JAGOINVESTOR

Reduce your premiums by 20% – Zone Based Health Insurance

Posted on October 7, 2019December 18, 2019 by Team Jagoinvestor

Do you know that your health insurance premium may depend on your city? Yes, there is something called “Zone-based premium” in the health insurance industry which I will share in this article today.

For instance, the premium amount for a person aged 30 years, living in Delhi, might be higher than the person of the same age living in Pune. So, apart from age, the sum insured & health conditions, even the city which you mention at the time of health insurance purchase also impacts your premium amount.

Zone-based pricing in Health Insurance

Here is how zone-based pricing works in health insurance premium calculation. Various cities in India are divided into 3 zones at a high level which defines Metro/Tier-1, Tier-2 cities and other rest of the cities (tier 3/4). Here is an indicative list of zones (may vary from insurer to insurer)

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Zone 1	Metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai including thane
Zone 2	Tier-II cities like Chennai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad
Zone 3	Rest of India excluding areas falling under Zone 1 and Zone 2

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List of companies which provide zoned based insurance pricing

Given below is the name of health insurance companies which use zoned based pricing model-

Max Bupa Health Insurance
L&T Health Insurance
Star Health Insurance
New India Assurance
SBI General Insurance

Why health insurance companies adopt zoned based pricing?

You will agree that the overall expenses in a metro or tier-1 city are usually higher than a tier-4 city or a comparatively smaller city. Imagine if someone gets treatment for a big illness in Mumbai/Delhi compared to a smaller city like Meerut or Akola. There are various reasons why this happens

Higher Room rent charges
Higher charges for diagnostic tests
Higher doctors fees
Higher stress levels
More prone to lifestyle illness
Higher consultation charges pre/post-hospitalization

The point is that a policyholder living in a smaller city will claim less amount compared to a policyholder living in a bigger city, even if they both have the same amount of sum assured and claimed for the same thing.

Check an example below where we checked the yearly premium for a 30 yr old person for sum assured of Rs 10 lacs for 3 different cities from each zone. You can see how the premium reduces by approx 10% each time for zone 2 and zone 3 cities.

So you can see above that the premiums were as follows

Zone 1 (Delhi) – Rs 9862
Zone 2 (Pune) – Rs 9041 (9% less than zone 1)
Zone 3 (Varanasi) – Rs 8201 (17% less than zone 1)

So you can expect zone 2 pricing to be approx 10% lesser and zone 3 pricing to be approx. 20% lesser than zone 1. This is just approximations, for exact difference refer to policy documents.

Hence the zone-based premium pricing comes into picture. This is exactly the reason why companies charge a lesser premium if you are from a smaller city and vice versa.

What if, a policyholder of a small city wants to avail of treatment in the metro city?

Note that, there is no restriction on the city where one wants to avail of the treatment. In some cases, it may happen that the policyholder might want to go for a better hospital in a bigger city. In those cases there might be some extra amount policyholder has to pay from their own pocket. Like in some policies, if a policyholder of zone 3 (smaller city) avails treatment in zone 1 or zone 2 city, then there will be a clause of co-payment.

It means that the claim amount will not get settled 100% by the insurance company. For eg. If a person of zone 3 claimed Rs. 50,000 for getting medical treatment at Delhi, he will be paid Rs. 40,000 (80% of the claim amount) and balance 20% has to be borne by insured.

This clause changes from company to company and on a zone to zone basis. Please go through the policy document of the health insurance policy to know the exact rules and clauses applicable.

So in case, you do not want that co-pay applicable to you, then you can choose the city as any metro or bigger city of your choice so that you pay the premiums for zone 1 cities, but at the time of providing the address proof, you can give any address.

Important points regarding Zone-based premiums

In case you shift your city in the future, you can always inform the company at the time of renewal, and the premiums as per new zone will apply
In case you port your policy from one insurer to another, it might happen that your premium changes depending on the pricing model of the old/new company.
In zone-based pricing only premium changes depending on the city of residence. It will not change any benefits or other features of the policy.
Note that very few companies follow the zone-based premium pricing model, so please inquire about it.

Conclusion

As you are now aware of the zoning concept, see if there is any scope of using this to your advantage, provided the insurer of your choice provides it for your policies.

Please share what you think about zone-based premium pricing? Do you feel if its the right thing to do or not? Is it useful or not?

Detailed Guide to Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme

Posted on July 26, 2019December 21, 2019 by Team Jagoinvestor

Have you dreamed of your own house? Are you planning to buy your first house?

But, buying own house is not possible without taking loans and paying heavy EMI’s. However, now it is quite possible for new home buyers with subsidized loan given under “Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana” which is an initiative by government under “Affordable Housing for all by 2022” in the country. It is also referred as credit linked subsidy.

With this scheme you can buy a new home/flat, construct a house or you can enhance your home by adding room, toilet or kitchen. Till date 15 Lakhs house has been constructed and 75 Lakhs loans has been sectioned under this scheme. The overall structure of the scheme is not easy to understand. So, let’s understand all the elements in simple points.

1. Who can opt for PMAY?

A First time home buyer, who does not have any home on his name or in name of any family member.
He or his family should not have availed any central assistance under any housing scheme of government.
An individual who has a pucca house and wants to enhance it by adding toilet, room or kitchen etc.

Family includes Self, Spouse and Children. But, if daughter/son is earning adults(irrespective of marital status), than he/she will be treated as a separate entity. So, this means even if parents and earning children are staying in a house owned by parents, they can individually opt for PMAY provided he/she doesn’t have nay house own name.

2. What will be the eligibility and subsidy?

Government has categorized different groups taking their annual earning in to consideration, which will be helpful in evaluating eligibility and amount of subsidy. Following table shows different groups and other criteria.

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Groups	Annual Income	Maximum loan amount for subsidy	Interest rate for subsidy	Maximum Subsidy Amount	Allowed Area
Economically Weaker Section (EWS)	Upto Rs. 3 Lakhs	Upto Rs. 6 Lakhs	6.50%	Rs. 2.60 Lakhs	30 sq. mt. (322.917 sq. ft.)
Low Income Group (LIG)	Rs. 3-6 Lakhs	Upto Rs. 6 Lakhs	6.50%	Rs. 2.60 Lakhs	60 sq. mt. (645.834 sq. ft.)
Middle Income Group-1 (MIG 1)	Rs. 6-12 Lakhs	Upto Rs. 9 Lakhs	4%	Rs. 2.35 Lakhs	160 sq. mt. (1722 sq. ft.)
Middle Income Group-2 (MIG 2)	Rs. 12-18 Lakhs	Upto Rs. 12 Lakhs	3%	Rs. 2.30 Lakhs	200 sq. mt. (2152.78 sq. ft.)

[/su_table]

*1 sq mt = 10.7639 sq ft

*Maximum term allowed for subsidy is 20 years for all the 4 groups. That means subsidy will be calculated for the term of loan or 20 years whichever is less.

*Interest portion of EMI at subsidized rate will be discounted at 9% to get the net present value of subsidy.

Let’s understand the above table through case studies-

1. If your annual earning is Rs. 3,00,000 and you have taken home loan of Rs. 10 Lakhs for 15 years at 8.50% interest p.a. So, what will be the subsidy amount?

As your earning is Rs. 3 Lakhs, you fall in EWS group. So, You will get 6.5% of interest subsidy on Rs. 6 Lakhs of loan for term of 15 years provided the house area is not exceeding limit of carpet area of 30 sq. mt. The amount of subsidy will be Rs. 2.09 Lakhs (Back calculation – considering EMI at 6.5% on loan amount of Rs. 6 Lakhs for 15 years and interest portion out of it discounted at 9% to get NPV).

2. If your annual earning is Rs.8,00,000 and you have taken home loan of Rs. 20 Lakhs for 25 years at 8.50% interest p.a. So, what will be the subsidy amount?

As your earning is Rs. 8 Lakhs, you fall in EWS group. So, You will get 4% of interest subsidy on Rs.9 Lakhs of loan for term of 20 years and not 25 years (as maximum term is 20 years) provided the house area is not exceeding limit of carpet area of 160 sq. mt. The amount of subsidy will be Rs. 2.35 Lakhs (Back calculation – considering EMI at 4% on loan amount of Rs. 9 Lakhs for 20 years and interest portion out of it discounted at 9% to get NPV).

You can refer the video given below to understand PMAY –

3. Will subsidy be given for existing home loan?

The subsidy under this scheme can be availed on existing home loans sanctioned on or after 17/06/2015 for EWC section and LIG section. And for MIG 1 & MIG 2 subsidy can be availed if loan is section on or after 01/01/2017.

So, if you have an on going home loan which you received in 2017. In that case also you can apply under PMAY to avail subsidy. And the amount of subsidy will be calculated as per your current income earning section i.e. if now you are earning 10 Lakhs then you will fall under MIG 1 and original term of loan will be taken in to consideration.

4. How to enroll to avail benefits under this scheme ?

You can enroll for this scheme online or offline. In offline mode you need to visit the bank from where you want to apply loan or where your home loan is existing, get the form of PMAY and fill & submit the same.

For the online mode you need to follow following steps –

Step 1#: Go to the website of PMAY. Below given page will appear –

proceedure for enrolling under PMAY scheme

Step 2#: Click the citizen assessment drop-down and select the benefits under three components as shown below.

pradhan mantri awas yojana citizen assessment

Step 3#: Once you click the benefit under other 3 components, the below window appears. Now enter your Aadhaar details and or virtual ID and click on check.

pradhan mantri awas yojana check aadhar existence

Step 4#: Once you check your Aadhaar card existence, the below page will appear. Fill the form with required details. To give you a glimpse, screenshot is attached.

information of beneficiary being covered under PMAY slum development

Step 5# Attach required documents

documents required for loan under PMAY scheme

Once your application is submitted, after due examination if you are a eligible beneficiary under PMAY, you will be added to the list of beneficiary. You can find it on the website of PMAY in beneficiary tab. If your name comes in beneficiary list then you need to inform about the same to the bank from where you have granted loan.

5. How will I receive the interest subsidy benefit under PMAY Scheme?

The Bank (where you have applied for a loan under this scheme) will claim subsidy benefit for eligible borrowers from National Housing Bank (NHB). The NHB will conduct due diligence to exclude claims where the customer has submitted multiple requests. Then all the eligible borrowers will receive the subsidy amount to the Bank.

Once the Bank receives the interest subsidy, it will be credited upfront to the loan account. Therefore it is called credit linked subsidy. For example, If the you avails a loan for Rs. 8 lakh and the subsidy received is Rs. 2, 20,000. The subsidy amount (Rs. 2, 20,000) would be reduced upfront from the loan amount (i.e., the loan would reduce to Rs. 5, 80,000) and then you would pay EMIs on the reduced amount of Rs. 5, 80,000.

And also in case your EMI is on going and you are eligible for subsidy. Then you may be offered by your bank for using subsidy as credit so your EMI will be reduced or for reducing the term of loan. I would suggest to go with reducing term of loan.

FAQ OF PMAY SCHEME:

Is woman co-ownership is mandatory for availing subsidy?

Yes, for EWS and LIG class of subsidy woman co-ownership is mandatory whether it be the case of new house or addition of kitchen/toilets etc. And for MIG 1 & MIG 2 it is not compulsory to have a woman co-owner to the house property.

Can I do renovation/up-gradation in an existing house with the help of this scheme?

Yes, you can if you fall under MIG 1 or MIG 2 section. You can not avail subsidy for renovation if you fall under EWS or LIG.

Is it mandatory to fetch Adhaar card details for all the members of the beneficiary family?

Yes, for processing the subsidy under PMAY for MIG 1 and MIG 2, it is mandatory to furnish the Aadhaar card details of all the family members.

I hope this article has helped you in understanding that how one can avail benefits under PMAY Scheme. Please feel free to ask your doubts or queries the in comment section.

NPS (National Pension Scheme) – A beginners Guide for Rules & Benefits

Posted on June 18, 2019December 23, 2019 by Team Jagoinvestor

NPS is one of the most famous and talked about financial products today in our country and it’s quite a detailed and complex product. Today we are doing to talk about NPS in detail and I will try to teach you various aspects related to it.

National Pension Scheme is initiated by the government of India to make sure that in the coming future, more and more people have pensions to support their old age. The core focus of this scheme is to help investors save money for their retirement and also provide a regular income once they retire.

Since NPS was launched a few years back, there have been a number of changes and revisions to this scheme. So, this article will be the guide to NPS and answer to all your queries and confusions.

Flow chart on NPS process

What is NPS?

NPS is referred to as National Pension Scheme or New Pension Scheme. In this scheme, a subscriber can contribute to a pension fund that will be a mix of equity and debt investment. You have to invest in NPS till your retirement and the final corpus will depend on how the pension fund has performed over the years.

At retirement, you can withdraw part of the corpus as a lump sum and the balance will be used to provide you a regular pension till your death (and many other options are there).

Who can invest in NPS?

Earlier only government employees were allowed to invest in NPS, but now anyone (including NRIs) can open the NPS account. The below chart will simplify it.

Important Point: Entry age for NPS is above 18 years and below 65 years.

Who regulates NPS and manages money invested?

NPS is regulated by PFRDA – Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority. The money invested in NPS is managed by Pension Fund Managers (PFM). These are companies that are authorized and appointment by PFRDA to manage the wealth of investors. There are eight PFM right now.

ICICI Prudential Pension Fund
LIC Pension Fund
Kotak Mahindra Pension Fund
Reliance Capital Pension Fund
SBI Pension Fund
UTI Retirement Solutions Pension Fund
HDFC Pension Management Company
Birla Pension Fund

How can you invest in NPS?

The first step is to open an NPS account which can either be Physical or Online. First, let’s see the physical mode of the opening NPS account.

1. Physical Mode – For this, you have to open an NPS account with POP – Point of Presence service providers. POPs are the banks or post office or other non-financial institutions. You can find your POP through this link https://www.npscra.nsdl.co.in

How to Find POP for NPS account opening

There you need to enter your country and location and you will get the list of POP-SPs near you. Select the Point of Presence (POP) where you have an existing relationship – either a savings / current account (in case of Bank) or any other account such as Demat/Mutual Fund/Insurance etc. (in case of non-Bank POPs).

Once you have searched your POP, you need to submit KYC forms along with the NPS registration form to POP and after registration, you with getting a PRAN i.e. Permanent Retirement Account Number. This is a 12 digit unique and portable number issued to all the subscribers.

Important Point: For Government employees, there are NODAL offices where they can get PRAN for the NPS account. Mostly they get it at the time of joining.

2. Online Mode – This mode is simpler than physical. You need to visit the e-NPS website and click on the National Pension Scheme. After clicking you will get 3 options i.e. registration, contribution, and tier-II activation. You need to select Registration.

how to open NPS account online

There you need to select appropriate options, enter your PAN and select your bank/POP. After clicking, continue you will get a registration form, fill the form online, attach the required scanned documents like PAN, address proof and scanned signature. Once it is done your PRAN will be generated and you can start investing in NPS.

Important Point: For online registration, it is mandatory to have a net banking account

What are the investment options in NPS?

Your money in NPS will be invested in 4 asset classes. Which are referred to as ECGA?

E – Equity (High Risk – High Returns)
C – Corporate Bonds (Moderate Risk – Moderate Returns)
G – Government Bonds (Low Risk – Low Returns)
A – Alternative assets like real estate investment trust (REITs) & infrastructural investment trusts (InvIT) (Very High Risk – Moderate Returns)

asset allocation in nps on basis of risk

The choice of asset allocation among these options above will be defined by the subscriber himself (Active mode) or it will be auto defined depending on the age of the subscriber (the older you get, more stable will be your investments). In both options, 75% is the maximum limit for investing in equities and for alternative assets class maximum contribution can be 5%.

What is Tier I and Tier II in NPS?

These are two account types of NPS accounts. Tier I is primary compulsory account for NPS also referred to as “Pension account” whereas Tier II is an optional account commonly referred to as “Investment account”.

Following chart will elaborate the difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 NPS accounts-

NPS account type tier I tier II differences table

What are the tax benefits of NPS?

An employee’s own contribution in NPS will allow tax deduction under section 80CCD(1), up to 10% of salary plus dearness allowance and for self-employed individuals it is 20% of total income in a financial year, but this has to be within the overall ceiling of Rs. 1,50,000 of Section 80C to Section 80CCE of Income Tax Act.
An employer’s contribution up to 10% of salary plus dearness allowance is allowed as an exemption from tax under Sec. 80CCD(2)
Moreover, individuals can claim an additional deduction of up to Rs 50,000 under Section 80CCD (1B), which is in addition to Rs 1.5 lakh permitted under Section 80C.

The below-given table will simplify this to you –

Table showing Tax deductions on NPS contribution

What are NPS withdrawal rules (Tier I)?

Once an investor retires at 60 yrs., they will get 3 options

Option #1 – Exit from NPS at 60: If you want to exit from NPS at 60 years of age, you will get lump-sum 60% of your corpus and for remaining 40% an annuity will be generated with a PFRDA-registered insurance company(called as Annuity Service Providers) to provide monthly pension after your retirement. There are different annuity plans provided by a few insurance companies, you can choose any of them. And you also have the choice of increasing your annuity contribution (40% is mandatory). However, if the total corpus is 2 lakhs or less than it then the whole amount is given a lump sum.

Option #2 – Continue NPS with contribution till 70 yrs. : You can choose to continue contributing to NPS for more 10 years i.e. up till 70 years. This option is mostly chosen if you are earning after the age of 60. At the age of 70 withdrawal rules will be the same as the exit from NPS at 60.

Option #3 – Continue NPS with till 70 yrs., but without any further contribution: You can choose to not contribute to NPS and wait for your corpus to grow more by 10 years. This option is chosen mostly when you have monthly income flow from somewhere. Thereafter at the age of 70 withdrawal rules will be the same as an exit from NPS at 60. This option has to be exercised 15 days before the default date of withdrawal.

Important Point: Subscriber has to exercise continuation or deferment options 15 days before the date of retirement. Lump-sum withdrawal from NPS is tax-free. Whereas monthly pension will be taxable as per the tax slab of the subscriber.

Withdrawals in Tier II?

There is no limit on tier II withdrawals and all the withdrawals are taxable as per the slab rate of subscriber. It means Tier II works in the same way as Mutual Funds – Investing into Equity/Debt funds and has high Liquidity.

What is the NPS withdrawal procedure?

The withdrawal process starts 6 months before retirement so that pension will be started immediately after retirement. A subscriber can withdraw online or offline.

1. Online Process of pension withdrawal –

A claim ID is generated by a central record-keeping agency, six months before retirement, for which you will be notified via mail or letter. With the help of this ID, the subscriber can check and change his account details like address proof or bank account. Once the withdrawal claim is initiated, no details can be changed. Following is the process of initiating withdrawal –

Step#1 – Login to NPS using PRAN and Password

Step#2 – Go to Exit Withdrawal request and select initiate withdrawal

Step#3 – Select withdrawal type i.e. Exit at 60

Step#4 – Select ratio of Lump sum & Pension

Step#5 – Select One Annuity Service Provider

Step#6 – Verify all details and submit request form

Step#7 – Download request form

Step#8 – Sign and submit the request form to POP or Nodal Office

After 4 working days, lump sum amount will be credited to registered account. For pension all the details will be sent to ASP, once ASP processes all the details, you will start getting pension as per your selected annuity plan.

2. Offline Process of pension withdrawal –

In offline process withdrawal application is to be submitted at POP or NODAL office along with required documents. They will forward them to Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA) and NSDL. CRA will then register your request and issue an application form for withdrawal. Fill in all the details and describe the percentage of lump sum & annuity and select an annuity plan as per your needs. Once your request is processed you will receive the lump sum and pension as per plan selected.

What if I want to early withdraw i.e. before 60 years of age?

As NPS is a purely retirement solution product you should not exit before your age of 60. However, in some special circumstances, you can withdraw 25% in total of your own contribution in NPS. This you can do only after 3 years of investment and just 3 times in the entire tenure of NPS. The special circumstances are –

Children’s wedding or higher studies
Building/buying a house
Critical illness of self/family

Important Point: Partial withdrawal from NPS is tax-free.

What if I want to exit from NPS before 60 years of age?

After 3 years of NPS investment, you can opt for a premature exit from NPS and don’t want to contribute anymore, then you will receive 20% of your corpus as a lump sum and balance 80% will be mandatorily used for annuity fund. You can choose pension payment mode like monthly, half-yearly or yearly.

Important Point: In this case, the lump sum and pension you receive both will be taxable as per income tax slap.

What amount of Pension or annuity I will get?

An annuity is a fixed payment like pension that we get every month, half-yearly or yearly depending upon the chosen model. In NPS 40% of the corpus is invested as an annuity with annuity service providers i.e. PFRDA registered insurance companies.

While creating an annuity plan, the following details are required like,

The sector of employment (Government or Private)
Date of Birth
Gender
Marital status
Spouse’s Gender
Spouse’s Date of Birth
NPS corpus amount that you utilize for buying an annuity plan
Annuity Frequency

So, on filling all the details as mentioned above you will get the list of annuity plans along with the amount of pension that you will receive.

Required details for pension plans in nps

Other than this, the amount of pension also depends upon followings –

A prevailing interest rate of the annuity: The Interest rate on annuity will be the same as government securities, ranging from 6% to 8%.
Annuity Plan that you choose: There are different annuity plans provided by ASP. Here are some generic annuity options offered by ASPs. Remember, some ASPs may offer a slightly different or combination of these options:

Table on Annuity plans showing different plans of LIC with amount of pension

You can go to the NPS trust website to get the calculations on how much pension you will get.

Who is the Annuity Service Providers?

Following are the PFRDA – registered ASPs –

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)
SBI Life Insurance
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance
Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance
Reliance Life Insurance
HDFC Standard Life Insurance

What is the result of NPS fund performance till now?

Following tables will show a return of pension funds in the last 5 years –

Table showing returns on NPS fund Asset class E

NPS vs Mutual Funds (ELSS) and Fixed Deposits / PPF/ EPF

Here is a small comparison between NPS with other investment options like ELSS mutual funds, FD, EPF, and PPF. The below-given table will show the difference between NPS and other Tax Saving investment options –

There is also an app for NPS to provide more convenience to its subscribers. Do let us know if you have any queries regarding NPS. It was quite an exhaustive article, hence there might be something we might have missed.

How much tax benefit can be claimed u/s 80D? (Rules + Limits)

Posted on April 15, 2019November 16, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

Are you clear about the tax-saving which you can do when you pay health insurance premiums every year? You will be glad to hear that it’s over and above sec 80C.

Yes, it comes under a separate section called section 80D!

What is section 80D?

Health Insurance policies have become very famous in the last 10 yrs and to encourage it, the govt gives tax benefit when you pay the premium for yourself, your family or your parents

Section 80D defines all the rules and limits related to health insurance premium payment and tax saving.

what is section 80D of Income Tax Act, 1961

How much can you claim under section 80D?

One can claim a deduction of premium amount on health insurance of self + family (spouse + dependent children below 18 yrs.) and parents. If one pays a health insurance premium of his brother or sister then he/she will not be able to claim a tax deduction. To make it more clear, I have mentioned the list of people who will come under this benefit –

Self
Spouse
Dependent Children (below 18 yrs.)
Parents

How much you can claim Tax benefit u/s 80D?

You can claim a maximum Rs. 25000 of the deduction for premium paid on health insurance of you, your spouse and children (under the age of 18 yrs.), if you are below 60 years
The same amount of Rs. 25000 you can claim for deduction of premium that you pay for your parents (father+mother).

And if the age of you or your parents is above 60 years then the limit will increase to Rs. 50,000/- in each case. In the above limits, exemption of Rs. 5000 for yearly health check is included.

For getting a clear understanding of the calculation part you can refer the info-graphic given below.

these are the tax benefits u/s 80D

image on 80D exemption limit

Let us now understand this through some examples –

Case 1 – Ram (35 yrs.) with a spouse and 1 kid + parents (mother 55 yrs. and father 57 yrs.)

In case 1, Ram pays a yearly premium of Rs 15000 (for self+spouse+1 kid) and Rs 34000 (both parents). So now let us see how much exemption Ram can claim u/s 8oD.

As self + family exemption limit is Rs 25000 and Parents exemption limit is Rs 25000. Then Ram can claim exemption of Rs 40,000 (15000 + 25000) u/s 80D.

Case 2 – Rakesh (48 yrs.) with a spouse and 2 kids + parents ( father 75 yrs.)

In case 2, Rakesh pays a yearly premium of Rs 32000 (for a self+spouse+2 kids), Rs 63000 (for father) and Rs 8000 (preventive medical check-up). So now let us see how much exemption Rakesh can claim u/s 80D.

As self + family exemption limit is Rs 25000 and parent (senior citizen) exemption limit is Rs 50,000. So, Rakesh can claim exemption of Rs 75,000 (25000 self + 50,000 parent). As Rakesh has already exhausted his self exemption limit so he won’t be able to claim his preventive medical check because preventive medical check is already included in the self exemption limit.

2 Benefits into 1

I think getting tax deductions on health insurance is a wonderful thing. Health Insurance in itself is a very important financial product most people should buy and you are also getting some tax benefits on it. So, do buy health insurance for yourself, your family and parents to protect your wealth and save tax.

Let us know your views in the comment section about this article.

Should you buy car insurance from dealer?

Posted on April 9, 2019January 10, 2020 by Team Jagoinvestor

Myth: As car insurance is mandatory, I have to buy it via car dealer !!

Reality: It is mandatory to have valid car insurance but, not mandatory to buy the same from your car dealer.

image on buying car insurance via dealer

Buying car insurance is mandatory under the motor vehicle act, 1988. As it is mandatory car dealers bundle up insurance with other services and quote it all to you in one invoice. But, insurance can be separated and you can choose an insurance company on your own. Most of the people buy it via a dealer, either because they are unaware of separating insurance from car purchase cost or they just seek convenience as getting it via dealer is much easier and convenient.

But, now the time has changed. With the help of the internet, it has become very easy to compare different insurance plans online and buy the best suitable as per your requirements. So, no question of hassling in the lengthy paper process. It is not like you should never buy car insurance via a dealer, there are disadvantages as well as advantages.

Advantages of buying car insurance from a dealer :

No doubt the process of buying insurance from a car dealer certainly saves you a lot of time. And there are a few more advantages of buying it via dealer:

The entire process of insurance purchase is streamlined and more convenient when it is through a dealer.
You may receive bundling discounts on the purchase of the car and the insurance from the car dealer.
You can get in touch with the car dealer to get clarification on the coverage or at the time of claims. The dealer will efficiently assist you in such matters.

Disadvantages of buying car insurance from a dealer :

A very limited number of options: A dealer is there to sell the car and not insurance. So, he won’t be able to offer you too many options when it comes to insurance. If he has a tie-up with two or three insurance companies, so he will be able to offer policies only by those companies. And this will limit you from selecting the best option that you can avail by doing your own research.

Premiums can cost more: As buying car insurance via dealer will be offline so it’s very obvious that it will be costlier than what you can get from online mode. In spite of this, car dealers enter into tie-ups and arrangements with insurance companies for which they get the commission, which can go as high as 40%. This will have an impact on the policy price, and for you, this can translate into high premiums.

Add-ons offered may not fit your requirement: Car insurance add-ons must be chosen keeping in mind the specific requirements of the car and its owner. As car insurance premium is recurring cost, to attract more buyers, a dealer may provide you basic insurance plan which will be cheap but, even then if you compare the premium of the same plan online you will find it cheaper, eg. if insurance via dealer costs Rs. 25000, it will cost Rs. 15000 if bought online. (40% costlier).

The main intention of the car dealer is to earn extra by bundling up all for you in one basket. As insurance is the basic requirement for every car buyer, he may influence you to take insurance from him, which may be very basic insurance not having important add-ons required.

It must be noted that add-ons are extra covers that can be opted to enhance the protection offered by a basic car insurance plan. Knowledge about what add-ons are suitable is important. Few essential add-ons that can be included to the base plan are:

#Zero or Nil Depreciation: This add-on offers complete coverage without factoring in the depreciation of parts like plastic, fiber, rubber, and glass.
#Engine Protection Cover: This add-on cover provides protection against damage to the car’s engine due to water ingression leading to hydro-static lock.
#Roadside Assistance Cover: This add-on provides emergency roadside assistance services such as help in changing the flat tyre, roadside repairs, emergency fuel refilling and towing facility.
#Return to Invoice: This add-on ensures that in the event of complete loss or theft of a car, the policyholder gets the car’s original invoice value and not just the Insured declared value.

So, it’s suggested that you should go for an insurance policy which should provide extra coverage to your car, by allowing you to customize it as per your needs.

Final Word :

Who doesn’t want ease and convenience? When we buy a car, we feel like ending up all the proceeding in one place. However, if you are internet savvy, hassle in buying insurance is not a question for you.

How does a “Householder Insurance Policy” work? Features and benefits !

Posted on February 27, 2019November 16, 2019 by Anuradha Singh

In this article, we will see how you can protect your home structure and belongings from natural and man-made disasters. We are talking about “Home Insurance” Policies.

We all invest our hard-earned money in buying our dream home and our lives revolve around it. Unwanted natural disasters and man-made threats can threaten the security of our home and its belongings and can cause surprise monitory losses.

what is home insurance policy and what are its benefits?

We have all heard about all kinds of insurance policies like term plan, health insurance, car insurance etc, but very few people have knowledge about “Home Insurance Policy” or also called “Householder insurance policy” . Before I explain more on that, let’s see what are some of the real-life threats and real-life incidents where people have lost their homes and belongings

Example #1 – Burglary

As per this times of India report, burglars broke into 4 houses in Ghaziabad on February 27,2019 and took valuables worth Rs 20 Lacs. Among the 4 houses, one of the houses was just 500 m away from the police chowky and burglars took jewelry and cash worth Rs 500000.

Example #2 : Fire

As per this report, on January 4, 2018, Four people died after a fire broke out in Maimoon Building that housed residential complexes in the suburban part of Marol in Mumbai. Besides the four dead, five people were injured in the accident.

Example #3 : Floods

To give you a recent example of a flood disaster which took place in Kerala in August 2018. Around more than 400 people lost their lives and almost everyone lost their homes and belongings.

Example 4 Earthquake :

Nepal Earthquake which happened in April 2015 killed almost 9000 people and injured 22000 people. Total damage of Rs 1000 crores USD (which was 50% of Nepal’s Nominal GDP).

Can you see from the above examples, that these threats are real and it can possible happen to anyone in real life (even though the probabilities are quite small).

What is Householder Insurance Policy?

Householder insurance policies are policies, which protects the home-owners against damage and losses that affect their property and belongings. The exact terms of coverage varies from policy to policy; however, most insurance policies cover perils like hail, thunderstorms, fire, and theft.

Many policies also offer financial assistance if a homeowner must be temporarily displaced because their home has been damaged. Look at this video below which explains it in a crisp way!

What all is covered under these policies?

The insurance for your home can be broadly divided into 2 parts :

Structure Cover – This is for the structure of your home. The compensation under this cover will be paid to repair damages to the structure caused by specified natural and man-made calamities.
Contents Cover – This is for the possessions you have inside your home. If these are damaged or burgled, then the insurance covers the loss you incur for the same. You can take either one of these covers individually or opt for both to make sure you are covered comprehensively.

Here are some of the companies in India, which offers these Householder Insurance Policies. (Please do not consider this as a recommendation list).

HDFC ERGO Home Insurance
ICICI LOMBARD Home Insurance
TATA AIG Home Insurance
IFFCO TOKIO General Insurance Co.Ltd
BAJAJ ALLIANZ Home Insurance

Benefits of these policies

1) Protection against earthquakes, floods.

2) Cover against terrorism.

3) Cover against fire and allied perils.

4) Protection against cyclone, storm, hurricane, etc..

5) All risk jewelry cover.

6) Additional rent for alternate accommodation.

What all is not covered under this policy?

Loss, destruction or damage caused by war, invasion, an act of foreign enemy hostilities or war like operations.
Loss or damage caused by the insured’s and/or insured’s domestic staff direct and/or indirect involvement in the actual or attempted burglary or theft.
Willful destruction of property.
Cash, bullion, paintings, works of art antiques, mobiles and laptops
Electrical/Mechanical breakdown
Cost of the land.
Co-operative societies cannot take long term policy for the entire society building.
Under construction property.

5 Reasons why you should buy a householder insurance policy?

Here are some of the reasons why to buy a home insurance policy.

1. Natural Disaster can strike any-time and anywhere :
  Every year, India loses more than 9.8 billion due to various disasters. Though you can’t control natural disasters, through home insurance you can really protect your house against natural disasters or ” Act of God”, such as cyclone, earthquake and flood.
2. Man-made risks cause a lot of damage :
  Despite the latest safety equipment’s, man-made threats like burglary, riots, terrorism, etc… are still prevalent. While not all insurers cover these losses, you can get extra protection in the form of riders.
3. Lots of valuable items :
  Apart from its structure, this policy will cover the contents of the house such as domestic appliances, furniture, audio & visual appliances etc….
4. You may require relocating to an alternate place :
  Relocating to an alternate house happens in case of a total loss of the property. Till the time your home is being reconstructed, your home insurer will cover your additional rent.
5. Buying the policy for a longer period of time :
  Every year renewing your home insurance policy can become a very tedious task for you since you may be very busy with other responsibilities in life. Many insurers offer longer duration policy for 5 to 10 years straight in one go. It is a cost-effective and hassle-free way of staying insured.

Can I buy this policy If I stay in a rented house?

Both the Owner of the house and renter can buy this policy. There is just a basic difference between both. Let’s see what it is?

OWN HOME INSURANCE

RENTED HOME INSURANCE

In this type of insurance, the home owner either insures the structure or contents (belongings of his home) or both.

In this type of insurance the renter insures only his contents or belongings in this rented house.

The structure of the house is insured by the owner of this house

Example of a real-life House holder Policy along with premium break-up

Below images shows the detailed structure of the policy with the premium break-up of one of the known Home Insurance Policy. Details of the cover are as follows :

HDFC ERGO Home Insurance policy structure

HDFC ERGO Home Insurance Policy Premium details

Age of the property not more than 30 years
Type of ownership – Owned
Insurance required for my Flat /independent house
Policy Tenure – 5 yrs.
Risk cover for structure & content
Type of plan – Fixed sum insured
Sum insured for Structure – 50,00,000
Sum insured for declared content + Burglary cover for content – 15,00,000 (detailed description below).
Total premium payable (including 18% GST) for 5 years is Rs 34,825.

Conclusion :

I think you will agree with me, that we have almost no control of these natural & man-made disasters. The best we can do is be alert and prepare ourselves by insuring that we secure our belongings and structure of the homes.

Also, these policies should be preferred more by people who stay in an earthquake or flood sensitive zone and who do not stay in a secured society and vicinity. I understand that the chances of these risks which these policies cover are quite small, but then it’s up to you if you want to get these risks covered or not.

Do you think buying these householder insurance policies makes sense?

Please share if you feel it makes sense to purchase these policies? share in the comments section below!

ICICI “The ONE” Savings Account features and a quick review !

Posted on February 14, 2019November 16, 2019 by Anuradha Singh

ICICI Bank has come up with a “The ONE Savings Account” which is going to benefit the high income/network investors who are looking for better and premium features.

Let us understand the features and benefits of this account.

complete details about ICIC the ONE savings account

Minimum Balance and Eligibility requirement

Any salaried or self-employed individual can apply for these accounts as per eligibility criteria. It’s not applicable for companies, Hindu Undivided Family or any other corporate body.

There are two variants to this account called Magnum and Titanium. Below are the balance requirement and more details.

Benefits of this account –

There are a various lifestyle, financial and banking benefits of this account. They are as follows –

Zomato gold subscription of 1 year
Big basket discounts
Amazon prime subscription of 1 year and many more. Below are the complete details of the benefits of this account.

these are the benefits of ICICI the ONE savings account

Conclusion

Note that you need to keep a high account base in your saving bank account to be eligible for these benefits, so in a way you are also loosing on the interest part which you could have potentially earned. So keep that in mind, and then take the decision if you want to go for this or not!

Joint Home Loans – The Pros, Cons and Myths!

Posted on November 15, 2018November 18, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

Buying a house isn’t easy today if you are living in a metro city like Mumbai, Pune, or Delhi. It’s nearly impossible to pay the full price of a house unless you have massive savings or an existing real estate that you can resell. This is the reason why most people take home loans, or rather joint home loans.

joint home loan

What is a Joint Home Loan?

As the name implies, a joint home loan is a home loan that you take with another person, who is usually your spouse or a sibling. There are many reasons why people avail of joint home loans instead of standard home loans, one of which is bad credit.

Let’s understand why.

No matter what kind of loan you apply for, the lenders always check your credit report to assess your creditworthiness. This a standard practice to reduce the risk of non-performing assets. So, if your credit report looks fine which means that you don’t have a history of late payments, loan defaults, etc. and your credit score is high, then you can avail a loan easily.

However, if that’s not the case, not all hope is lost as an alternative option exists! That’s when you can get a co-borrower to take a home loan with you. If their credit score is good, then it can balance yours and make it easier to get your loan approved.

People also take joint home loans when they aren’t capable of repaying the full amount on their own. By dividing the loan’s burden with their spouse or a family member through a joint home loan, the debt can be repaid easily. Now that you know what a joint home loan is, let’s take a look at some of the major pros and cons of the same.

Pros of Joint Home Loan

The chances of getting a home loan at attractive interest rates are much higher in a joint home loan compared to the regular home loan.
You can get larger amounts in a joint home loan that can help you afford an expensive property.
As per the income tax regulations, joint home loans allow both co-borrowers to claim tax benefits under Section 80C. They each can deduct up to 2 lakh INR from the interest amount and 1.5 lakh INR from the principal amount from their taxable incomes.
If you are unable to get a home loan due to poor credit score, then a joint home loan can be your best bet.

Cons of Joint Home Loan

If your co-borrower in unable or simply refuses to pay the EMIs, then your credit report apart from theirs is affected.
Joint home loans can raise all kinds of legal problems if the co-borrowers are married to each other and get separated by divorce even as home loan remains to be repaid. If the property is registered in the name of one co-borrower, then after the loan has been fully repaid, he/she will become the rightful owner even if the other co-borrower has also paid their share of the EMIs.

Common Myths About Joint Home Loans

A joint home loan is a massive financial obligation. Apart from the huge EMIs that are particular to these loans, the tenures are not lesser than 15 to 20 years which means you pay the EMIs for a large portion of your life. Thus, it’s a good idea to do extensive research before you finally start submitting applications for a joint loan.

It would help if you also were wary of some of the most common myths about joint home loans that mislead borrowers:

Myth #1: A Co-Applicant is Required Just for “Formality.”

A co-applicant is as much responsible for a loan’s repayment as the primary borrower. In other words, signing on the dotted line imposes legal and financial obligations which is why it’s strongly recommended that both co-applicants read the fine print and ask as many questions as they need until they have a good understanding of the agreement they are about to enter into.

Myth #2: Only One Co-Borrower Can Receive Tax Benefits

People think that in joint loans, only one of the co-borrowers can receive tax benefits. However, this is further from the truth as both co-borrowers are equally entitled to these benefits. This means that you and your co-borrower both get to enjoy lower individual taxable incomes. That said, you must know about Section 24 of the Income Tax Act which sheds light on taxation in joint loans.

As per Income Tax guidelines, a co-borrower can claim tax benefits only if he/she is also a joint owner of the property. This clarification is important because many times, people take joint loans to increase the loan amount and make the process easier. However, merely being a co-borrower doesn’t make you eligible for the tax benefits. You must have ownership rights over the property as well.

Myth #3: Roping in a Co-Applicant is a Sure Shot Way of Getting a Home Loan

It’s true that it’s easier to get a home loan with a co-applicant compared to when you apply just by yourself. However, there is no guarantee that you will get approved for a loan. This is because home loans are highly risky for the lenders, even if they are secured against the homes they are availed for.

So, a co-applicant can’t help with the application if they don’t contribute to your “creditworthiness”. In other words, a co-applicant can make it easier to get a home loan only if their credit score is high and their income big enough to cover the EMIs.

Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail!

Joint home loans have their pros and cons as explained above. However, there are many other factors that you must consider including the interest rates, income, financial projections for the future, and buying a new home vs. an old home. After all, once you borrow money from a bank, there is no turning back. So, take your time and pick the right loan at the right time. Good luck!

Balanced Advantage Mutual Funds – Reduces Risk and gives good return at the same time !

Posted on September 24, 2018November 18, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

In the world of mutual funds, there are various kinds of categories for different requirements and risk appetite. One of the categories I want to talk about today is the “Balanced Advantage” Category.

What are Balanced Advantage Mutual funds?

In one line, a balanced advantage fund dynamically shifts between equity and debt depending on the market valuations. What it means is that when the markets are over heated and high, the fund decreases its exposure to equity and move the money into debt, so that if the markets fall, the down side is protected.

In the same way, when the markets are on the lower side, the fund increases the exposure to equity and reduces the debt side.

This strategy significantly reduces the volatility of the fund compared to an equity fund and at the same time, the returns potential also comes down.

A lot of funds in this category also name their funds as “Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund” rather than “Balanced Advantage”

Some of the examples of the funds in this category are

ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund
Motilal Oswal Most Focused Dynamic Equity Fund
Aditya Birla Balanced Advanced Fund
Kotak Balanced Advantage Fund
Reliance Balanced Advantage Fund
HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund

How does a Balanced Advantage Mutual fund work?

A balanced advantage fund uses a predefined algorithm and based on Market PE or P/BV or some other internal indicator to determine if markets are on the higher side or lower side and then based on that they keep increasing or decreasing the equity exposure.

To explain you more about this, I will take an example of how the ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage fund which was the first fund of this type in the mutual fund Industry and very successful in that category.

Disclaimer : I am taking the example of ICICI balanced mutual fund only because it’s the biggest in the category and quite old one in Industry and we have some data to show. It’s not a recommendation to buy. We have some equally good funds from other AMC’s also.

They use P/BV (price to book value) as an indicator to decide is markets are over heated or not.

Equity Exposure changes with Market movements

Below you can see how the equity exposure has changed over time from Apr 2010 – Sept 2014. You can see that equity exposure increases when Sensex levels go down and vice versa.

balanced advantage equity exposure

Limits downside and upside

The main benefit of Balanced Advantage funds is that it controls and extreme upside or downside. So you will not see very deep losses, but at the same time, you will also not see very high profits.

However, the balanced advantage funds will provide decent market returns (but not comparable to pure equity funds)

balanced advantage wealth creation

Even in the flat markets, you can see that the balanced advantage category has generated positive returns by taking advantage of the volatility.

balanced advantage performance flat market

Who should invest in Balanced Advantage (or Dynamic Asset Allocation) funds?

Now the big question is – Which kind of investors should invest in Balanced Advantage fund and When?

Who should invest?

It’s mainly for those investors whose focus is on reducing the risk, but at the same time enjoying better returns than Fixed Deposits. The fund value will still be volatile, but the intensity will not be as high as a pure equity fund. From Returns point, it will give decent return of 2-3% above FD returns, but that is all you should expect over a long term.

When to Invest?

As you have seen that the equity exposure is already controlled by the fund itself, you can actually invest anytime you want. There is no need to time the market, because the fund itself times the market internally. There are no issues if you want to put lump sum or SIP.

Who should not invest?

An investor who wants higher return potential and can take the higher volatility, should not be ideally investing in these funds. However, if you are unsure of the markets levels and want to play safe, you can invest lump sum in balanced advantage fund and then setup a STP (Systematic transfer plan) to an equity fund. This will reduce the risk to some extent.

Important: Don’t confuse this category of funds with “Balanced Funds”. Balanced Funds are those mutual funds that have a mix of equity and debt in their portfolio with equity exposure of around 65-70% and rest Debt.

A good choice for Retired Investors

I think these kinds of mutual funds are a very good choice for retired investors who want returns better than the fixed instruments and at the same time, can’t handle too much volatility in their portfolio. So some part of their portfolio can surely be invested in balanced advantage or dynamic asset allocation funds (same thing, but different name)

If you want to invest in balanced advantage mutual funds, you can contact the Jagoinvestor team to know the process and get a well-designed portfolio.

Let me know if you have any questions regarding this fund of a mutual fund? Was it clear enough?

Investing in Mutual Funds vs Direct Stocks – Which is better option?

Posted on September 14, 2018January 23, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

Should you invest directly in stocks of companies or rather buy mutual funds? Which option is more “suitable” for you?

A lot of investors feel that they should invest directly in shares, because that’s what mutual fund do at the end of the day, however stock investing is a very different game altogether and the dynamics are very different there. Let’s see them one by one.

#1 – Knowledge Required

Most of the people think that investing in stocks is as simple as buying some stocks using hot tips and then waiting for the stock to become multibagger in next few months / years.

Experienced investors know that nothing is far from truth. They know that it requires great amount of knowledge and expertise to study the company’s balance sheets and choose the right stocks for future. There are investors who have spent their life time in studying how to do stock investing and still they make big mistakes.

So coming to the point, stock investing is not a child’s play. It takes years of hard work and a lot of knowledge to pick the correct stocks, where as you do not need much knowledge when it comes to mutual funds investing.

Infact, mutual funds as a product is created for those investors who can’t spend much time themselves to study stock investing. You can just pick a “reasonably good” mutual fund on your own using some basic rules or hire a financial advisor who can do that for you.

#2 – No control on stocks chosen

When you invest in mutual funds, you can not control which stocks go in and go out from time to time. That is the job of the fund manager. You only invest in the mutual fund and give your money to the professional management. So you have ZERO control on the stocks which are chosen by the fund manager.

However when you do direct stock investing, you are the fund manager and you have full control over it. So based on your study, gut feeling, logic, hearsay, hot tips, you can buy and sell the stocks, but that’s not the case with mutual funds.

The person who is taking the decision of buying and selling of stocks is a professional who knows the game.

#3 – Professional Manager

There is a different between a pilot controlling the airplane and the doctor doing the same. There is a great chance that the airplane will crash if it’s handled by a doctor (unless he an additional qualification of flying planes).

The same happens when it comes to equities. A mutual fund is managed by a very high quality and professional fund manager who has years of knowledge of various things like economy, credit cycle, interest rates cycle, economy, fundamental analysis, taxation, businesses and has years of experience of equity markets across various countries. They have completed professional studies related to wealth management.

When they manage and take decisions on which stock to buy or sell, they have very deep understanding the sectors and that business. They visit the companies, their factories and meet their top management. They have hidden knowledge sometimes on what is going on within the companies and can predict the future of companies in a better way compared to a normal person.

However, most of the equity investors feel they can successfully invest in direct stocks with great expertise for long term and generate great returns just like a professional manager.

An IT engineer sitting in a cubical at TCS or Infosys can surely buy some stocks based on hot tips, but can’t match the expertise of a professional fund manager who earns crores of salaries in fund houses (and if they can match, it then why not leave your job and shift to Mumbai)

#4 – Volatility & Return

This is very important point, hence read very carefully.

When you buy a mutual fund, you are investing a very large portfolio of different stocks which can range from 30-100 companies.

So your profits and losses are dependent on a large number of stocks, hence the risk is distributed among those stocks and in the same way the returns you get is the average of all. In short there is lower risk and lower return potential compared to a small 4-10 stock portfolio.

When you are a direct stock investor, how many stocks will you buy will decide how volatile is the returns from your portfolio. Most of the direct equity investors bet on very few stocks, they buy 5-10 stocks only (some times only 2-3). So each stock size is quite large in the portfolio and any change (up or down) impacts the overall portfolio return.

Most of the investors are not equipped to handle very high return or very high loss. If there is very huge return, investors sell their stocks and want to lock in the profits and in the same way if there is a steep loss, they want to sell it off and get out of the “risky” game.

In both the cases, investors feel the urge to get out and wait on the sideline, rather than stay in the game – because it’s emotionally very over whelming to handle it.

This is exactly the reason why you will find investors who have a mutual fund for last 10 yrs, but very rarely you will find an investor holding the same stock for 10 yrs.

#5 – Automatic Investments (SIP)

When you invest in mutual funds, there is a standard facility of automatic investing called SIP . This is a great way to automate your investing and create a habit of regular investing. This suits an investor who wants to systematically invest a fixed amount each month on a given date.

However when you buy stocks, you have to manually invest in each stock every month if you want to regularly invest in them. This becomes practically challenging and inefficient because human mind is lazy as per design. No matter how many reminders you set and how “committed” you are, after few months of “success” , it all falls apart for 99% of the investors.

Some portals like HDFC securities have now started the SIP in equities also, so what I am saying does not apply to each and every platform.

#6 – 80C Benefits

Direct stock investing has no 80C tax benefits, however if you invest in ELSS (tax saving mutual funds), you can avail the taxation benefits.

This is one small reason why you can prefer mutual funds over direct stocks

#7 – Active vs. Passive Involvement

Mutual funds are made for those investors who have no knowledge and no time on their side. Once you invest in mutual funds, your involvement is very limited in reviewing the funds over time. The important decisions of which stock to buy, when to buy, how much to buy is taken care by the fund manager and his specialized team of 5-20 research analysts.

However, if you decide to directly invest in shares, all this has to be done by you. Even though it’s not exhausting like day trading, but still you have to study companies, keep a track of what’s happening with each companies in your portfolio, control your emotions (true for mutual funds also) and what not.

In short, you have to be quite active in direct stock investing. It gets tough to focus on stock investing because of so many things in life.

#8 – Fees and Cost

When you buy stocks directly, you only have to incur the demat account charges along with STT and transaction charges if any.

However when you invest in mutual funds, you have to pay something called as Expense Ratio. This is the fees which is charged on daily basis out of the funds, however you never see it yourself and all the NAV’s which are published are post-expense ratio.

These charges are in range of 2-2.5% for equity mutual funds (less charges for debt funds). So this is one point where direct stocks are better than mutual funds, but only if you are able to generate the same returns like mutual funds yourself. There is no harm to pay the fees if the fund manager is able to generate value for you in your wealth creation process.

Investing in stocks directly, just because you will save expense ratio is like not spending money on salt while preparing a dish, because you will save some money. You need to focus on the final taste.

However if you can do successful stock investing on your own, it does not make any sense to invest via mutual funds.

#9 – Emotional Bias

This one is Epic.

Your creation is always special for you and hence when you buy a stock based on whatever research and study you do, it gets very tough later to accept that you were wrong (incase you were) . You will become very biased about your buying decision and will not sell at the right time.

It gets very tough to accept that you were idiot in past for believing in a stock purchase decision and will not sell when the right time comes.

This is exactly why bad equity investors become long term investors. They stay with bad investments for many years and eventually loose. It’s your money and it’s your decision.

However when you invest in mutual funds, all the decisions are taken by a professional who is earning a salary for performance. They take decisions based on logic and keep the emotions out of their system. If their process says “SELL” , they sell it . If it says “BUY” , they buy it ! .

Conclusion

Finally, there are some benefits of going directly with stocks and in the same way with mutual funds. However , direct stock investing is a specialized game to play and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. For those investors, who want to play little safe with their wealth creation, should choose equity mutual funds rather than trying to burn their fingers in direct equities.

Disclaimer – I would like to disclose that we as a company deal in mutual funds (click here if you want to invest in mutual funds), however we have tried to make sure that we are not biased when we are talking about direct stocks vs mutual funds. In some cases, direct stocks can really outperform mutual funds, but for general masses, mutual funds are better structured products when it comes to long term wealth creation.