Most people do not know what is their biggest asset. They then say – it is my house, my equity portfolio, my car, etc. However then I lead them to the next question: Have you borrowed for your house? They jump and say yes. My house cost me 93 lakhs – i put Rs. 12L […]

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I have a brilliant friend who has worked for many big and important media houses. He told me once – when he was heading a magazine – “I have made up my mind, please do not confuse me with the facts!”. This was when he was doing a story on mutual funds and unit linked […]

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I recently heard of a motor cycle accident – 27 year old boy…need I say more? Wife has a 3 year old kid and one more coming into the world. It was a love marriage with not much blessing from the boy’s side. About 6 months back it looked like a typical fairy tale. A […]

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this appeared in the personal finance section of reuters.in under my byline Escape from Debt If all the people who talk to me are sensible, well educated people, how is it that the Human Relations Managers of many companies call me for asking questions like “Can we do a 3 hour session on how to […]

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Costing is a difficult subject. It is difficult not only when you are a student (ask anybody who has passed CA in the ’80s) but also in real life. However it can at least be attempted. However benefits are far more difficult to quantify. When people ask me what is the cost of term life […]

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For many of us who sell life insurance, we dread the call from the client’s nominee asking for a claim form, do we not? However, do we expect a call from a client to say “Thanks for the term life insurance that I took from you last year, I am alive, but am happy to […]

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Many people think they (and the industry tells them) that they are eligible for a “home loan”, car loan, personal loan, credit card loan etc. Actually this is not true. You only get a loan against your Form 16, which means this is a loan against your future earning capacity. Imagine telling a lender that […]

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