.
-ARC
Hi ARC,
That’s a good suggestion – I can think of only two options right now – Senior Citizens Saving Scheme (Post Office) and Senior Citizens Fixed Deposits (Banks). The other options that come to mind like annuities of insurance companies or other monthly income plans don’t yield that well. Let me look at this in detail and write a post on this.
Thanks!
Thank you for taking time to reply me. I will look into details of those 2 suggestions you mentioned. What’s your opinion about regular monthly redemption of a Growth debt based mutual fund as an indirect method?
I think a detail post on this topic will be helpful for many people.
It adds complexity and uncertainty and if the tax bracket is not high then I don’t think that’s worth it. As a matter of fact I did write FMPs in my original comment but then I deleted it because first you don’t know what return you will get and second the main lure for these instruments is that they are tax efficient but in your case that might not be a factor at all.
However, I think your idea does merit a deeper look and I’d like some time to think about it. Thanks again!
Portfolio for a Modern Indian
Hi Manshu,
You seem very knowledgeable about most of the Indian investment opportunities and your blog seem to attract quite a lot educated persons too. Why don’t you start a collaborative (probably first of its kind in India) model asset allocation and diversification post for an average middle class Indian?
There are so many avenues of investment but people in India still struggle to find the right balance in their asset allocation to achieve that peaceful and prosperous retirement fund after 25/30 years. Many of them don’t even know about the demons of inflation, taxation and investment costs etc.
I know one shoe does not fit all but collaboratively (with data backing up) we can find a model portfolio for a single regularly earning individual which can be extrapolated by anybody interested according to his family composition.
Given that DTC is coming in effect next year and it is going to stay for a long long time, we pretty much know the implications for various investments.
We of course wont suggest any specific investment instrument like a specific mutual fund or a stock but a general idea about how one should go about investing to get an optimum return at the start of the retirement. And since it is collaborative, with a proper disclaimer I don’t think anybody is going to hold you accountable for anything.
What do you think?
(btw, I might also start the same on my upcoming blog but wanted to use your platform)
That’s a good idea but it’s much beyond the bandwidth I currently have and I think people will need so much customization that the time spent on constructing one is better utilized in reviewing different products. Plus I’m not too keen on collaborating with anyone right now because I like to do things on my own schedule as far as the blog is concerned.
But all the best in trying to do this with your blog.
Not sure if you’ve already done so before – can you publish a post on home insurance? Especially, what are the options available, what risks are included/excluded etc. Thanks in advance.
That’s a good idea Mandar – I have no knowledge of home insurance but I think it’s time to look at some policies and learn a bit about it. I’ll try to write a post on it in the future.
I would like to request you to post your views on different types of Mediclaim policies , benefits of having it in early age other than tax benefit, also expect your views to have a policy from Natiolised Insurace co. against private Insurance co.
Regards,
Shailesh
I don’t know much about mediclaim policies so not sure how useful my post will be but I will try to write one up about it.
Hi Manshu –
It will be great idea if you can post a topic on “How to read Balance Sheets?” of companies. I understand that it might be a complex topic. Probably you can stagger it across few posts.
I went through the archives as much as I can but couldn’t find something on that topic. Pls let me know in case I missed any post on that topic.
Thanks,
Mani
Hi Mani,
Thanks for the suggestion – that is indeed a good idea thought slightly complex and will have to be staggered as you suggest. I’ll write on it though it may take time because there’s already quite a bit of back log here.
Thanks for your suggestion.
Thanks Manshu for considering the request. Surely I can wait until you get through the other items on your list. Meanwhile do you have any books to recommend on this topic for beginners like me?
Any book that they use to teach finance 101 in MBAs will be a good start – I can’t quite recall what the name was of the book I used but you could pick one up that’s easily accessible to you.
I’d also recommend reading Prof. Aswath Damodaran’s website and blog to help with this. You could start that immediately and he takes real examples which makes it really interesting.
Here are the links:
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/
http://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/
Thanks Manshu! Appreciate your help very much!!
Great, you’re welcome!
Dear Sir
I am a regular reader of yours. I find them very interesting and informative. i also have a little question for you.
Can you tell the better investment between PPF and bank FDs. Also the implementation date for the increased limit for the PPF account.
One more thing, is it advisable to continue the PPF for another 5 years after completion of its tenture of 15 yrs.
Thanks & Regards
Prashant
Better investment b/w PPF & FD depends on how soon you need the money really. With PPF it’s locked for 15 years right so even if you earn more in PPF – the fact that it’s locked for such a long period will surely come into play for a lot of people.
I will schedule this post and write about it in the future. Thanks for the suggestion.
This is about the tax liability of income received.I pay Rs 4 Lacs to my wife thro a cheque.She invests the amount in Bank FD and earns interest of Rs 36000/ in a year. As I understand my wife need not pay any tax on Rs 4 Lacs she has received nor she has to pay any tax on Rs 36000 interest she has received.Only I have to pay tax on Rs 36000 interest which she has earned.Is my assumption correct?
That’s my understanding as well, and your wife doesn’t have any income of her own right?
it appears that the dtc might not be passed this fiscal, in that case doesn’t this mean it’s better to invest in fmp’s and other mutual fund products compared to co or bank fd’s.
Even when DTC passes – it would just rule out double indexation – FMPs will still be eligible for indexation and will be more tax efficient.
Could you review two products of Max New York Life at leisure viz. Life Gain Plus and Life Partner Plus?
To be honest, I’ve never heard of these products 🙂
I’ll try to review them in the future. Right now I have 17 drafts that I’d like to get finished first 🙂
The concept of special interest rates on FD of a specific tenure has been here for quite some time. Ex. ICICI offers 9.25% on 390 day deposit but only 8.25% on a 391 day deposit. Is this just a way for them to get better focus on certain tenures and be able to reduce asset liability mismatch or is there something more to it?
I’m sorry I won’t be able to write about this because I don’t know why they do this. I’ve asked a few people that I thought would know but even they weren’t able to come up with a satisfactory answer. I don’t think it’s because of the asset liability mismatch because everything close to that maturity should come up to the same high interest rate in that case.
I am not familiar with investing approah. Only after reading your mails regularly, iam getting to know the factors to be considered for investing. still i am in the early stages of learning.But i had been investing in some shares and mutual funds before simply on the advice of others. I have lost track and the papers which are available with me are confusing. I do not know how much i have invested and how much i have lost. can you suggest me how to read my portfolio and understand. Is there any software which guides me through this mess and enables me to approach this investment systematically.
regards
ganesan
Hmmm this shouldn’t be all the difficult – all stocks and mutual funds are Demat right? And do you get Demat statements or you know how to check them online?
All my investments are in de mat except one gold etf. But guide me how to access my account via internet. the statement given by the demat service provider in chennai is not clear.
Gold ETF has to be in Demat – there’s no other way to hold it. Look at your statements and it should be there, maybe by a name that you don’t recognize. You should have a list of holdings with names in your Demat statement and that’s all you need.
I don’t think anyone other than your service provider can tell you how to access it online so call them and get their assistance. But I think your statement should enough. Just copy paste all the names here and I’ll let you know how to find their current prices.
thank you manshu
Money Managament Software, which manage all the investments of all the family members say users like FD in various banks, Bonds, RD, KVP, NSC etc for all members and also warn me for the interst earned in each financial year for all family members.
Is there any software like this available ?
I don’t know about that Paresh – I assume you have seen Perfios and MProfit and are aware of what they can do?
Manshu,
I aware abt prefios and Mprofit is not of my use.
I need desktop version, no online business.
Do you suggest something.
No, nothing.
Dear Manshu,
I am not sure whether we have an article about the PPF in post office saving scheme in ONEMINT. If we dont have an article can you please write about it. Also if there is an article please share the link.
Thanks.
Karthik – Chennai
No, there isn’t one till now Karthik – that’s a good suggestion and I’ll write about it in the future.