Many people including family has screamed at my idea of renting instead of buying a house (rather any asset). My idea is quite simple. Whatever you use has a cost. The cost of any product is made up of materials, overheads, interest, depreciation, and manufacturer’s margin. If you use a taxi say for 20 hours […]
I know this may sound sacrilegious, but the housing loan (mortgage) interest deduction is the most over-rated tax strategy in existence. I constantly hear happy “homeowners“ boasting about how much money they “saved“ with their mortgage interest deduction. Asking your boss to reduce your salary would perhaps have the same effect. If you are in […]
Half the country’s population is now an agent. So it is quite unlikely that nobody has approached you with a “you must have this …insurance policy” kind of spleen. However, you may or may not have agreed. Most of us doubt the credentials of the person who pitches any product to us. Insurance is worse. […]
I am normally against loans for buying things – all my blogs say that. So if you think I am breaking my own rules, well let me clarify. I will give you reasons for NOT repaying the loans in a hurry. The reasons are simple: 1. We will continue to inflate, so if you have […]
“Never a borrower nor a lender be” because a loan normally loses itself and the friend. This is an old adage right? Surely Nehru, Gandhi, Rajaji did not have a credit card but their great grand children would all be carrying a credit card, maybe a housing loan (or home mortgage as yankees say it), […]
The idea of life-insurance will probably first come your way when you are planning your tax returns. That’s how it is for most Indians – insurance is a tax saving device. Well, there is a lot more to life insurance that it pays to know. Let’s begin by looking at every step of getting insurance. […]