From the category archives:

Financial Planning

Claim Settlement Ratio for Life Insurance Companies for 2011-12

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Insurance ->Others ->Uncategorized on January 12th, 2013

For people looking to buy a term insurance plan, annual premium charged for the term plan and claim settlement ratio of the life insurance company are two very important considerations apart from other important considerations like their specific need, product features, customer service of the company etc. In this article we have compared the claim [...]

Succession Planning: Making a WILL

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Taxation ->Uncategorized on September 14th, 2012

Introduction Almost a decade back, the owner of one of India’s biggest business conglomerate died inestate. He did not leave behind a WILL. Some time down the line after the father’s death, ownership issues came up among the two sons as to how the business, built by their father and the sons together, will be [...]

News Updates

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on August 17th, 2012

TruFixed Home Loan from HDFC On Independence Day, HDFC has introduced TruFixed Home Loan, a fixed rate home loan product. Under this product the interest rate will be fixed for a maximum tenure of 10 years. Tenure of the loan: Customer can choose a fixed interest rate tenure for 3 to 10 years. Beyond 10 [...]

Calculation of Income Tax Payable and Filing of Tax Returns for Assessment Year 2012-13

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Taxation ->Uncategorized on July 21st, 2012

Introduction The process of e-filing of income tax returns is very easy to use and should be the preferred route for salaried individuals and other individuals. Infact filing income tax returns electronically (e-filing) has been made mandatory from Assessment Year 2012-13 for individuals / HUFs who have income of more than Rs. 10 lakhs. In [...]

Free Recharge

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Others ->Uncategorized on May 25th, 2012

Introduction Few months back while surfing the internet I came across an advertisement that claimed to recharge my mobile free of cost. I was surprised as well as curious to know how that could be possible. I clicked on the ad and was taken to a website www.freecharge.in. On having a detailed look at the [...]

Grievance Rederessal Procedure in Life Insurance

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Insurance on April 7th, 2012

Introduction Sandeep Roy is an angry man! One month back, he had purchased a single premium payment life insurance plan for which he had provided a cheque of Rs 1.5 lakh to his insurance agent. But when he received the policy document, to his dismay, he found that company has issued him a regular premium [...]

How to plan Your Retirement

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on March 25th, 2012

Goal Based Financial Planning – Building a Retirement FundSandeep is a 28 year old guy staying with wife Karuna and 1 year old son Praveen. Sandeep is a fitness freak; he goes for a jog everyday early morning in a garden near his house. One day after a jog, he was relaxing on a bench. [...]

How to build a Marriage Fund for your Child’s Marriage

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on March 24th, 2012

Goal Based Financial Planning – Building a Marriage FundArjun is a 30 year computer engineer staying with wife Tina and two year old son Ganesh. In office, Arjun was recently approached by his supervisor Ramesh (aged 50 years) for financial help for his son’s marriage. Arjun bailed out his supervisor with a temporary loan and [...]

How to accumulate Gold for Daughter’s Wedding

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Others ->Uncategorized on March 23rd, 2012

Goal Based Financial Planning – Building a Gold Fund Recently I saw a television advertisement of PCJ (PC Jeweller), a well known gold retailer. The advertisement shows a nuclear family and the little daughter enjoying the wedding photographs of her parents. The mother happily points at one of her wedding picture and tells the daughter [...]

Investing in Mutual Funds

Introduction Rajiv Menon is a 44 year old paedtrician who has been investing in different types of mutual funds since last few months on the basis of advice given by his friends. But Rajiv is not very sure of the difference in the types of funds that he has been investing in and is curious [...]

Group Buying Websites – Great Deals at Big Discounts

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on March 6th, 2012

I am a food enthusiast and I love to dine out on the weekend. I am always on the lookout for dinning discounts on credit card statements, internet ads, in the newspapers, coupons, magazines, leaflets, vouchers and other media. A discount of 10-15% also excites me and I grab it. Some time back while surfing [...]

Claim Settlement Ratio for Life Insurance Companies for 2010-11

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Insurance ->Others ->Uncategorized on February 7th, 2012

Claim Settlement Ratio for Life Insurance Companies for 2011-12 Are you looking for comparison of claim settlement ratios of life insurance companies for 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. Are you looking for analysis of various term plans offered by life insurance companies and the comparison of premiums charged by them. Click here to read more…. ___________________________________________________________________ [...]

Infrastructure Bonds and Tax Free Bonds

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Fixed Income Securities ->Others ->Taxation on February 2nd, 2012

Introduction The year 2011 was not very good for the Indian equity markets. The market indices Nifty 50 and Sensex 30 ended with losses of around 25% and the losses in most individual stocks were even higher. The New Year has arrived and it is February and tax planning season has started. Like his annual [...]

Planning Your Child’s Higher Education

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Insurance ->Others ->Uncategorized on November 19th, 2011

Goal Based Financial Planning (I) – Child Education Planning Introduction Every parent aspires his / her child to make a successful career when he / she grows up. Good quality education forms the base for that. Parents start planning for their child’s education the moment the child is born. Parents leave no stone unturned and [...]

Managing Home Loans in a Rising Interest Rate Scenario

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on July 30th, 2011

Introduction Manish is a 30 year old person working in a private company. Manish’s family includes his wife (homemaker), 3 year old daughter, and retired parents. Manish had taken a home loan of 25 lakhs 1 year back at 8.5% for 20 years with a monthly EMI of Rs. 21696. Apart from repaying the home [...]

Online Term Insurance Plans

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Insurance on June 17th, 2011

Introduction Ganesh is a 30 year old engineer working in a manufacturing company. Ganesh’s family includes his wife (homemaker), a 5 year old daughter (Komal) and retired parents. Ganesh has a 20 year home loan of Rs. 25 lakhs which he is servicing since the last 2 years. He has a 5 years car loan [...]

Investing in Silver – E-Silver

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Others on June 12th, 2011

Introduction When it comes to investing in precious metals, the first choice for people is gold. Silver is often considered as the poor cousin of gold. But in the last one year the prices of silver shot up from around Rs. 26,000 per kg to hit a high of Rs. 70,000 and currently settle down [...]

Sample Financial Plan

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on April 18th, 2011

Financial Plan for Mr. ABC Current Details Mr. ABC is 29 years old. He is married. The couple together is currently drawing a net monthly salary of Rs 80,000. Out of this Mr. ABC sends Rs 15000 every month to his parents. Their current monthly expenses are Rs 22000 (which includes rent of Rs 10,000 [...]

Claim Settlement Ratio for Life Insurance Companies (2009-2010)

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on March 16th, 2011

Claim Settlement Ratio for Life Insurance Companies for 2011-12 Are you looking for comparison of claim settlement ratios of life insurance companies for 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. Are you looking for analysis of various term plans offered by life insurance companies and the comparison of premiums charged by them. Click here to read more…. ___________________________________________________________________ [...]

Comparison of Retirement Plans

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on March 15th, 2011

Introduction Life is very uncertain. For the family bread earner unexpected early death can lead the family into trouble. Similarly living too long beyond retirement years can also be a problem. Post retirement the income of an individual stops but his personal and his family expenses don’t stop. During his working life span the individual [...]

Comparison of Child Plans

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on March 10th, 2011

Introduction Every parent aspires to give the best of everything to his / her kids. Every parent dreams that his / her kid gets the best education in the world and his / her wedding should not be less than any other ‘big fat Indian wedding’ and it should be one of the most talked [...]

Virtual Credit Cards

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on March 5th, 2011

Introduction Ajay is a 30 years old guy who is working for a MNC company. Due to his busy schedule Ajay seldom gets time to go and personally pay his mobile bill and other utility bills. Therefore he prefers paying all his bills online with his credit card. Ajay has been doing this for the [...]

Comparison of Term Insurance Plans

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Insurance ->Others ->Uncategorized on November 17th, 2010

Introduction Ajay’s 2 year old son Manoj likes playing with aeroplane toys. Right from his childhood days Manoj aspires to become a pilot when he grows up. Ajay (29 years old) had a dream of making his son a pilot and he was saving money for his son’s education. Ajay’s dream made a crash landing [...]

Kaun Banega Crorepati

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Uncategorized on September 30th, 2010

Introduction Recently while watching television I came across the advertisement of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (KBC) making a comeback. KBC is one of the most famous shows of Indian television history. The popularity and viewership statistics of this show reveal the aspirations of the common man on the street. All of us aspire to become crorepati’s. [...]

Home Loans Rates Comparison

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning on September 12th, 2010

In the last few months keeping in mind the slowdown in credit growth and the excess liquidity in the financial system lot of banks have introduced dual rate home loan schemes (also known as Fix-O-Floaty Home Loan Schemes or Teaser Rate Home Loan Schemes) to woo the customers who are spoilt for choice. Banks are [...]

Retirement Planning: Retire from Work, Not from Life

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Uncategorized on December 26th, 2009

  Introduction Saagar is a 20 year old guy who has just entered the corporate world by joining a MNC company. As part of the induction process Saagar has to attend an investment awareness session on tax planning. At this age thinking about tax planning, investments and retirement planning is the last thing on Saagar’s [...]

Financial Products for Beginners

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Uncategorized on December 25th, 2009

  Introduction It is the busy month of March and the tax planning season is at its peak as it is the last month to make investments in tax saving products to avail maximum income tax benefits. David is a 22 year old person working in an MNC. He will be filing his income tax [...]

Comprehensive Financial Planning

Posted by Gopal Gidwani in Financial Planning ->Uncategorized on December 21st, 2009

Everyone has various financial goals in life. Through proper Financial Planning you can achieve your various financial goals in life like: • Planning and accumulating funds for your children’s higher education and children’s marriage • Building a retirement corpus so that you can enjoy the same existing lifestyle without having to worry about funds for [...]