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Showing posts with the label Equities

Can everyone be DEBT FREE?!

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A friend of mine asked - How can someone buy things without debt? How is that even possible? Life is impossible without debt is what he said. This conversation kindled me to write this. Can everyone be debt free? Is it really possible? No, everyone cannot be. It's  like asking can everyone be play for Indian cricket team. Nope, only those who work hard and have the determination to play will end up playing (let keep aside the politics). Frankly speaking, it's highly impossible to be debt free in your life.  In some way or the other we will be forced towards debt at some point in time. There could be some unforseen events like health issues for which we might go for debt if not covered with adequeat health insuranse. Whereas in all other cases we are forced to take loans, and that force is not external. We look around the society and force ourselves to buy things what is not needed at all.  There is no harm in taking debt to buy a house where you will live in f...

Investors & Interest Rates

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My Partner called me and told me that we are no different from laymen who know that Short term Interest rates are going to fall. We both know the same and hence we are the same. Yes I would say but only for the sake of that knowledge.                            The 1 Year FD in SBI in 2012 would have fetched a interest of 9.25% per annum but today it fetches only 6.25% and this is of course a grave matter for Fixed deposit holders. Because if they had known the interest rate would fall, they would have bought 10 Year FDs which would have paid the same 9.25 % today instead of ending up getting a measly 6.25 % today. So simple.  Now it is expected that Interest rates can fall further - what do we do? Buy 10 Year FDs and lock the "assumed" higher interest today or Wait for the Interest rates to go up?   Speculate. Speculate. Speculate.  This is where a good financial planner...

Direct Equity Investing - II

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        So we promised we will suggest a different (better) way of Direct equity investing in our previous blog . Here we are with our simple thoughts. Read on Build your Capital  1. Give yourself an 8 year time period. Well, the obvious question then would be "Don't stock markets make people rich in quick time?" Not really. One would have "made" the money in one year but by staying invested for decades. 2. In that 8 year period build your capital by saving in products that are exposed to stock markets. aka Equity Mutual funds. 3. Why Equity Funds and not something else? That is because, this will give the experience of "Market Volatility" + compound your capital at a better rate.  That's only about capital. So how about the knowledge?  Built your Knowledge 4. During this 8 year period, Start reading books relating to investing.  5. Based on what you read, Pick the Stocks and make a note of the reasons for your buying ...

How to spark a child’s interest in investing

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Read this interesting  article last week and thought of sharing it with all our readers. A client shared this story with us: It started at the grocery store. Every time we were shopping, my older son, then eight years old, would bug me to buy him a certain cereal he’d seen advertised on morning TV. The same thing would happen when we passed a toy store. He’d beg me for highly advertised action figures.  I realized it was time to teach him about how businesses work and decided that the stock market might be a fun way to do that.  We started small. I told him he could buy the stock of any company he wanted—so long as he paid with his allowance or with money received as a gift. I’d match his funds.   Of course, he was drawn to companies he could relate to: computer stocks, Manchester United, and the like. When we ate in a restaurant he liked, he started asking if it had stock, and if so, how we could invest.  Our stock market game not only t...

Direct Equity Investing

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A lot of us know mutual funds invest in Stock Markets. Stock markets aka  Equities aka   share markets aka companies. So a simple thought that comes to our mind, why not invest in shares by ourselves. The self-realization that we are smart than others props this thought to the next level and we commit. If not this then the greed of becoming Wealthy soon props this thought. If not now, then at some point it will. So you are caught and our job as advisors is to help you escape. Let us caution you - The very purpose of this post is not to Frighten you from Stock Markets but to frighten those who think stock market is a place to become filthy rich over night by investing based on a random tip. Read on. We have for now kept the legends who take personal loans and invest in the stock market away. We are only talking about individuals passionate about investing and want to make serious wealth by Investing in Stock Markets. By serious, we mean a number no less than a few...

Pre-paying your Home Loans? Think Twice!

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A lot of us might be thinking about making part payments against our home loans. We suggest you look at the below table of savings before you take any such decisions -  For those not adept with numbers/tables, lets us clarify in simple sentences.  1. If we prepay 1 lac of our home loan at the beginning of each year for 5 years. Our Total "Interest Savings" come to about INR 5 lacs for a period of 15 years. 2. If instead of prepaying the home loan, we choose to invest the same in an equity mutual fund, then a fund returning 12.5% per annum, would help us create a corpus of 20 lacs. 3. If instead of prepaying the home loan, we choose to invest the same in an equity mutual fund, then a fund returning 10% per annum, would help us create a corpus of 15 lacs. Before we complete - here are the few reasons why r ecommend delaying the Pre-Payment of the home loan - 1. The Prepayment can be used to create your retirement corpus. 2. Locking up your savings...

A 100% Interest Return loan Scheme - Droplets Home Loan+

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C lick here to read in Tamil We know so many people that have a home loan. How much ever they try to, they still pay a minimum of 40% to 90% of principal as Interest to the lender. We delved about this and wanted to give our readers a plan that helps them reclaim the interest portion.  We have normally noticed that most of the home bought are about 40 lacs. WIth 20% down payment, the loan amount comes to 32 lacs. On a loan taken for 15 years at 8.6%, the EMI works out to be INR 31,700. If the loan is duly completed in 15 years, the total interest paid is 25 lacs. Now we have to do plan to get this 25 lacs back.   But the plan is good only if there is no extra payout that the borrower has to make. So we suggest that you extend the loan tenure to 20 years. This will save you 3,700 per month in EMI. Next, Invest the EMI savings in a good equity fund for 20 years. Let's see what happens now.  As one can see by simply managing one's investme...

Co-relation of Health and Wealth!

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Click here to read the article in Tamil   Start early.  Be it be health or wealth start early. It does not matter whether you run a full marathon or talk a small walk around the park. Starting early only matters. Likewise, start saving right away, Even Rs 500 is Okay. Avoid excessive calories & fat for a peaceful healthy life. Likewise, avoid debt. Understand the importance of compounding in life. Have a long-term mind set. Be consistent in whatever you do. Let it be gyming, Saving or investing. Only then you will achieve your desired results. Everything in life would take time. You have to believe in the process. Six packs do not appear in a month and neither does wealth. Continue the process and it would happen for sure. Have a plan in place and measure the progress at regular intervals. So you will understand where you are and what needs to be done to reach the destination on time. Understand the significance of diversification. You don't eat the same ...

Will I lose Money?

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There are a set of genuine standard questions shot at us from people whoever we have met so far -  Will my capital be safe? Will I seriously make money? How do you say I will make money if I stay invested for a long period? My money in a fixed deposit or LIC is always safe or at least my capital is protected.   Mutual funds are risky. So... WILL I LOSE ALL MY MONEY? This clearly indicates how fearful people are towards equity-related products. We are so tired of answering them with all the possible answers to ensure that they understand it better. Yet, the fear has not moved away. So we thought of writing a blog with an object of making everyone know what will happen to his or her money and whether MF is risky or not! Point 1 - Never put your money anywhere for a period of 20 to 25 years with the intention of protecting your capital alone.  Point 2 - By doing so, you are forcing your money to lose its value.  Point 3 - You have inve...

NPS Scheme - A Reality Check

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Everything is associated with Risk. Even NPS does. What matters the most is how long you stay invested. We read an interesting article about NPS and thought of sharing it with our readers. Read on -  Pension funds have marginal exposure to the distressed firm - Many debt funds with the mandate to invest in corporate debt securities have been left saddled with bonds issued by the indebted IL&FS and Essel group companies, resulting in a sharp erosion in their net asset values (NAVs).  While the exposure of mutual funds has been making headlines, the holdings of other investment vehicles have been largely been under the radar. A  BusinessLine  analysis shows that pension funds under the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana also hold these stressed assets, albeit to a smaller extent.  Scheme-C of the National Pension Scheme invests primarily in the fixed income securities issued by corporates. The portfolios of the ‘Scheme-C’ from the tier...

Securing your Future with Rs 5000

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Earlier, we wrote a blog  about investing 30K and earning an income of 50K every month. Most of them might have thought that they need such a huge amount to start investing. Nothing so! At Droplet, our wish is to be all-inclusive and that constant endeavor has resulted in this blog.  I think it is relatively safe to assume that an average middle-class earner can save 5K monthly. Now next we are trying to secure this Middle-class earner's future. In the Financial world, the future is always and always 15 years after . Hence we will plan with 15 years in our mind -  Droplet Team advises that a saver should split his investments into 2 parts one. One for Security and another for Savings.  Part One - Security-   As long as you are alive your family will live in your shade. But, God forbid, Something happens to you? Who would the family lean on? That's why Droplet recommends that the breadwinner's 1t "Investment" should be in " protecting his life...

Wealth Creator - Episode 5

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We have seen 4 of them, A IT Company, A Paint Company, A Electronics company, A Bank.What is next? Droplets said let's get into your kitchens. Kitchen? Is wealth there too? Wealth says I'm there too as long as you want to create me. How magnanimous? Recently, there was a book published about how this company became a 6,500 Crore company. Imagine our selves just holding .1% of this company. How much is that going to be? Well, that will be a cool sum of 6.5 Crores. That is the power of equities and Power of Compounding .  What company is that? As usual, there is a clue in there.  A Small History of the Company -  It was incorporated as a private limited company on October 22, 1955, in Madras  It is known for its innovative marketing strategy, be it distributing pamphlet from a helicopter in the fifties or introducing the exchange scheme Became a deemed public company on June 15th, 1988. (Meaning available for public investment) Announces land...

1st Step to Path of Financial Independence

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SURRENDER YOUR CREDIT CARD. Period.  We can go about talking and talking about financial Independence, but if you have not surrendered your credit card, we would still be only talking.  For financial planning and investment related queries, write to us at  dropletadvisory@gmail.com  or call us at  9962399924  /  9551373455 .  

Life Insurance Policies & 80C Savings

This is the time of the year when fortunate of us would be running to save taxes us 80C. Fortunate because we don't have a home loan and hence we don't "Save Taxes" under 80C.  We will soon have our smartphones throwing up adds like  - " Save 46,500 in Taxes this year " blah blah... not only that we will also our Dad's/Mom's/Uncle's friends who will call up to say that we can a buy a "Money Back Guaranteed Plan" to  save taxes and insurance our life and get "smart" guaranteed returns on our investment and plan our retirements and oh my what and all they will not tell you until you s**k up..  This year Droplet is going to try to make it different and of course we need your Patience and Attention so that we can help you.  Read our Blog  here  and enlighten yourself.  For any financial Planning queries, Please contact Droplet Advisory @861 017 2018/824 836 9621 or write an email to us at dropletadvisory@gmail.com ...

Do Mutual Funds Make Money? Find Out!

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              So this is one question everybody will have on their mind?  Do Mutual Funds actually make money? After all, they are related to stock markets. So they are ideally risky and so much risky that people lose 100% of the money, Right?  Warren Buffet Says - "Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing"  Next time somebody says stock markets are risky tell them what Buffet says. More importantly, share with them this blog. That is, of course, after once you have read it yourself. Alright, Equities or their proxy, that is Mutual Funds are risky but one can negate the risk by staying longer in the game. Please go to google and search the return any equity mutual funds for more than any 8 year period, you will yourself know. Repeat the exercise for any 3 year period, You will  yourself  know.  We have been researching about Mutual funds for almost 18 months now and we thought it will be useful for our rea...