If you have wondered what are soft commissions here is the answer. There are some legitimate expenses and some not so legitimate expenses. Soft commissions are what sales people call ‘entitlements’. It could be in the form of a contest – the top 100 winners go on an all paid trip to South Africa, Goa, […]
A few days ago I was watching a personal finance program on ET TV. How some statements are now being thrown about is very surprising – and amusing if one were not bothered about the side effects. A portfolio for a 55 year old individual (5 years to go for retirement) was about 50% in […]
Why we do things and why we do not do things is largely a function of our habits. We do not do things we like – we may have liked it the first time around, but now we do it because it is a habit. Most Americans do not contribute to a 401(k) plan because […]
A few days ago I had spoken about the ‘Honest truth’ – Ajit Dayal (who runs a mutual fund and a big mutual fund distribution business) is the author. He has recently written about the ET discussion on mutual funds. He sounds a little sore about not being called to the summit. Surprising, because the […]
The US government is pouring out AID this week to a number of financial companies under several of its recently instituted ‘support’ programs. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo, and GE Capital are now in various stages of selling bonds backed by the government, thus lowering the rates they would have […]
So, What are the Ten Roads? More importantly, what will work for you? 1. Start a successful business—the richest road! Sure you can become a Bill Gates or a Azim Premji. However even if you do not become so successful you may still be able to make a couple of crores – not bad. This […]
This is the headline that Jonathan Weil used in his article in Bloomberg. You must read the full article. Here is a summary: Freddie had accumulated $ 34.3 billion (yes Billion) of paper losses, but excluded them from calculation of regulatory capital. All Freddie had to do was say the losses were “temporary” and they […]