A couple of weeks back I had written a post about how the slow down will hurt some industries. Fairly clearly those companies (industries) which have a high cash burn ratio – and who cannot reduce fixed costs will bleed first. Financial services industry – life insurance, broking retail, general retail – are all vulnerable. […]

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Last week I was speaking to a cousin who has just retired – and is likely to get a few million in retirement proceeds. Make no mistake she is rich and not really dependent on this amount of money. Her husband earns very well and they are what can be called “upper middle class” by […]

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Along with a software company (www.myirisplus.com) I did financial planning workshops in various parts of the country. Delhi, Kolkatta, Indore, Hyderabad, Bengaluru (Bangalore), Pune, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Andheri, Churchgate, Chennai, Cochin, Trivandrum, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, ….To be honest the response from the ‘IFA’ – the person who sells life insurance and mutual funds to you was […]

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I have had at least 13 calls asking me a simple question: “Should i sell my units in Dsp Merill Lynch?” and “Should I surrender my TATA AIG policy”. Surprisingly the answers to both the questions are a little different. A mutual fund has 2 distinct parts. One is a Trust – which has all […]

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When it comes to analysing corporate performance, individual investors are surely at a disadvantage. You will find it difficult to know how many cars Tata Motors will make in 2009, how many hotel rooms Indian Hotels will be able to sell in Europe, etc. However the “international” fund manager has access to all this and […]

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This is not a debate on whether you will live long or not live long. It is simple and easier to assume that you will live long – pretty long if you ask me. If your grand parents are pushing 85, your father is in his 2nd innings, but still holding a job at the […]

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There are no clear answer to this question which is in the top of mind question for anybody who looks at any kind of insurance (life or general). However, we can see why we buy life insurance: We buy life insurance to replace income lost due to the death of the breadwinner. The amount of […]

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