Till four months ago, kulbhushan kumar suri and his wife vinod were leading a retired life everyone dreams of. they alternated between a comfortable villa in leafy rishikesh and their delhi residence. their children were married and well-settled. they had no financial worries because their investments were in safe hands. but the idyllic calm of this golden sunset was shattered ...

It comes wrapped in drab expression and spouts hackneyed wisdom, yet refuses to be bested by time. Despite the banality, the cliche thrives. So when we dole out virtues of longterm equity investing issue after issue, we are relying on the cliche's ability to survive. And this is one cliche that has proved consistently beneficial, especially when it comes to ...

Which is the best financial instrument to invest in for retirement? A difficult question, not because there are so many options but because investing is not a onesize-fits-all exercise. Different options suit investors at various stages of their lives. It all depends on their risk appetites and financial situations.Also, one should not lose sight of one's overall asset allocation while ...

How does one select a good stock? This deceptively simple question has probably consumed more mindspace and solicited more advice than any other. Yet, the road to a winning stock is fraught with lame strategies. One way to make a good selection is to track successful investors, but are their modi operandi effective for amateurs?Money Today will test the advice ...

Apart from his regular salary as a copywriter, 32-year-old Ankur Suman also makes good money from his part-time profession as a voice artist. Having undertaken about 40 projects in the past three years, Suman admits it is an excellent way to add to the monthly income.For Garima Sehgal, a freelance lecturer, it was flexibility at work that made her quit ...

A bat and a ball cost Rs 1.10. The bat costs a rupee more than the ball. What is the cost of the ball? It takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets. How long will it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets? There is a patch of lilies in a lake that doubles in size every day. ...

They certainly make for bold headlines, peppered with interesting numbers, but mergers and acquisitions do not usually garner a lot of interest. After all, the only beneficiaries are promoters or big shareholders, so retail investors tend to ignore such activities. Until recently, that is. The acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories by Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo and the subsequent open offer ...

How can trading in rupee-dollar currency options benefit investors?Currency markets present a good investment opportunity. However, investors should participate only after a thorough understanding of how they work. In options, the risk is lower because the loss is limited to the premium paid. But investors need to know how puts and calls work and whether the premium being paid for ...

Contrary to perception, investing in contrarian funds does not involve an overly complex strategy. Yet, these are consistently shunned by investors. To understand why, one must first understand the philosophy behind contrarian investing.It involves buying into companies that are being rejected by investors because of short-term concerns. Since these stocks are out of favour, one can buy them cheap relative ...

Suppose you give your car to the mechanic for servicing, and after a few days and a hefty fee, it is returned to you minus the steering wheel. Outrageous, isn't it? Likewise, does it make sense to pay a sizeable fee to a portfolio management service (PMS) to handle your investments, only to end up with negative returns? Obviously not, ...

Stock trading is open to several types of risks and calculating these is an integral part of market analysis. While most crucial risks are related to the market, macro-economic factors and corporate performance, there exists another type called the counterparty risk. It stems from the possibility of a participant not honouring a commitment.However, it is not considered in market risk ...

Impossible!" That's how Noida-based schoolteacher Maria Amin assesses the chances of reaching her retirement target. The 22-year-old has just been told how much she needs to save for retirement and is suffering from what can be described as sticker shock. "Rs 5.22 crore is too huge a figure. Do I really need to save T-H-A-T much?" she asks in disbelief ...

Despite the flurry of recent weddings, it's not quite the gifting season. With runaway inflation and fuel price hike imposing callous budgetary constraints, it's a struggle to rustle up a gift that meets your budget. A good option is to go green. No, these products are not as expensive as you think and, no, they don't lack in style either. ...

The prices of stocks and options are influenced by demand and supply pressures and fluctuate at each trading interval. As an option contract is derived from a stock (or index), all factors affecting the value of its underlying stock (or index) influence its value.Also, since the distinguishing features of options are dependent on their built-in right (call/put) and nature (American/European), ...

Drive sensiblyObserving the speed limit isn't just sane driving; it also ensures optimum mileage. Driving at 80 km an hour, rather than 90, will help you reduce fuel consumption by 10%. On the highway, cutting your speed by 10 kmph will help you gain an extra 2 km per litre. Aggressive driving is also a no-no as rapid acceleration followed ...

When it comes to investing in equities, small and mid-cap stocks offer the best potential for appreciation in the long term. On the flip side, an investor can run into daunting losses if he fails to research a company or picks a stock simply on the advice of his broker.Even if an investor has the time and inclination to research, ...

Is the grievance redressal and arbitration mechanism at stock exchanges robust enough to handle investor-broker disputes?We are committed to adopting the best practices to improve the investor grievance redressal mechanism. Indian stock markets have witnessed a huge growth in turnover in the past two decades. At the same time, the risk management framework put in place by exchanges and automation ...

Base rate, the new benchmark system for pricing loans, has been implemented by banks from 1 July. This marks the end of the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) regime, which was particularly unsuited to retail borrowers.While banks were quick to raise rates every time the central bank hiked them, the reverse did not happen. The base rate, say experts, will ...

While large-cap stocks offer the advantages of consistency and scale, midcaps provide the comfort of cheap valuations and high growth. This is why fund managers have 19% of their equity assets, Rs 36,736 crore, in mid-caps and the mutual fund industry has increased its exposure to the Midcap Index stocks by 27% over the past year.As the economy shakes off ...

Do you want to make money in the stock market even if you don't own any shares? You can do so through short selling. The technique involves selling shares you don't own at a higher price and then buying them back at a lower price. The difference between the two prices is your profit.However, this involves risk as the short ...

Patience pays, especially when it comes to stocks. Any investor will vouch for this. If you give stock investments enough time to grow, they will churn out bountiful returns. But patience alone isn't enough. You also need solid research and analysis to pick the right stocks.However, most retail investors skip these crucial steps of the investing process and leapfrog into ...

HANDSET RS 799How cheap can a phone be? No, don't answer yet. Because even as you do, handset manufacturers are working on lowering the bar set by Vodafone's VF 150. Priced at Rs 799, the VF 150 is cheaper than the weekly grocery bill for most urban families. Of course, the phone does not have spectacular features, but you can ...

The Indian mutual fund industry has clocked an impressive growth in the past five years. Its assets under management (AUM) has registered a compounded annual growth of 28% during 2006-10. However, the AUM of equity funds and balanced funds has grown only 20% during the same period. These funds' net sales in 2009-10 have been the lowest in recent years.A ...

As concoctions go, there's no simulating the high that comes from blending business with pleasure. For some entrepreneurs in the travel industry, these two components come together in an enviable mix. Driven either by wanderlust, dormant passion or plain opportunity, these people have found ingenious ways to tap the market and create job opportunities.It helps that the growing breed of ...

It is a no man's land, sorry, book. Everything about Sheconomics is unabashedly female: the frothy narrative, profusion of tales, choice of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City as a financial guru and the overload of emotional perspective. The clincher: so is the financial advice. It is not easy to pull off a money guide that's only for women.As ...