Have your parents invested in Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS)? Are they planning to invest more in the scheme? Let us see how this scheme has fared and whether you should continue with it.

SCSS is a 5 year scheme, first introduced in 2004. It became very popular as it offered the highest assured return of 9%. You get paid interest each quarter, thus making it beneficial for senior citizens who have no other source of income.

Besides high returns and safety, you also enjoy tax benefit. Investments up to Rs 1 lakh are deductible under section 80C of the Income Tax Act.

But when it comes to renewal, you can only renew the scheme for maximum of 3 years. Also with the entry of direct tax code, there is no guarantee whether the tax benefit will continue.

Moreover these instruments are highly illiquid. It means you are stuck with the investment till the end of tenure. Now if you need cash on an urgent basis, you are stuck. Moreover SCSS is not transferable. So if you want to shift your investment from one bank or post office to another, you will not be able o do it.

Also for those senior citizens who have high investment corpus, SCSS will not offer high returns. In such instances, these investors are better off investing their funds in slightly riskier options like monthly income plans or balanced funds.

Rohit had taken a home loan from a bank for a period of 20 years. The rate of interest on the loan was 13%. When his friend told him that his bank was offering home loan at 11%, he decided to switch over to the new lender. This is called as refinancing the home loan.

Why refinance? For one, it reduces your EMIs. Lower EMIs means you save money. Also you have the option of changing from current high-interest floating rate to low-interest fixed rate. Lastly, your loan tenure will also decrease, thus enabling you to repay your loan faster.

How to refinance your home loan? Well, here are some steps that you need to follow to get your home loan refinanced.

• Check your present home loan: Find out how much you are paying for your current home loan. Check the charges levied by your home loan lender.
• Understand your need: Are you looking to refinance in order to save money? Do you want to speed up your repayment tenure?
• Select the suitable refinance lender: Compare the offerings of various lenders available at various online loan comparison websites. Check the interest rate, terms and conditions and charges and fees of different lenders. Also check out the customer service of selected lender.
• Give the lender an estimate of the value of your property: Show the lender estimated worth of your property and how it has increased over the time. The lender will take into account this value before approving your loan. You will also have to submit details of your income, expenses and other liabilities. This will help the lender decide the amount you are eligible for.
• Start the closure procedure with your current lender: Once your loan is approved, start the closure procedure with your current lender. Your new lender will process your loan after receipt of valid documents.

Every parent wants to give the best for his child. So they start saving for their child’s education. However there are many instruments available in the market that claim to offer best returns for your child’s future. These products are designed exclusively for children. Here are the products meant to give your child the bright future.

• Children’s plans from insurance companies: Many insurance companies offer children’s plans. These are the combination of insurance and investment. While they resemble normal ULIPs, the charges are higher here as these products are specialized products offering guaranteed returns. The insurance cover is more, and even if you are not around your child will remain protected. You can also withdraw money from the policy periodically to meet your child’s educational needs..
• Children’s plans from mutual funds: Similar to insurance companies, mutual funds also offer children’s plans. These are more of debt funds with higher charges than traditional mutual funds.

Now when you choose a typical child’s plan, you will get lower returns than a conventional investment instruments. So what should you do?

Start investing in couple of good equity mutual funds as soon as your child is born. Take a term policy that will offer you high insurance at low premiums. This will ensure you can build a healthy corpus for your child by the time he turns 18.

With effect from 1^st July 2010, base rate system has set in. Base rate has replaced old system of benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR). The problem with BPLR was that banks lent money to large corporates at rates lower than BPLR. This meant large corporates got money cheaply, while others had to pay interest at rates over BPLR. RBI has introduced base rate with the aim of introducing transparency in the lending system.

So how will you as a home loan borrower be affected? It is likely the home loans will go up. This is because banks won’t be permitted to lend below base rate. Now home loans are very competitive and banks have been lowering their interest rates to attract more customers. Now all that is slated to stop. So you will end up having to pay more.

There are many instances in our lives when we may experience sudden cash crunch. It could be due to sudden illness, job loss, death of the main earning member in the family. In such a situation, it is very easy for us to opt for a personal loan in order to tide over our crisis.

Why personal loan? This is because personal loan is easily available. There is no need to submit excess documentation as well as collateral. In certain cases, you can get the loan within 2 minutes on the telephone. Moreover unlike other loans, you are free to use the money for any purpose. You don’t have to declare your purpose to the bank.

But is it right for you? You need to ask this question because as the personal loan does not need any collateral, it becomes an unsecured loan. Any unsecured loan carries high rate of interest than a secured loan like car or home loan. This means EMIs in this case will be higher. You should be comfortable repaying the EMI, failing which you wil be labeled as a defaulter.

So what should do? If you are not able to pay the high EMIs, you can consider other options. Do you have an FD with a bank? If yes, then you can take a loan against FD, as its rate is slightly higher than the rate of FD. If you have shares, you can avail of loan against shares. Nowadays many banks also offer gold loans against your gold jewelry.

Why go for these loans? Simple, they are cheaper. Interest on any secured loan is cheaper than an unsecured loan. This will lower your EMIs and thus save you money.

Media reports keep on harping about market volatility. This makes prospective investors scared about entering the markets. They shun stocks as they fear that they may end up losing their money. As a result they lose out on golden opportunity to make money in the stocks.

But every investor must realize that volatility is an inherent part of stock markets. Instead of shunning volatility, it is very important to make volatility your friend. Here is how.

Focus on your long term goal: It is very easy to be affected by the daily market movements. It can make you sell your holding or stop your investments. However this is going to affect your goal achievement. Instead if you keep your eyes on your long-term goal, you will get better returns. Remember “Your time in the market is more important than timing the market” is the key to successful investing. Just take care to review your portfolio periodically.

Overcome your fears: It is easy to get scared when the market crashes. But remember what goes up comes down and vice versa. Markets work in cycles and while your stocks may lose value in the short-term, they will recover their lost ground over a period of time. Also when the market crashes, find out if the crash is due to change in fundamentals or due to some event that is not related to your stocks’ fundamentals.

Diversification: The secret to protecting your investments is diversification. Spread your investments amongst stocks of different sectors, capitalizations as well as amongst asset classes like bank deposits, gilts, gold, real estate and stocks.

Invest in quality stocks: Stocks with strong fundamentals tend to recover faster than those with weak fundamentals. So it is better to invest in such stocks with a long-term perspective ( at least 4-5 years). In fact you can look at any market crash as an opportunity to buy such stocks at cheap prices.

In short, don’t let market volatility scare you. It is the nature of the stocks to be volatile. Use it smartly to benefit from it by using the tips mentioned above.

In today’s world, everyone needs additional source of income to meet rising costs. While your salary will pay majority of your expenses, having additional income does help.

Now you must be wondering how to earn extra income. Well, then here are some good tips to earn additional income

• Interest: Do you have an FD with a company or bank? Or you may be holding a recurring deposit with bank or post office.  Then you can opt for receipt of interest, which you can use as extra income.
• Dividends: If you hold shares or mutual fund units and have opted for dividend option, this can be your source of income.
• Rent: Renting out your home or car can fetch you rent, which can be a source of additional income.
• Residual income: Are you an insurance agent or in networking marketing? The commissions you earn will become your residual income. Even if you are not working, you can continue to get income.
• Selling on ebay: Ebay lets people sell items and earn revenue. This can be done either as a part-time or full-time business.
• Part-time work: Do you love preparing food items or handicrafts? If so, you can sell them and earn a good income. You can also take tuitions as a source of your part-time income.

Besides this, any lottery winnings, inheritance, etc will also contribute to your monthly income.

Recently ULIPs were in the news when SEBI had directed 14 insurance companies not to issue any new ULIPs. SEBI contended that despite being an insurance product, ULIP had a high proportion of investment and thus should be regulated by SEBI. However in reality IRDA regulates the insurance products including ULIPs.

The case went to the court and the government had to step in and hand over the jurisdiction of ULIPs to IRDA. But in this war, it is ultimately you the customer has lost. Wondering why? Here is why.

This is because mutual funds and ULIPs do not have level playing field. While mutual funds are not allowed o pay upfront commission to its agents, ULIP agents can pay commission as high as 40% to its agents. As a result, many financial advisors tend to push ULIPs on their unsuspecting clients. Now remember, this commission comes from your investment.

The drawback of ULIP is that you need to keep your investment for at least 10 years to recover this upfront commission. This despite what many insurance agents tell you that you can keep on investing only for 3 years. Also the insurance cover is very low than what you would get for half the investment had you opted for term plan.

Moreover returns from ULIPs are not guaranteed as it is a market-linked product. Thus looking at drawbacks of ULIPs it is advisable to stay away from ULIPs. But with IRDA winning the battle against SEBI, it is the customer who has lost.

Manish was advised by his mutual fund advisor to invest in a mutual fund that had just announced a dividend of 10%. Accordingly, Manish invested in the fund only to find that the value of the fund had decreased. Manish was shocked with this development as he considered the dividend from the mutual fund same as that of the dividend from the stock.

Manish is not alone. There are many such gullible investors who are taken for a ride by unscrupulous financial advisors. Also sheer ignorance makes people think dividends from mutual funds are the same as the dividends from stocks. But this is not true. Here are the differences between both of them.

When a company declares a dividend, it does so from its income. But when a mutual fund declares a dividend, it does so from the capital appreciation of its NAV. Now the money with the mutual fund is your money as the fund’s job is to collect money from multiple investors and invest in different companies on your behalf. When the share prices of the underlying companies go up, it will push up the NAV of the find, which the fund will then give as a dividend.

The share price of the company is decided by the market and not by the dividend. But in case of a mutual fund, the NAV of the fund decreases by the value of the dividend declared. E.g if the NAV of the fund is Rs. 20 and the fund declares a dividend of Rs 4, the NAV of the fund after the dividend would be Rs. 16.

Also unlike shares, opting for dividend will help in growth of your investment. Hence if you are looking to save for any long-term goal like retirement or children’s education, go for the growth option. So next time your mutual fund broker advises you to invest in a mutual fund just because it is giving a dividend, ignore it.

Want to invest for high returns but also want to reduce risk? Then opt for ETFs. While ETFs are not popular in India, they are very much in demand in the US.

Now you may be wondering, what are ETFs and why have I not heard about them before. For one, they are a new entry in India and another is that you can invest in them through brokers who are more interested in making money though trading than marketing the ETFs.

Here let us take a look at what is an ETF and how does it work

What is an ETF?

ETF is also called as an exchange traded fund and is a type mutual fund. However it differs from a traditional mutual fund in that it simply tracks the underlying index. This means unlike a normal mutual fund, an ETF is passively managed. There is no frequent buying and selling of securities as it normally occurs with a traditional mutual fund. This reduces the chances of fund manager making mistake  while selecting securities. Moreover an ETF can invest in shares , gold silver or even debt. It can also invest in a certain sector.

When an ETF is first launched, it is offered by the fund house. But after the ETF opens for subscription, it is listed on the stock exchange just like shares of a company. You then have to approach a broker to trade in the ETF. Just like shares, units of an ETF can be traded during the market hours, thus letting you benefit from market movement.

An ETF invests in the stocks of the companies included in the underlying index in the same proportion as is present in the benchmark index. E.g. if RIL, ICICI Bank and ONGC constitute 8%, 5% and 3% of the benchmark index, then the ETF will invest in these stocks in the same proportion. In this respect, it is similar to an index fund. However unlike index funds, ETFs don’t need a lot of investment and have a lower expense ratio.

How to benefit from ETF?

Go to a broker and open a demat account. Then start buying units of an ETF with an amount as small as Rs. 1000. However as they are mutual fund, do watch out for expense ratio, as expenses can erode the returns of the fund. Keep on investing by taking benefit of the market movements. With low expense ratio, low chance of error and superior performance, ETFs are the winner all the way.