Tag: Advanced Level

6 reasons for which you can withdraw from your EPF – like Buying House, Medical treatment, Marriage etc !

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Yes, you read it right ! . Most of the people do not know that they can withdrawal partially from their EPF account even when they are in the job for some specific and important reasons in life like buying house, marriage and paying for education fees.

Today I am going to share with you this very hidden and not so known information about EPF partial withdrawal. EPF is an important part of most of the salaried individuals, but there is lack of awareness of how it can help you at times when you are pressed for money in life.

If you have worked for several years like 5-20 yrs already, you have accumulated a good amount in your EPF (Employee Provident Fund), but most of the people feel that its locked in and they will only be able to get it only at the time of retirement or will be able to withdraw/transfer it when they leave their job.

EPF withdrawal for house purchase, marriage or medical emergencies

6 situations when you can withdraw money from EPF account while you are working

Here are those 6 major milestones in life or reasons for which you can take out the money from EPF account

  • For Marriage Purpose of Self, Sibling and Children
  • For Education of Self + Children
  • Purchase/Construction of House or Flat
  • Repayment of Existing Home Loan
  • Repairs/Alteration of Existing House
  • For Medical Treatment

Different rules for different situations

Para 68 of Employee Provident Fund Act 1952, defines how much you can withdraw, under which condition, after how many years of service and finally how many number of times. But before you move forward, its important to understand two important terms – which are “wages” and “years in service”.

You should know these two terms because how much you can withdraw for some reason has some restrictions and defined like this  – “You can withdraw maximum 36 times your monthly wages, only after 5 yrs of service”. So you will get confused on the terms like wages and years of service .

Most of the people confuse “wages” with the monthly take home salary or gross salary and do not understand how to calculate “yrs of service” because they have changed their jobs and keep moving from one company to another and have not transferred their old EPF account to new one.

So lets understand these two critical points

What is the meaning of “Wages” ?

Wages means Basic Salary + DA (if any) . So if you are earning Rs 80,000 per month take home,. but your Basic Salary + DA is only Rs.25,000 per month and rest 55,000 is other components, then for calculation purpose – “wages” will be Rs.25,000 only and not Rs.80,000 which is generally confused with.

What is the meaning of “X yrs of Completed Service” ?

How old is EPF account is the sum total of how many years you have worked. Do not confuse it with how long are you are employed in current job.

Because Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is a centralized pension system, if you ave worked for 3 yrs , 4 yrs and 2 yrs in 3 different companies, then your EPF account would be considered as 9 yrs old, provided you have transferred your old EPF accounts to the current one.

So in this example which I just gave, even if your current job is 2 yrs old, if you have transferred your old EPF to your current one, your “yrs of service” will be 9 yrs, and then you will be eligible for many benefits which we are going to talk in this article.

Incase you have not transferred your old EPF account to current EPF account, then in that case you will be at loss, because there is no data of your past employment in the current EPF account and you suddenly might not be eligible for various withdrawal benefits, because many of them require atleast 5 or 7 yrs of service.

So the first step you should do is transfer your old EPF to your new EPF account. Incase you have been facing issues while transferring your EPF account, file a RTI now and get it done !

What is Form 31 ?

Form 31 is the main form which one has to fill and submit to employer inorder to withdraw money for various important situations mentioned above. Along with form 31, you also need to provide specific documents depending on the case. You can either ask for Form 31 from your employer or download Form 31 from EPF website.

Fill this form and submit it to your employer who will then verify it and process it. Note that you should not send it directly to EPFO office, because it has to go through your employer only. Below is the form 31 attached if you want to have a look at it.

How will you receive the money from EPFO ?

When you fill up the form 31, you need to you need to fill up your bank details and also give a cancelled cheque and once your employer and EPFO verifies it and process it, you get the money through NEFT or RTGS in your bank account.

Incase the amount is less then Rs 2,000, you also have option to get it via money order.

6 situations when you can withdraw from your EPF

Below are those 6 important reasons for which you can withdraw from your EPF , now I am going to explain each of them in detail. Here they are –

Reason #1 – Marriage for self, children and siblings

You can withdraw from your EPF account for the occasion of marriage if you have completed 7 yrs of service. The interesting part is, you can avail this facility 3 times in life (during your service) and the maximum amount you can withdraw can not be more than 50% of the “Employee share” in EPF account.

You should be clear that even Employer contributes to your EPF account and that is not considered for this withdrawal. So even if your EPF account total balance is Rs 10 lacs, that whole amount is not considered for calculation purpose, only your own contribution and interest on that amount is used for calculation purpose.

This is applicable for the marriage of

  • Self
  • Son or Daughter
  • Brother or Sister

So for an example, lets say you have been working for 10 yrs and your sister’s marriage is coming up, you can withdraw money from your EPF account for this purpose.

You will need to provide the full address of venue, marriage date in form 31, and also attach some proof of wedding like Marriage invitation or the bonafide certificate of the fees payable and give it to your employer for verification and processing.

Reason #2 – For Education of Self + Children

You can also withdraw for education expenses for self and children. This is valid only for post matriculation educational expenses. By post-matriculation, it means after 10th standard .

So if you are admitting your child to any college or university for graduation or post graduation or any other professional course, you can withdraw from your EPF account. But this can be availed only after 7 yrs of service and the maximum amount you can withdraw is 50% of your own contribution.

This can be used for maximum 3 times in your lifetime, but this 3 times also includes the “marriage” as the reason. So the point is , for Marriage or Education purpose, you can withdraw for maximum 3 times in total.

Reason #3 – Purchase/Construction of House/Land

If you are planning to buy or construct a house OR purchase a land, you are eligible to withdraw some limited money from your EPF account once in lifetime. Here are some of the rules which you need to satisfy

  • The house/land should be on your name or your spouse name or jointly in the name of you and your spouse (no other combination is allowed)
  • You should have completed 5 yrs of service.
  • If you are purchasing land, the maximum permissible amount is 24 times monthly wages.
  • If you are purchasing or constructing a house/flat , then the permissible limit is 36 times monthly wages (including the acquisition of land also)

So for example –

If you are buying a flat and your salary per month is Rs.80,000 , but your basic salary + DA (wages) is only Rs.25,000 per month, then for calculation sake, your wages is Rs 25,000. So as per rule, you can withdraw upto 36 times your monthly wage, which is 36 x Rs.25,000 = Rs.9 lacs from your EPF account.

If you do not have that much money, then you will get less than 9 lacs. This is not a small amount if you think about it. When you take the home, there are so many costs involved and one is so hard pressed for money that time, Even few lacs is a big enough help.

The property in question should be free from any dispute or emcumbrances to avail this facility (here are 20+ terms you should know about real estate). Also the property should be registered and a proof of registration must be given to get this facility.

Reason #4 – Repayment of Existing Home Loan

This one is surely going to move a lot of you readers I know :). If you have a home loan, you can even withdraw some part of your EPF money to prepay your current home loan, but for that you need to have 10 yrs of service. However you can avail this only once in your lifetime, and this one time limit is clubbed with the last reason (3rd) above.

So one can either withdraw money from EPF account for purchase/construction of house or repayment of house loan, not both !

The property must be in the name of self, spouse or jointly registered with spouse.

A lot of people have a joint home loan with father, mother, siblings – but in those cases, you wont get this benefit. The amount you can withdraw will be 36 times of your monthly wages.

The money you will get under this clause, can be taken from self contribution and employer contribution in EPF. You will need to provide the proof for house agreement, sanction of house loan and some other documents as asked by the EPFO office.

Also the money will be issued directly to the lender bank, not to you (incase you thought you can trick the EPFO and enjoy the money for some other purpose). Next, you can use the money from your self + employer contribution.

Reason #5 – Repairs/Alteration of Existing House

At times, when your house is little old (after many years), there comes a time when you want to make some alterations and changes in current house and it burns your pocket. You might want to do some construction work, or lets say change your home tiles, or add a new room in existing house.

In all these cases, you can use EPF money for this purpose. However there are few rules

  • The maximum money you can take is 12 times your monthly wages
  • The house should be more than 5 yrs old after construction completion date.
  • You should have completed 10 yrs of service
  • You can avail this facility only once
  • The house should be in the name of self, spouse or jointly with spouse

Note that this money can only come out of your own contribution, not employer’s contribution

Reason #6 – For Medical Treatments

If you have health insurance, then well and good, but if you don’t have it and if you are hospitalized or have to undergo some major surgery, you might have to shell out a lot of money, but your EPF account can be of some help to you partially.

You can withdraw money from your EPF (Provident Fund) for a medical treatment for self or anyone is family in following 3 situations (any one, not all)

(a) The hospitalization is for more than 1 month (for any reason), or
(b) major surgical operation in a hospital, or
(c) if one is suffering from T.B., leprosy, paralysis, cancer, mental derangement or heart ailment and having been granted leave by his employer for treatment of the said illness.

The best part is that you can withdraw the money anytime in your service.

There is no requirement that, you must have completed X number of years in service. Even if you have been in service for just 1 yr or 2 yrs, you can still withdraw money for medical treatment – But at the same time, the maximum money you can take is limited to 6 months wages, which is not a very big amount, but still atleast you get some help and this option is there.

This benefit can be taken anytime you want and for any number of times during your life time. So in a way, your EPF will come to your rescue in times of need, at least partially if not fully!.

But, there are few documents you will have to produce and give along with Form 31 and those are

  • A certificate from your employer which states that the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme facility and benefits thereunder are not actually available to the member or the member produces a certificate from the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation to the effect that he has ceased to be eligible for cash benefits under the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme
  • A certificate from eligible doctor stating the fact that hospitalization of one month is required or there is a requirement of a major surgical operation or certifying that one is suffering from the mentioned illness – i.e T.B, leprosy, paralysis, cancer, mental derangement or heart ailment.

All the rules mentioned in a single chart

So that was all the rules I wanted to tell you, I also want to give you a single chart which has all the above points at one place.

epf withdrawal chart for house purchase, marriage or education expenses

An example of someone with 10+ yrs of experience

To give you a more clear picture, here is a simple example which will help you understand how much a person is eligible to withdraw in money terms. I have assumed that a person has completed 10 yrs of service and his wages per month is Rs 20,000 and his current EPF balance is Rs.10 lacs.

epf withdrawal example house purchase

Conclusion

Your EPF account is primarily for your long term wealth creation, Do not use it only because the money is available through that because its a place where your money gets accumulated each month without your intervention.

However in case of crisis situations and when you are not able to arrange for money from anywhere, its a good place to chip in and withdraw the money.

Let me know if you want to share any new information or have any doubts. I would be happy to answer them incase I know more

A detailed information about Inflation Linked Bonds from RBI and investment in it

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

RBI has announced that its going to issue Inflation Indexed National Savings Securities – Cumulative (IINSS-C) for retail investors where one can invest and get returns equal to Inflation + 1.5%.

These bonds are now coming up in markets, as it was announced in the last budget that govt will bring inflation linked products very soon (RBI link here).

The minimum Investment amount for these inflation linked bonds is Rs.5,000 and the maximum can be Rs.5 lacs per applicant per annum. The inflation linked bonds are going to be available only for 9 days, starting from 23rd Dec to 31st Mar 2014 only (update – This date was earlier 31st Dec, later it was extended to 31st mar).

The best part about these bonds is the hedge against inflation, so you don’t have to worry if your investments will be able to beat inflation or not.

rbi inflation linked bonds national saving securities

Returns from Inflation Indexed Bonds

As per the RBI guidelines, the return you would get is “Base rate of 1.5% + Inflation Rate based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) , compounded half yearly”. So assume that, CPI inflation number is 10%, so your final return would be 11.5% (10% + 1.5%) .

Actually because its compounded half yearly , the returns would be a little more than 11.5% . One important point to note is that in case of negative inflation (which we are all sure will not happen), you get 1.5% guaranteed.

The best part about these bonds is that the benchmark for returns is CPI inflation and not WPI !. Because CPI is one the best measures of inflation parameters available in India. CPI is more close to reality, tracking the change in prices of end-user numbers unlike is sister WPI (Wholesale Price Index), which tracks the price changes in wholesale market. Read more about WPI vs CPI here .

Below is the last 3 yrs history of CPI inflation for you to get an idea about what was CPI in last some years ! .

CPI Inflation India 2013

Taxation Angle ?

This can be disappointing for many, but there is no tax benefit when you invest in these RBI bonds. You do not get any income tax exemption at the time of investing under Section 80C or anything else, nor they are tax friendly at the time of maturity.

You will have to pay income tax on your returns as per your slab rates at the time of maturity. Now that’s the price you need to pay to get the guarantee that your investments will be hedged against inflation.

Can you get Loan by Pledging the Bonds ?

Yes, you will be able to pledge these bonds and get the loan against it. Given that the bonds comes from RBI and govt guarantee’s the returns part, the lenders would not mind lending you against the inflation linked bonds. However you wont be able to sell the bonds in secondary markets, like you can do some of the other bonds which came few years back.

Can NRI’s Invest in These bonds ?

NO. NRI’s are not allowed to invest in these inflation linked bonds from RBI. As per the guidelines from RBI declaration about bonds, only Individuals , HUF’s and Charitable Institutions and Universities are allowed to invest.

Premature Withdrawal

The bonds tenure is 10 yrs, however its possible to withdraw prematurely after 3 yrs of investments (with penalty charges) , however a senior citizen (65+ yrs) would be able to do premature withdrawal after just 1 yr. Note that premature withdrawal rates are high enough to discourage you to do so ! .

How to Invest ? 

One can invest in these bonds at branches of SBI bank , all other nationalized banks (Vijaya Bank, Bank of Baroda, Maharashtra Bank, Bank of India etc etc … all of them) and 3 private banks which are ICICI bank, HDFC bank and Axis Bank.

Subscription to the Bonds will be in the form of Cash/Drafts/Cheque/online through internet banking. Cheque or drafts should be drawn in favor of the bank (those mentioned above), specified in paragraph 10 and payable at the place where the applications are tendered. I think its better to visit the bank for exact procedure incase you are interested.

Full Brochure about these bonds from RBI is below:

Who should Invest ?

At first glance the bonds look very good option to make long term investments who are too scared with inflation and it worries them to core.

Those investors who are approaching retirement and want some kind of security against inflation can surely look at these bonds, but then be ready to pay income tax on the returns part. Truly speaking your final return depends on various things like CPI inflation in future and the Taxation laws at the time of maturity.

I contacted some of the other bloggers and experts to know their opinion about these bonds and their comments and here they are !!

Karan Batra, A Chartered Accountant who writes on Income tax on his blog was not very excited about these bonds and says

These Bonds are only Inflation protected and not Tax protected but sadly the Tax Rates in India are much higher than the Inflation Rates in India. Therefore, it is always advisable that the investor should prefer to invest in tax-free instruments like PPF as they yield a better return.

Moreover, the computation of interest and principal readjustment is complex which leads to an even highly complex tax structure. These Bonds may give slightly higher returns but the complexities are so much that it I’m advising my clients to stay away from this issue and rather invest in PPF/Fixed Deposits

However when I contacted Deepak Shenoy to comment on these bonds from long term perspective, He was positive about these bonds and says

The product makes sense for anyone in income brackets that are less than 30%, but you have to buy the idea that inflation will remain fairly high over the next few years. If the CPI inflation falls, your return comes down appropriately. (In which case the fixed coupon tax-free bonds or PPF is a way better idea).

You can read the detailed posts from Deepak on these inflation linked bonds here and here.

Are you worried about inflation in future? Are your investments hedged against inflation? Please share your thoughts about it in comments section below !

Also be ready for the “Oh My God” Offer coming on 7th Jan, which will be a great one in a year offer from Jagoinvestor you can’t afford to miss. More information about it soon !

Crisil Real Estate Star Ratings (Crest) – Something which can help Real estate Investors

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Today I am going to share with you information about the CRISIL Real Estate Star Rating (CREST). It’s a product by CRISIL that rates a real estate project based on numerous parameters relevant to different entities such as investors and lenders. You can visit the CRISIL Rating page on its website

crisil-real estate rating and scale

Parameters checked by CRISIL for rating a Real estate Project ?

There are various things that determine the final quality of a project and how good or bad it is. The CRISIL Real Estate Star Rating looks into the parameters listed below and then assigns a rating to the real estate project.

  • Construction and legal track record
  • Organisation strength, systems & processes
  • Financial strength of developers (s)
  • Structural quality
  • Clarity of Title
  • Infrastructure & Integrated Facilities
  • Restrictive Covenants
  • Finishes
  • Encumbrances
  • After-Sales Services
  • Sale Agreement
  • Likelihood of Time and Cost Overruns
  • Development Agreement
  • Accounting Quality
  • Project Economics or Viability
  • Financial Flexibility
  • Innovation in Construction technology
  • Innovation in Building design
  • Innovation in Project funding

Rating Scale

CRISIL has an 8-point rating scale for the properties, beginning from “1 Star” and going up to “7 Stars”. The lowest rating is “Non Deliverable”. On CRISIL’s website, you can see the list of different cities and their associated CREST ratings. So if you want to buy a property in Bangalore (learn 20 terms in real estate here), you can check the CRISIL website to see if the property/ project you are interested in is mentioned. The project might have already gone through the rating process by CRISIL, and obtained a rating.

However, if a project has not been rated by CRISIL, it does not mean that the project is bad or is not worth investing in. It just means the builder has not applied for the CREST rating or CRISIL has not picked up that project yet. Given the number of projects coming up in different cities, and the total time it takes to scrutinize a project (close to 4-5 weeks), it is really not possible to rate all the projects in one go.

Different Projects in Cities

If I look at the CRISIL website, I can see many cities listed and numerous projects listed under each city. All you need to do, is to click on a city name and you will see the list. Here are some snapshots, which will give you a clearer idea

Different cities in CRISIL Real estate Rating

Mumbai CRISIL Rating

bangalore crisil rating

Pune crisil rating

How to use CRISIL Rating?

If you are lucky, the real estate project you selected is already rated by CRISIL, in which case you can see how many stars it has got. “7 stars” is the highest. So if the rating is either 7 star, 6 star or 5 star, I would say it’s a good rating overall. But you should re-look at projects with lower rating; especially a project rated as “2 Stars” or “3 Stars”.

However, CRISIL might not have rated the project yet, in which case you will be have to check the project and evaluate it on different parameters on your own – we have already discussed some of the parameters on this article.

Let us know if you were aware about CRISIL real estate star ratings (CREST) or not ?

How Insurance Companies Work – The Ultimate Guide to understand their Business Model

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

I have written almost every possible article on Life Insurance and even Health Insurance, but strangely I still find a lot of investors asking questions which clearly shows that somehow, somewhere they do not understand what is the underlying business model of  insurance business and how are the products designed overall. Let me use simple stories and recreate some examples which will show you how things work in any insurance business. Lets move on ..

The concept of Insurance Business Model

I see a lot of people saying something like – “How can these companies offer 1 crore term plan by charging just a small premium of Rs 10,000. Its surely a racket!”

Then a lot of people still feel that insurance companies are cheats and they will not pay out when a claim arises, just to make sure that they do not have to pay a big amount from their pocket. I am not advocating any insurance company here, nor am I saying that I have a solution to your doubts. All I can do is share what insurance is all about. This should surely help you understand the business model of insurance companies and how they make money. You can then choose to trust the system or reject it. Note that In our 100moneyactions program we have one of the tasks as completing your life insurance and health insurance with basic support system, So if you have still not registered for it, do it now.

Insurance Centuries Back – Lets go back in History

Insurance as a concept, is not a new thing in this world. It’s been in existence for centuries. Let me start with story which will give you some idea about insurance business and its evolution. Long back, there were businessmen all over the world, who traveled from one country to another for doing trade and business . They sent their stocks, inventories and material across globe on boats and ships. A lot of times when they used to send their ship from Point A to Point B, it so happened, that some ship drowned and everything on the ship got wiped out.

And this happened 10% of the time on an average. Out of every 10 ships which started from Point A, only 9 reached the destination and one businessmen almost surely went bankrupt. So you can see that the certainty was about the loss of 1 ship, but there was uncertainty about “whose” ship it will be (just like there is certainty that one an average 1-2 person will die in a city in accident for sure, but who will it be is not sure) .

So all the businessmen started to think over the issue and they found the solution. They started collecting 10% worth of the stocks from each of them, collected it in a bag. When each of 10 businessmen did this, the bag was full of money which would compensate any ship owner who was the unlucky one and lost his ship. If there was no accident and all the 10 ships arrived safely at their destination, there was no issue at all. But when there was a ship lost, the whole bag of money was given to the one who was affected, which meant that he didn’t suffer other than temporary shock and resentment.

So now if you see closely, you can relate this with insurance. These businessmen were doing nothing but mutually insuring their risk by pooling in the money (premium) and then compensating the unlucky business man in case of a disastrous eventuality (sum assured equal to 1 ship worth).

Any ship owner, who did not wanted to participate in this (thinking he would loose that 10% money if his ship was safe), was free not to participate, but then he was just taking a huge risk of wiping out everything he owned and going bankrupt.

So you learnt – What is Insurance exactly !

So you are still not clear about the concept of insurance with this small but simple story? Let me now rephrase it in modern terms.

Insurance is all about transferring the risk to someone else, by paying a small cost called a premium. The person who runs the insurance business (for profit!), takes care of all the research and data which makes the business viable in long term. Let me attempt to build a simple (imaginative) job loss insurance business right in front of you.

Job Loss Insurance for Software Industry

Let’s say, I decide to launch an insurance product called “Job Loss Insurance” for IT professionals  . So, I research and find out that out of every 100 people in IT sector sector, 3 lose their job each year for some reason or the other, but then they are able to secure another job within 6 months (just an assumption). Now assuming that the average salary of a software professional is Rs 50,000 per month, it means that I can create a job loss insurance product which says –

“Pay a premium X each year and in case you lose your job, we will pay you 6 months salary to you, so that you can keep your mind cool and search for another job and pay your home loan EMI, children school fees and other commitments.”

Why am I suddenly feeling that some of the IT guys reading this really want this kind of product …

Anyways, so I know that out of 100 people, 3 people on an average will lose their jobs who would need 6 months of oxygen till they find another job (50k X 6 months = 3 lacs) . So, I would need 9 lacs  to pay all these 3 claims which will arise each year.  So now, I need a market of 100 people to whom I can pitch this product and generate 9 lacs of total money. Which means that I will have to price it as Rs 9,000 per person per year. In short 100 people will pool in Rs 9,000 and generate 9 lacs and then out of those 100 people, 3 will loose the job and file for a claim.

But wait, where is my profit ? I am not doing a charity ! Its a business for me ! . So for that reason, I will not charge Rs 9000, I will charge Rs 12,000 per year. So I keep a cool Rs 3 lacs as profit!

But , There is a problem …

Each year, its not that, only 3 out of 100 will loose the job! It could be 4 or 5 in some year and it can be 1 or 2 or even ZERO! in some other year. The 3/100 was just an average over long term . So while I know that a particular year can be very very bad or very very good, over a 10-20 yrs period, the average will be 3/100.

So, I will make sure that I keep sufficient capital with me before starting the business (what if in first year itself, there are 6 job losses out of 100). That’s the reason, why there are IRDA norms that a particular amount of net worth should be there with every insurance company before they get a licence and its called Solvency Ratio.

So now, based on their premium pricing strategy and overall experience in next many years, an insurance company is very profitable in long run (high probability) or they suffer a loss. That might explain, why most of the new insurance companies are in a loss at the moment (insurance is a long term business, very long term).

how does insurance company works and its business model

Premium Increase for some customers

Now a lot of people wonder, why insurance companies increase the premium for some customers (called as loading the premium) . Let me show you with same example.

Now as per my data research, There might be a category of IT guys who have a higher changes of 5/100 job loss and that one is Software Engineer whose company is not US based and they are into Embedded systems . So in short a IT guy who is into Embedded systems with a Non-US based company is more dangerous customer to me . While I will still give him insurance, but I cant charge him same premium like every other IT guy. So I would charge him not 12,000 per year, but 24,000 per year – because he is risky! .

While he might not get fired by his company, I am taking a very high risk against him and I deserve to be paid more, otherwise it does not make any business sense to me. Now if he hides this information from me and does not tell me before hand while filling up the form that he is working in embedded systems, that too with a company which is not US based (guys, just a random assumption, don’t take it seriously), should I be paying him any insurance money if he actually loses his job? the answer is rude NO. I can’t be emotional here and look at your tears! You cheated me, so you pay for it!

This might explain to you, why insurance companies apply loading, when you tell them you are a smoker, or you drink, or you are obese or you are working for the Army!. You are a high risk customer, and as per business rules, they will definitely increase your premium, even you will do the same, if you started up a insurance business. Wont you ?

Will company really pay me at the time of claim ?

Yes, it will. Because for you 1 crore at Rs 8,000 per year might look very absurd, its actually not . Because Insurance is a volume’s game. One individual case is not going to affect a company, because it was already factored in. It was known to happen. Thats why the premium was collected and you will be paid because thousands like you will NOT file for claim. My premiums might be used to pay your claims! . So Like in my example, when a person loses his job, I know that he is part of that small group which is surely going to lose his job. I will not be worried paying you 50,000 per month for next 6 months even if you paid me just 12,000 in a year. I know for sure, that the rest of the 97 people will not lose their jobs and I can surely pay you what you are insured for.

Amount Accumulates and grows into a big pool

If in the first year, less than 3 people lose the job, then I have extra money left at the end of the year and I can carry forward this money into future for those bad years when more than 3 people will lose the job. I can also invest this money, which will grow over time, and If I have done my research right, I am surely going to be profitable over long term.

But my research will be different than your research, you might find different kind of data, may look at the job loss data differently, may look at scenarios in other ways, which does not match my philosophy and hence you might charge Rs 15,000 per year and not 12,000 per year, or you can charge Rs 8,000 per year and not 12,000 per year like me.

Which explains why premiums are different for different companies.

Auto Insurance – They know all the data that if a car is older than X number of years, what the chances of it crashing into another one, and then how many premium makes the business viable and profitable.

Health Insurance – Health insurance companies know the data about the hospitalization charges, the probability of a person of certain age to get hospitalized in next X yrs and all those kinds of data. So when they price their policies, they are smarter than you. You might look at an individual case of yours and feel that you will profit from it (which can be the case), but surely its will not be a loss making proposition for the company either (over a long term, collectively).

Life Insurance – They know how many people out of 100, will die on an average in a year and within how many years. So if a big number of people pay for some years at least, it will be enough to pay the dead ones families.

Credit Card Insurance – There are insurance businesses around insuring credit cards. They know on an average out of 100 credit cards, how many are lost and on an average what is the loss amount. So they keep the premium such that they still make profits over a lot of customers.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude this article by telling you to understand the business model of insurance companies. Once you get it, suddenly all the doubts you had over years will go away. Insurance is a very strong concept which is a win-win model for the companies and for customers. At-least we used some stories and examples in this article which was just for illustration purpose and dont start arguing the data and numbers from examples 🙂 .

10 mind-blowing things “Health” can teach you about “Wealth”

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

While I was working out in gym in morning, I has a strange feeling that I can connect every aspect of ‘staying healthy’ with ‘building wealth’. There are various things which can be used as an analogy to teach good things about ‘creating wealth’ , but the area of health is best as an analogy. I am sure a lot of you who take health seriously and exercise regularly will be able to connect well and appreciate this article, others who do not take care of their health might get the maximum value because they will appreciate both the things (health and wealth points) . Lets see those points .

Health and Wealth india

1. Starting is Easy, Continuing is not

Its very easy to go for a jog/walk  at 6:00 am for 2-3 days. A lot of people decide they will do it, and a lot actually achieve it . But what happens after a week/month ? We discontinue it and life is back at square one and we are just lost in our daily life exactly the same way we were earlier . You break your promise of “I will exercise in morning at 6:00 am” , and it all starts with a very small violation, which takes a big shape. Starting out something is damn easy, but the real question is how long you continue it ! and with what commitment. So don’t tell me you got up at 6:00 am . Tell me how long have you been doing it , that’s the real parameter.

In the same way, its too easy to start reading a new blog, starting your SIP , start writing your budget and even working on your financial life. A lot of people get some adrenaline rush, after I write some good article which makes them feel – “Its high time now. I should do something about my financial life” and they start doing something, but the real parameter to look at it is – “Are you consistently doing it ?” . Is your SIP running from many years, month after month without fail ? Are you writing the budget month after month and following it ? A Rs 5,000 SIP running for 10 yrs would always (well , in most the cases) beat a inconsistent SIP of Rs 12,000 . A consistent written and followed budget which was not that detailed, will be much better than a inconsistent budget which was very detailed. A simple strategy followed for years with consistency will just be better than a complex one which is not followed regularly.

2. Focus has to be on Long Term

Imagine you a trainer in gym and someone recently joined with 90kg weight, and complains to you that – “It has been 1 week, and my weight is still the same !” . What will be your reaction to that ?

You need to give sufficient time and patience to see results. You need to understand how things work in health and only when you understand the internal working , you will have faith in exercising , only then you will continue it. Over 6 months, you will see some results , over 1 yrs you will see good change, over 2-3 yrs , you will be a transformed person all together. Short term is just short term ,you can only build some artificial muscle in such a short time. But if you need some serious health, it can come in long term only.

In the same way, wealth can not be created in short term (I am talking about investments here) . Wealth multiples itself over long term and if you want to build 1 crore rupees in 3 yrs with your Rs 50,000 per month salary (god knows what is left at the end of the month) , you are probably from Venus , not Earth for sure. Just like long journey starts with a small step, you need to start your wealth journey with small steps and then built upon it . You need to understand some of the fundamental principles of personal finance (which I have shown in my book – “16 personal finance principles every investor should know“) . Unless you understand them, you will always doubt short term volatility in your portfolio, you will just get too much attached with security aspect of your money and will not allow your wealth to grow.

3. Diversification is Important

Imagine you are only and only working on your left hand when you exercise . Try to visualize it . You are concentrating only on your left hand and how to make it strong. What will happen in next 2-3 months ? I am sure you will not even last that long, but even if you do , your left hand will surely look artificial on your body and ache like anything because you just never cared about other parts of your body and other aspects of your health. A good health is function of good diet, good sleep , good exercise and your life style. Imagine you work out brilliantly , but then, all you eat is junk like Mc’D , KFC , Pizza’a , maggi etc etc ..  Or imagine your diet is excellent , but you do not work out at all and sleep at 3 am and wake up at 11 am daily. This all is going to reflect in your health and you are not giving 100% to your health. You cant expect a lot !

In the same way, when it comes to wealth, you just cant be sitting on only and only Fixed Deposits or only and only ETF’s, or just 100% into real estate fully (unless you are a pro and understand what you are doing). You have to make sure you keep a balance and understand each component’s importance in your financial life. A good mix of real estate, equity, debt , cash , gold is desirable for most of the people (for a common man) . While Debt part will give you security and some peace of mind, real estate will make sure you do not feel left out in the race, the equity part makes sure, you are earning some real return at the end after tax and inflation, gold will keep you wife happy and cash will bring smile on your face and tears in your relationship managers face. The point is – don’t  over-invest in one category without understanding its impact and accepting the outcome. Always keep balance and harmony among each other depending on your age and risk profile.

4. To get best quality, you need to invest your time/money/energy

I recently invested a huge annual fees in a well known gym. We get best equipment’s, best environment, best facility, dietitian to look after what we are eating and a good tracking of where we are in our health chart, regular track of our weight, measures and it helps me and my wife move in the direction we want to reach. You need to invest money to get the best most of the times. Apart from the money, you need to put a lot of times and energy from your side. This brings good health over long term. While you can also just go to a park in morning or jog on a road, you still need to invest your time and energy. You need to invest in good shoes, a comfortable work out dress. The point I want to convey is – while you can always look out for free things in life, which works , at-times you need to invest your money, time and energy to get the best. Do not look for money when it comes to your health, you can earn 10x times more if you have a better health.

Just like that, I see a lot of investors destroying their financial life, because they just do not want to invest money, time or energy in their financial life. You can get best, if you are open to invest money, time and effort from your side. The good things do not come cheap always. Hire a good advisor/planner who you think will be able to deliver what you want out of him. Invest in good programs, good books , invest your time to learn things, go to that extra mile to understand concepts and how things work. We have around 550 articles at this moment on this blog and 6,000 questions answered on our Q&A forum, ask yourself how much energy and time have you dedicated to learn things and find out new ideas. We have written 3 books, which we feel can really transform your financial life, all it takes is Rs 1,000 to buy them. Go ahead and just read all of them and you will at a new level. I recently paid Rs 3000 to attend a TIE session in Pune, just to hear Naranyan Murthy (for 1 hour) and Devdutt Patnaik (for 30 min) . What I got back was tons of their experience and whole new ideas which made my Rs 3,000 a tiny thing. Good things always comes when you make an investment , you just have to focus on value.

5. It keeps you energetic

When you exercise in gym or at park near by or at home, there is a point where you feel – “I cant do more exercise, Its paining now” . At that point if you stop, you do not get the best results. The best results are always on the other side of your comfort zone – Always in every area of your life. When you feel exhausted, gave your 100% , when you are wet with sweat, your whole day goes amazing. The kind of energy and excitement you feel inside you is awesome. You are more happier, you smile more, you are more kind and you feel more energetic, ideas inside your head are better. Just one activity leads to a great day. And when you do it every day, then each week and each month is great.

Just like you feel energetic when everything in your health area is good, you feel really blessed and good when thing are right in your financial life. When you have completed all your pending tasks in financial life (Join our massive action revolution called 100moneyactions), when you have achieved a sufficient milestone in accumulating wealth, when you have some respectable bank balance, when you have good emergency fund in place, term plan and health insurance already taken and completed. The kind of energy and excitement you have in your financial life is different . You look at your financial life and feel better. You can concentrate on other areas of your life.

6. Structure and Environment increases your dedication and consistency

Good health comes when you are into a nice structure and environment, which fuels your appetite to exercise and improve your health. You will not feel like working out when you are inside your office space, you will not feel like exercising when you are into a movie theater.  But when you are inside a gym or a park in morning, you suddenly ‘feel’ from inside that you want to exercise. Thats the power of Environment. Just see anyone who has amazing health, its because they are part of some great environment and structure, it can be as simple as getting at 6:00 am and going for a walk. That’s also an environment.

In the same way, a proper environment helps a lot when you want to improve your financial life. When we did a 1 day full workshop in Mumbai recently, It was all about creating an environment, where you 100% focus on your financial life and discussing ideas which can take your financial life to next level. This blog is an environment, our 100moneyactions is a dedicated environment for taking actions in your financial life .  I want you to look at the following video which will help you understand more about power of environment and structure in your financial life.

7. Starting early helps

While its never too late, its always a good idea to start early in life. Imagine two cases, one where you have had a healthy life all your life, and then second case is when you are extremely unhealthy till now and now trying to have a health life at 45 yrs ! . Most of the people around 40-50-60 yrs old today are facing so much issue getting a health plan and also dealing with life overall. They have medical issues and its affecting everything in their life, even people who are connected with them.

Imagine if they had taken care of their health long back, it would be a different situation today. If you are not joining the gym right now, just because it costs money or you have less time, you get very clear that you will pay both of them later with huge interest. In Nandish Book – “11 principles to achieve financial freedom”, In one of the chapters, he has put a quote by Dalai Lama , when asked what surprised him most about humanity ..

“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

The same applies to your wealth and financial life. The mistakes you make today, will come back to you later and hit you hard very much. I cant say more on this, but just say you this – A lot of people are not able to lead their financial life properly when they are earning right now. Imagine what they are going to do when they will not earn and still be living on this planet for 30-40 more years. I am talking about retirement. You work for 30 yrs and earn, and you struggle a lot. Imagine retirement of another 30-40 yrs, when you are not earning. Its a life sentence followed by death if you do not start earning and do something about your financial life. A good start will always give a great support to your financial life. Here is an article showing you the power of starting early

8. Neglected, because it does affect you in short term

This is my favorite. This I think this is one of the biggest reasons for a bad health life and a bad financial life. A single action if not taken does not affect our health or wealth at that moment, but collectively they destroy our health and wealth in long term.

Coming to Health, When you eat a sweet (I used to eat a lot of them, when I worked in Yahoo) , skip your meal, skip your gym/exercise , that single act is not going to affect you at all (it looks like that) . You cant see its impact on your health in a long run. Each Pizza you put down your stomach instantly gives you taste, but instantly it does not give you a shock. You only see it months and years later. When you put on weight, you suddenly one day realize – that you have put on weight, it does not appear in parts. Suddenly one day you feel , your are too weak or do not feel energy in your body. It all starts small.

In the same way, I see a lot of messed up financial life which all started with one small mistake and then just grews SLOWLY ! . Every time you swipe your credit card, you feel like you will deal with the debt somehow, how troubling can one credit card swipe (which was really not needed) be anyways ! and then you create history !

Each month, when you blow up your money and do not save a single rupee, it does NOT affect you at that very moment. Every time you stop you SIP for something which is URGENT, it does not mess your financial life at that very moment. But all these things combined are just destroying your financial life. Each time you postpone taking some action in your financial life, it just messed up your financial life even more. So nothing hurts in short term, because its not visible – and its true in all the area like health, wealth, relationships, career or whatever it is ! . Stop looking for instant gratification, and suddenly you will have the half battle won !

9. There are shortcuts offered

You must be seeing a lot of shortcuts offered in the area of Health on TV and Newspapers. Some magic belt which will eat off all the fat, some majestic coffee, which has divine properties and can reduce your fat, health clubs offering packages which promise you things like – “Reduce 20 kg’s in 2 weeks” .. etc. A lot of people take these shorts cuts and end up paying huge costs, Money is lost, time is lost, health takes a hit and your trust reduces on anyone who comes to offer you any advice in future.

The same thing happens in the area of wealth too. We often get a lot of paid clients, who had a bitter taste with some other financial advisor in past, who sold them junk or didn’t provide any thing valuable to them even when they charged them good amount of advisory fees.

There are too many people offering you free advice, some good and some bad, there are too many short cuts which are offered to you and even you as investors are keen on taking short routes to build wealth, but eventually end up paying huge cost. There is no alternative of doing your homework and really spending your time and effort in building your financial life.

10. You act on it when you feel a sense of Urgency

Its a strange thing, but most of the people start to take any action in the area of health, when they see there is some ‘problem’ . When its URGENT to do something, when its too late and now its a matter of Do or Die. Didn’t those people who are very obese, knew from many years that some thing needs to be done ? Are you not aware right now, that you need to improve your health ? Yes you are , but you will take action only when you have a sense of urgency in that area, then you will suddenly have time, money and that effort required, which you do not have at the moment (this is what you believe).

The area of money is same. You do not work on it, until there is no option left. Most of the people who come to us for financial life come at the last moment. We always tell them, if only they would have come lot earlier, we could have served them in a better way. You go to a paid workshops, only when you are very sure now you need an external help, you go finding a solution, not to learn and explore new ideas . You are too needy in your financial life then and remember one thing – “Needy people do not have power in life”

I would suggest that you get my latest book – “How to be your own Financial Planner in 10 steps” and start planning your financial life in a better way. So do things not when they are urgent, but when you should do it. Dont take health insurance when you have a illness, you will not get it. Take it when you are in the best of your health. Don’t start SIP in mutual funds, when you can see your goals has almost arrived, do it when its very far and you have good time left for your money to work hard.

Wish you best of luck !

I hope you got some realization today, do let me know which area of your life did you get realization on ? Wealth or Health ! .. or BOTH !

Direct Plan of Mutual Funds – Everything you wanted to learn about it !

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

A lot of buzz is going around “Direct Plan” when it comes to Mutual funds. A lot of investors still don’t understand the full impact of Direct Option and if they should invest in the same old way or with this new option. In this article – we are going to unearth all the aspects of Direct and Normal Option of investing in mutual funds.

Direct Plan in Mutual Funds

Direct Plan in Mutual Funds – What does it mean ?

SEBI few months back announced that all the AMC’s should come out with two options for each and every mutual funds scheme they have, One will be normal one (which you have been looking till date) , And Then the other option will be DIRECT PLAN, which will have a lower expense ratio compared to the Normal Option . This is because when you invest in mutual funds direct plan, there is no intermediary involved in between and a lot of costs which are associated goes away . That’s the reason direct plan will have less expense ration. So If I have to explain in one line. Direct option of mutual funds will have no agent in between , you will be directly investing with AMC . However with the NORMAL Option, you will be investing through an agent which can be any individual or a online broker.

A mutual fund scheme will have to affix “-DIRECT” word in their scheme name. So for example now there following options for investments if you want to invest in HDFC Top 200 mutual funds.

  • HDFC top 200 Growth Option
  • HDFC Top 200 Growth Option – DIRECT
  • HDFC top 200 Dividend Option
  • HDFC Top 200 Dividend Option – DIRECT

Its a big worry for those agents who are not adding any value through their advice and have HNI/big clients.

And guess what already Direct Plans are HIT among investors and a lot of investors and big corporate investors (who invest in DEBT mutual funds) have seems to have shifted to mutual funds direct plans. This is proved by the fact that in the first month of Jan – 2013 alone, 56% of the total incremental flow of 60,732 crores in mutual funds was through direct option, which is around Rs 33,830 crore, which means that out of total Rs 100 , which was invested in mutual funds, Rs 56 came in through Direct Plan and only Rs 44 came in through Standard plan, but the majority of that would be in Debt fund, but anyways – the point if that Direct Plans are already popular and investors have started taking the advantage.

Is Direct Option Superior in Terms of Returns ?

Now lets look at the returns from Direct Plans vs Standard Plans and lets see some aspects related to it.

Expense Ratio of Direct Plans vs Standard Plans

Expense ratio of a mutual fund has a deep impact on the final returns over long term. A small decrease in expense ratio can increase your long term returns by a very good margin, provided every thing else is same. Direct option of mutual funds are going to have a good enough difference when it comes to expense ratio. If you talk about equity funds, the direct plans will have anywhere from 0.40% to 0.75% less expense ratio compared to a standard plan . For example – If I have talk about HDFC Top 200 mutual fund , the standard plan has an expense ratio of 1.78% per year . Where as the Direct Plan expense ratio is only 1.19% , which is a 0.59% difference and whopping 33.15% less than standard plan , Means that you will save 33% costs when you migrate to Direct Plan of HDFC Top 200 as an example . Note that all the numbers I just quoted are as of 28th Mar 2013, and change in future. I checked few equity funds from HDFC Mutual funds and DSP Black Rock and found that that the ‘Direct’ option have lesser Expense ratio compared to their Standard Plans . Here is a snapshot for 5 funds.

 

Difference between Expense Ratio

expense ratio difference between standard and direct mutual fund

Difference in NAV ?

The Direct Plans took effect from Jan 1,2013 . Means that on Jan 1,2013 the NAV must be same for Direct and Standard Plan and from there, the NAV must be different for both plans. And As Direct Plan expense ratio is going to be lower, the NAV for direct plan should also be lower and the gap should widen too. To just make sure that its happening in reality. I picked up the same HDFC Top 200 and listed down the NAV for both standard as well as Direct Plan from Jan 1,2013 to Mar 26th 2013 and checked out the difference between them and I was correct . The NAV gap was growing and Nav in direct option was 0.13% higher than the standard plan NAV , thats just 3 months of difference and if you extrapolate in future, the difference might be as good as 0.5%-1.00% difference in a year. Thats a big enough amount, 0.5% on Rs 10 lacs portfolio means Rs 5,000 . Isn’t that a good ! . And if you look into very long term in your financial life , the difference will be very high, which we will see now

NAV difference between Direct Plan in mutual funds vs Standard plans

Impact on Wealth ?

Considering the same example of HDFC Top 200 and their expenses ratio of 1.72% (standard plan) and 1.29% (Direct Plan) , What happens to your wealth after 10,20,30 yrs if you consider these two options ? Will the corpus you will accumulate at the end will be huge ? Even if we assume a conservative returns of 10% on equity in long term, the difference in corpus at the end is huge because of sizable difference in the expense ratio. Below I have provided the corpus of two options and the difference between them over 10 yrs, 20 yrs and 30 yrs.

Direct Plan Mutual Funds Corpus Impact

Note that these numbers and difference might look big to you, but you will not realize the difference to be very big in a short term like few months of every 2-3 yrs. Also you might argue that one might not invest for such a long term, but we are only highlighting the impact of such costs and its impact in long run.

So, Now I hope you must be clear about the Impact of mutual funds direct plan on your wealth.

Who should invest in Direct Options

Now coming to the important question – Who should Invest in Direct option of mutual funds ? A lot of people might feel that direct plan is for each and every investor , but thats not right way of looking at it . Only those investors should go with the direct plan of mutual funds who are

  • Capable of choosing right mutual funds for themselves
  • Who are ready to review their portfolios all by themselves without anyone help
  • Those who can point to bad performing mutual funds and remove from their portfolio
  • Who are ready to invest with each AMC seperately

I guess a lot of people will fall into this category and would be ready to go the direct route for the kind of benefit they get out of it. However lets see who should not choose Direct Plan

Who should not Choose Direct Plan?

You must be wondering who should not invest in direct plan ? A lot of investors have very very good advisers , who have good capability to advice and record keeping abilities. The value of their timely advice is so much that it over weights the advantage of direct plan. So if you feel that you have an adviser who helps you pick good funds and helps you in removing bad funds over time and because of him you are able to get extra 2-3% returns on your portfolio, its worth paying commissions he deserves . Also It might happen that you are a busy person who wants a third party to handle your portfolio and inform you on time to time basis about your portfolio and whats going on where , you might want to consider not moving to direct plan.

So at the end , its about the question – “Is there any value in sticking with your adviser , platform or financial planner?” and if its adding enough value to your financial life , and do they deserve the commissions they get out of your portfolio with them. Its a question you need to ask yourself . Do not rush to convert your mutual funds into Direct plan .. Take some time to think over it and look at the long term effects of it.

How to invest in Direct Plan of mutual funds ?

The only thing you need to do is when you fill up the mutual funds investment form, there is an option called as “Direct Plan” there, all you need to do is put a tick mark there, If its ticked marked, then your investments will be into the DIRECT plan . Even if the agent/distributor puts his ARN code (the unique code which identifies a mutual fund agent) , he will not get any commissions from your investments. Also in some of the forms , that separate tick-mark option might not be available, in which case you have to mention the word “DIRECT” in the ARN column . Note that if you forget to mention that you want it to be under DIRECT plan and also the agent code is missing, by default the investment is going to be under mutual funds direct plan .

You can fill up this form directly with the AMC by going to their Office , or you can also use CAMS/Karvy for making investments , who are back-office partners for a lot of AMC’s . If you invest through CAMS/Karvy , still the investments will be into Direct plan, just make sure you do not leave the DIRECT unticked.

How to Change your Existing Mutual funds to Direct option?

Your existing investments in mutual funds will NOT switch to direct plans automatically, no matter you did it with an agent or directly with AMC (Read which AMC is better then other) . It will has the same expense ratio as of old funds.

To convert your existing holding from a standard to a direct plan, you need to submit a switch request. All you need to do is contact your AMC and ask for Switch reuest form . Which is a written request telling them that you want your existing mutual funds to be now converted into DIRECT plan . Once they get this request , they will process it , they will intimate you once its done . Your agent will not like you for this 🙂 .

Will my existing SIP’s be considered under Direct plan by Default? ?

All the SIP’s which were made through an agent/distributor will still be under the standard plan , you will have to manually request the switch to Direct Plan . But if you had any SIP which was done directly with AMC (without involving Agent Code) , in that case your SIP’s  done after Jan 1, 2013 will automatically be considered under DIRECT plan , but all the old SIP’s which were done before Jan 1,2013 will still be there under Standard Plan and the higher expense ratio will apply there.

Can you convert your existing Tax Saving Mutual Funds (ELSS) under Direct Plan ?

If your tax saving mutual funds are still in lock in period , then you CANNOT convert them right now, only when the lock in period is over, you will be able to convert them into Direct Plan.

Will there be Exit Load applied when I move to Direct plan ?

Yes and NO !

If your existing mutual funds investments is through an agent/distributor , then there will be exit load at the time of switching them into a Direct version of mutual funds, but if your existing investments are through AMC directly, then there will not be any Exit Load while switching to Direct plan.

Important Points

  • There is no DIRECT option in ETF’s and closed ended mutual funds
  • There will be no difference between the portfolio’s of Direct Plan and Standard Plan . Every thing will be same except that the Direct plan will have a lower expense ration. Thats all !

Finally Are you going to invest into the Direct Plan of Mutual funds or going to continue with your old investments through an agent or distributor ? Please share your thoughts and inputs about it. What do you think about the Direct Plan of Mutual funds ?

Gift Tax in India – Everything you wanted to know about rules and exemptions

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Do you know that, when someone deposits some money in your bank account, what is its taxation angle ? A lot of people take some loan from their friends for few months and then return it back, but never think twice about it from taxation angle? Your parents deposit some money to your bank account because you want to pay the down payment of your house. While it’s a help from your parents, have you ever thought if you have to pay tax on that amount or not?

In this article lets see all the aspects about these kind of transactions, when money comes and goes out of your bank account and what are the rules for income tax on gifts received from relatives or other people in India .

Taxation on Gifts

Let us first see what kind of situations we are talking about ?

  • You swiped your credit card for your friend Rs 20,000 purchase and then your friend paid back money to you by transferring it to your bank account.
  • You asked Rs 50,000 from your friend as loan and paid him back after 1 month.
  • You got Rs 50,000 cheque from your relative on your wedding.
  • Your father transferred some money you your bank account as help for some purpose.

These are few instances, which happens in our lives. But its very important for you to understand the tax implications in various scenarios and the possible issues which can come up in the future, if income tax department decides to scrutinize your income tax returns for example. By understanding the gift tax rules and precautions to take, you will be safe. So now, let’s look at 5 points which will help you understand rules about incomes tax on gifts in a better way.

By virtue of Section 56(2), any sum of money exceeding Rs. 50000 received without consideration by an individual or an HUF from any person is chargeable to tax as income under “other sources” subject to some exclusions . Below we are going to see all those exclusions and gift tax rules.

1. Upto Rs 50,000/year is not taxable

The first major rule which every person should know is that there is no tax to be paid on gifts received (cash or kind), if the amount of the gift is upto Rs 50,000 in a year. However if the total amount crosses Rs 50,000 . Then you will have to pay the tax on the total amount received (not additional). For example – If a friend of yours gifts you Rs 30,000 in a given year, you don’t have to pay any tax on that amount, as its below the limit of Rs 50,000 .

Now suppose you also get Rs 20,000 after that, still you don’t have to pay the tax as the total worth of the gift you got in the year was Rs 50,000 till now (less than the limit of Rs 50,000) . But now, if someone gifts you another Rs 10,000 . Your total gifts in a year is Rs 60,000, so you will have to pay tax on the total amount of Rs 60,000 , not just on additional Rs 10,000 . This Rs 60,000 will be included in your income and you will have to pay tax on this Rs 60,000, as per your tax slab. Note that this is exactly how the written law is.

Since 1/10/2009, Section 56(2) has been amended and the scope of ‘’gifts’’ will include even immovable properties or any other property besides sums of money under its ambit.

2. Any amount received by relatives is not taxable at all

Another rule for income tax on gifts, is that any amount received from specified relatives is totally tax free in the hands of recipient. So if a relative gives you gift in form of cash/cheque or in consideration, you will not have to pay any tax on the amount received.

Following is the list of relations which are considered as “relatives” for this

  • Your spouse
  • Your brother or sister
  • Brother or sister of your spouse
  • Brother or sister of either of your parents
  • Any of your lineal ascendants or descendants
  • Any lineal ascendant or descendant of your spouse
  • Spouse of the persons referred  in above points

Example – So if you want to buy a house and your father/mother/sister/brother etc transfer Rs 20 lacs to your bank account. You don’t need to worry about the taxation part, because its a gift from your relatives and you will not have to pay any tax on this amount. However its a good practice to do the documentation for this, if the amount if pretty big like in this example. All you need to do is document this transaction on a paper which clearly states that who transferred the money and the reason for it, along with the signatures of both parties. In future, if there is any income tax scrutiny, this small piece of proof will be handy and will help you a lot.

Important – Note that, there is no income tax to be paid on the money received from relatives, however at times income clubbing provisions may apply, for example, if a husband gifts Rs 10,00,000 to wife, there is no ta to be paid by wife on Rs 10 lacs received, however when she invests that money and if any interest income is generated, it will be clubbed with husband income. Read all about income tax clubbing rules  here.

3. Any amount received as Wedding Gift is not taxable

One of the few advantages of getting married is that any amount you get, as wedding gift is not taxable in your hands, either from relative or non-relative 🙂 . So even if you get Rs 1 crore as wedding gift from someone in your wedding, it’s not taxable in your hands.

Lets see some examples –

Suppose if your spouse parents give you some gift worth Rs 10 lacs on marriage, it will be treated as a wedding gift and will not be taxed. However, it is not clear by provision, whether the gifts should have been on the exact date of marriage, or a few days before or later. Normally, it should be sufficient if the gift is given just on the occasion of the marriage, means either on the day of the marriage itself or a day or two before or after. Practical common sense view would prevail in such cases.

4. Gift Tax on Movable/ Immovable properties

There is a valuation aspect involved in gifting of immovable properties

  • If the property is gifted without any consideration then if the stamp duty value exceeds Rs. 50000/-, stamp duty value will be taken
  • If the property is gifted for a consideration, then the actual value of the property will be taken

In case of other properties:

  • If gifted without consideration and fair market value exceeds 50,000, then the fair market value will be taken as the final value
  • If gifted for a consideration and the Fair Market Value (FMV) less consideration is greater than 50000, then the FMV less consideration amount will be taken as the value of the gift.

5. No tax on the amount received through WILL or Inheritance

When any sum of money or any property is received under a will or by way of inheritance, it is totally exempt from Gift Tax. So if you get a real estate worth Rs 50,00,000 and some other things worth Rs 30,00,000 through inheritance , you will not have to pay any tax on that amount received.

Be cautious about the take and give transactions

At times, we ask for money from our friends for some purpose and then give it back. One of the examples I can give is what I heard from one of the readers in comments section. He swiped his credit card for a friend for Rs 50,000 and then asked his friend to pay him back through online banking. Here if you see, the amount came to his account, however it was a reverse transaction and not actually a gift, so ideally this transaction should not be considered at all.

If its a small amount and can be justified with proofs, there is not much to worry about this. But in this case, lets say there is a income tax scrutiny, and tax inspector asks you about this “Rs 50,000” coming to your account. Now – You can clearly say that the money you got from your  friend was a amount which you got back because you paid Rs 50,000 to him through your credit card. But just saying this will not be enough, He will ask you to prove it. Then you will have to bring your credit card statement, and prove to him that this was done by you for your friend and no one else.

gift tax rules in give and take

The point here is – no matters how truthful you are, there should be something you can show to income tax officers in case this is questioned. So for any transaction like this, which involves a big amount, its always a good idea to have a proof, like in the example I just gave, the credit card statement will be handy along with a small note, where you friend signs saying that you swiped your credit card for him and he will pay back the money through netbanking.

In this same case, If you ccan’tprove that this money was just a “reverse entry” , you can imagine the situation. Even if you were clean, the whole amount would be added to your income and you need to pay income tax based on your tax slabs on the ground of unaccounted income.

Another point, worth noting is that just because you have a reverse transaction, the other party can get into trouble. For example, suppose you give Rs 20 lacs to your friend, who wanted the money for buying a house and then your friend gives back those Rs 20 lacs in 3 months. Note that now there is a clear entry that you gave your friend Rs 20 lacs, so in future income tax department can reach you through your friend and ask you about this Rs 20 lacs and from where you got so much of money. They can ask you to justify the source of this money. So always keep these points in your mind.

How to document Gift transactions, Registered Deed or plain paper?

A gift deed is a deed, that is executed and delivered in which the donor transfers title to the receiver without any payment or considerations. It a document which transfer the legal title of the property to the donor, where the consideration is not monetary but is made in return for love and affection. There is indistinctness with respect to compliance of the gift deed at times, Whether a gift deed is required to be made in every circumstance

When it is required to be stamped OR get registered?

Gift made by way of cash or cheque does not mandatory requires to be executed through a gift deed. Writing a plain typed note on a paper will generally suffice. It is not required to be stamped and registration is also not needed. You may simply mention the names of persons, their relation and that the gift is being given out of love and affection.

Gift made by way of movable property is required to be made in stamp paper and stamped by the notary or court, and registration of gift deed is not required in this case. For the purpose of making a gift of immovable property, the transfer must be effected by a registered instrument signed by or on behalf of the donor. Gift of immovable property which is not registered is not valid as per law and cannot pass any title to the receiver.

Conclusion on Income Tax on Gifts received

As far as you make the transactions which can be justified, there is not much to worry, however its always a good and safe practice to document things on a paper with proper signatures. This will help you because income tax scrutiny can go back to many years of your life. The stronger your documentation and proof, the smoother will the situation be.

Thanks to Rishabh Parakh (www.rishabhparakh.com), a chartered accountant who helped me while this post and gave his inputs. He is founder  director of Money Plant Consulting (www.moneyplantconsulting.net ) a leading Tax & Investment Advisory service provider in Pune.

Why you should stop looking at ‘Past Performance’ in Mutual Funds

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

One day, a calf needed to cross a forest in order to return to its pasture. No one before this had ever ventured in to the forest. Without any rational, it forged out a long and difficult path full of bends, uneven ground and steep climbs. The next day, a dog took the same path following the calf’s footprints and a flock of sheep followed. As the path started taking some sort of visible shape, men started using the same and gradually, it became a well defined, accepted and the only way to cross the forest.

After many years, the trail became the main road to the village. Everyone complained about the traffic, cursed the long distance and treacherous turns, up and down hills but never thought of a better alternative. The old and wise forest smiled at how men tend to easily accept the way already open, without ever questioning whether it’s really the best choice.

In the same way, if you look at, the mutual funds’ investors. They seem trapped in a similar kind of concept called as – The Past Performance.

past performance not correct way of predection

Past Performance as selection Criteria

Since quite some time, Past Performance has become a major criterion if not the Holy Grail of the mutual fund selection system. In fact, one of the leading business magazines in association with one of the leading rating agencies went ahead and mentioned “We take into account a much longer period for mutual fund evaluation as that can serve as a serious guide to future performance”… (Their long term means 3 years in this particular case and they used return and risk adjusted  numbers for analysis)

Further, rather than challenging the concept, there has been a continuous debate if investors should look at 1-3 year performance or a longer period like 5 years to make mutual fund selections. The treacherous path to the village is already created.

Proponents of the long-history case argue that a long term analysis ensures that the performance is analyzed over various market cycles and if the fund has done well across the long term horizon, it stands a good chance to do so in future.

Sounds logical. Is it really?

I wanted to examine if it really works. For me and for others like me who would like to know the truth and may be many more whose investments have been in red, thanks to these ratings. I gathered historical data of equity mutual fund schemes and worked out the numbers. (3rd chapter of my first book also has same kind of data)

The results were startling !

The core of the finding is “Past performance hardly relates to future returns”… and here we are, pumping our hard earned money into mutual funds, depending  on these ratings that rely heavily on the past returns generated.

Analysis Details

  • The top 5 schemes by their 1yr, 2 yr, 3yr, 4 yr and 5 yr returns were selected. Thus 5 portfolios consisting of Top 5 schemes were created.
  • The performance of these 5 portfolios was observed over the next 1 year (e.g. say for Dec-09 analysis, the return for 2010 was observed).
  • Steps 1 & 2 were repeated every quarter for the past 3 years. The objective was to establish if the relationship with past performance that exists consistently over the period of time.

Findings & Explanation

Equity mutual funds past performance

How to read this Chart ?

The graph shows 5 bars, each bar represents the average next 1 year return generated by the portfolio created on the basis of historical returns. The left most bar shows how much average return was generated by portfolio created on the basis of scheme’s past 1 year return; the second bar is the return of the portfolio created by past 2 year return and so on.

So say the analysis is done on Dec-09, the past 1 year refer to 2009 and the returns are calculated for 2010.The above graph shows aggregate returns of the analysis done every quarter.

The graph ‘suggests’ that the ranking by past 2 years is of greatest significance while the ranking by 5 years is least significant. Please note that this is just an observation and not a conclusion. Statistics is a sensitive subject and any data tortured, throws some outputs. It’s important to delve deeper and see if the outputs can be supported with reason and logic.

To validate if the inference really holds true and if it can be used for decision making, I dissected the data of all equity schemes into two parts: The Large Cap Schemes and The Mid/Small Cap schemes. The result of analysis conducted over Large and Midcap funds is presented in the charts below.

Large Cap mutual funds past performance

Mid Cap mutual funds past performance

Take that. While the large cap funds ‘seem-to-be’ driven by their past 4 year returns, the mid caps ‘seem-to-be’ to be driven by their past 2 year returns. I have consciously quoted the word ‘seem-to-be’ as I can’t find a suitable reason to defend even these findings. There aren’t actually. For anything to be considered as a general rule, it should be consistently true. I couldn’t find that when I looked at individual analysis done quarter on quarter.

If I look at each analysis done across quarters, the 2 year return is not the significant driver of future returns always. A considerable number of times the other ones (1, 3, 4, 5 yr returns) gain importance. Just like “past performance” parameter, there are many other mistakes which an investor does in his financial life, and we have decided to talk on some other aspects like those in our upcoming workshop in Mumbai on 10th March. Incase you are in Mumbai, dont miss that event.

Dont use Past Performance to Predict Future

It is quite evident that the past returns cannot be a torch bearer for investment decisions. Following the past returns as a guide or using ratings that rely heavily on past returns is like shooting at a dart board in dark. For any doubts that remain, consider this

Reliance Equity Fund was the top performer in the Large Cap category in 2012, with a return of 41%. Did you know it was the worst performer amongst Large Cap funds by historical return? i.e. if you were in Dec-11 and would have picked up this fund’s historical analysis, it was the worst performer by 1y, 2y, 3y, 4y and 5y return.

Another best performer, SBI Bluechip Fund (2012 return: 38%), never beat more than 33% of its peers ranked by past 1y, 2y, 3y, 4y and 5y return as of Dec-11. Not surprisingly, a leading mutual fund star rating agencies top picks of 2011, underperformed the index in 2012. The agency boasts of using a good mix of longer period historical return and risk adjusted performance.

In my next blog, I shall discuss what can be the reasons of looking at past performance, where did the whole thought possibly evolve and where do  things  go wrong. The views expressed above are personal and for a change, I own them. All arguments and points welcome. I really value justified facts and accept only my wife’s opinions…!!!

PS: While I finished writing this, there is a news regarding S&P being sued for damages worth USD 5 Billion for misrepresenting the credit worthiness/rating of an issuer due to conflict of interest. (https://on.mktw.net/YRehB0)

Does it sound any bells?

About the Author

Sharad Singh, a serial-entrepreneur, has spent more than 14 years in the analytics domain and has done extensive big data work in finance. He runs Valuefy, an investment portfolio analytics firm that provides portfolio management solutions to BFSI clients. Valuefy has recently launched www.theFundoo.com, a niche portal that aims to make investment decisions easy and effective for individual investors. Sharad is an engineering graduate with PGDM from IIM, Ahmedabad.

Do you use past performance as one of the criteria when you select mutual funds ?

Credit Card Reward Points & Cash Back Comparison – Unearthed

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Do you know which is the best credit card in India in terms of rewards points which you can redeem at different categories ? Have you ever wondered how different or close these credit card reward points are ? Let me take an example!

Ever thought the difference between how does 5X rewards from Standard Chartered differ from 10X rewards from Amex, ever wondered whether taking a 5% cash back is better than going for 10X rewards. Ever thought how can you save in excess of 16K per annum only by having a few cards in your wallet, well continue reading.

credit cards reward points in India

Every credit card company offers rewards in the form of Cashback / Reward Points to its customers. These rewards are funded by what is called as interchange. Interchange is transaction fees charged by the bank from the merchant. Its usually 2 – 3 % of every transaction. This is the reason, why some merchants ask an excess 2% if you tell them you would be swiping your card instead of paying them in cash (Read some must know points about your credit card).  Cash is the preferred mode for another reason and that is to save taxes, as every credit card transaction goes into the books of the merchant, but that’s a separate discussion and we’ll leave it to some other day.

A few disclaimers before I proceed. This article is about rewards points and how you can save maximum through credit cards. “A rupee earned is a rupee that earned 6 percent” – So lets save some money for all of you. Again the entire article has been based on my experience and research, so am open to suggestions and feedback. Also I haven’t included Airlines spend, as I still don’t fully understand the Points to Miles conversion for different Airlines.

Following are some of the points that I hope the readers will have a much better understanding of, by the end of the article.

  • Comparing Credit cards by their rewards proposition – If you have multiple credit cards, how to figure which one has a better reward structure?
  • Accelerated Rewards: Most of the credit cards have an accelerated reward structure. So how should that impact your spending pattern so as to maximize the rewards?
  • Wallet of Credit cards that one should own – Using the methodology explained above, this would be a list of credit cards that will help maximize your savings.

Credit Card Reward Points & Cash Back Benefits

Lets start of with , How should one go about comparing credit cards by their rewards proposition.  To understand this, there are two important concepts that one should be aware of

  • Earn Rate:  Earn Rate is number of points earned per amount spent.
  • Burn Rate:  Burn Rate is the Rupee value of a reward point.

For Example – For a HDFC Silver/Gold card, you earn 1 reward point for Rs. 150 spent, so the earn rate is 1/150. Whereas each credit card reward point of a silver/gold card is worth 15 paise or Rs 0.15 only. So the burn rate is 15 Paise. You multiply the two and you will get a metric which you can use to compare credit cards from different companies.

Using the Burn Rate and the Earn Rate, I have come out with a very simple metric  “Rupee earned per every Rs. 100 Spent” , which can be used to compare some of the top credit cards in the market.

Rupee earned per every Rs. 100 spent = Earn Rate (Calculated on Rs. 100 Spent) * Burn Rate

Also the comparisons below are based on the basic earnings. Most of the cards have an accelerated reward-earning proposition. We shall factor that when we calculate the monthly earnings from different spend scenarios. Also will show you how to create your own savings through your own spend numbers.

Example – 1

I will give you an example of how this metric would be useful to differentiate between two cards of the same bank or different cards across the bank.

hdfc credit card reward points

The above tables give us an idea of hdfc credit card reward points benefits in the market. If you look at the value proposition of different cards, they are vastly different in terms of Rupee Earned per Rs. 100 spent. Rs.100 spent on a HDFC silver/gold card will give you Rs. 0.10 whereas spending the same amount on Regalia will give you a Rs. 1.08 in terms of reward points. But again Regalia and Infinia are fee based cards and hence one needs to factor this in when computing the relative reward proposition of the card.

Example – 2

Now lets compare HDFC reward points with CITIBANK rewards points

hdfc vs citibank credit card reward points

If we compare the same metric Rupee Earned per Rs. 100 spent, Platinum and Ultima cards are decent options and in the premium segment HDFC provides better rewards.

Accelerated Rewards – Categories of Spend and Best card in each category

Apart from the basic reward proposition that’s present with every credit card, most of the cards in the market offer an accelerated rewards earning proposition. These accelerated rewards can be in a variety of forms. E.g. 5x rewards on Departmental Stores, 10X rewards on Online spends or a 5% cashback on Departmental Stores.

Now lets use the concept above and factor in the accelerated rewards propositions, (That some of these cards offer) to get to the best cards in each of the spend categories. The formula to calculate the rewards is a simple one: Just multiply the basic rewards earned above by the accelerated reward earning multiple.

Formula

Rewards Earned = (Rupee Earned per Rs. 100 Spent) * (Accelerated Reward Earning multiple)*Spend/100

Example – Rewards earned if you have spent Rs. 2000 on Citibank Rewards card.

  • For Citibank Rewards, Rupee Earned per Rs. 100 spent = Rs. 0.4
  • Accelerated Reward Earning : 10X on Departmental Stores
  • Rewards Earned = 10*0.4*2000/100 = Rs. 80

A few disclaimers here:

  • A few credit card companies even though offer accelerated rewards proposition but offer it only on select merchants. For e.g. Amex offer 10X rewards on its partner merchants, CITI rewards card offers it on select merchants, etc.. If you do not shop on these merchants then you won’t be earning any accelerated rewards. That’s the reason I prefer credit cards which offer a flat accelerated rewards structure so that I get the freedom of shopping wherever I want to
  • Also some of these accelerated rewards have a validity, which means have an expiry date. You are eligible for accelerated rewards only in that period.
  • Also I have a preference for Cash back as compared to reward accumulation, reason being two fold. First: Cashback impact my outflows directly as compared to rewards (where one has to go through the process of reward redemption and its benefits). Second: Its faster.

Keeping the above in mind, lets factor in the accelerated rewards to the basic rewards proposition of credit cards and figure out which card will give you the maximum advantage. Also the following will give you a chance to rate your card with respect to the cards available in the market.

The data has been collected from the sites and catalogues of different credit card companies. Since the accelerated rewards are mostly provided in specific categories, so we shall consider each category separately and figure the best card in that category.

Credit card reward points apparel

Winner – Manhattan Platinum Card

Even though it seems, owning a Citibank Rewards card will give you, Rs. 80 cash back, but that’s just superficial because the 5X rewards on Citibank card is limited to only a few stores. Lifestyle being the major one of them.For Manhattan Platinum card, even though the offer tells only about Departmental stores, it covers all kinds of retail spends. Spends in malls are covered by this offer

Credit card reward points stores

Winner – Manhattan Platinum

Again it’s a straight fight between Manhattan Platinum and Citibank Rewards. And Manhattan Platinum wins hands down.

Credit card reward points dining

Winner – Kotak Trump Card

Clearly Kotak Trump card is the clear winner. With you saving almost Rs. 600 per month if you are a heavy diner. There are a few finer points, that the total spends on Movies and Restaurants should be more than Rs. 4000. There are a few other cards, where the card issuing companies have a tie up with specific restaurants in different cities. Citibank being one of them where they have tied up with more than 200 merchants across India and offer a 20 % discount flat.

Credit card reward points fuel

Winner – Standard Chartered Titanium

Standard Chartered Platinum Rewards, Standard Chartered Titanium, IOC Titanium and ICICI Bank HPCL card are quite close in terms of the monthly earnings. But I like cashback more than earnings through reward points. Also the 5% flat cashback on any petrol pump as compared to IOC and HPCL for Citibank and ICICI bank cards respectively make Standard Chartered Card a winner in this category.

Credit card reward points movies

Winner – Standard Chartered Titanium

Standard Chartered Platinum Rewards, Standard Chartered Titanium, IOC Titanium and ICICI Bank HPCL card are quite close in terms of the monthly earnings. But I like cashback more than earnings through reward points. Also the 5% flat cashback on any petrol pump as compared to IOC and HPCL for Citibank and ICICI bank cards respectively make Standard Chartered Card a winner in this category.

Credit card reward points utility bills

Winner – Standard Chartered Titanium Card

Again , both the cards are equally good, but the additional condition of paying your bills via Citibank billpay turns my preference towards Standard Chartered Titanium card.

Carrying a similar analysis on categories of Movies and Entertainment and Utility Bills reveals that Kotak Trump card and Standard Chartered Titanium card emerge as the top card in the respective categories.

Wallet of Credit cards that one should own

Having done the hard bit of analysis, calculations and comparisons we come to the easier bit of creating a wallet of credit cards for you which will accelerate the reward earning and help you save a substantial amount over a period of time. To give you all an idea about savings that can be done by having this wallet, I have created a few scenarios and the respective savings.  One can create his/her own spend/rewards scenarios using the table below.

 

Category of Spend Name of the Card Value Proposition Monthly Spend Monthly Savings Annual Savings
Apparel Standard Chartered – Manhattan Platinum 5% Cash Back on All Departmental Stores Spend, (This includes all kinds of Retail Spends) 2,000 100 1,200
Departmental Stores Standard Chartered – Manhattan Platinum 5% Cash Back on All Departmental Stores Spend, (This includes all kinds of Retail Spends)  4,000  200  2,400
Dining Kotak Trump Card 10% Cashback on all Restaurants, 10% cashback on all restaurants  5,000  600  7,200
Fuel Standard Chartered – Titanium Card 5 % Cashback on Fuel/Telecom/Other Utility Bills  5,000  125  1,500
Movies and Entertainment Kotak Trump Card 10% Cashback on all Restaurants, 10% cashback on all restaurants  2,000  200  2,400
Utility Bills Standard Chartered – Titanium Card 5 % Cashback on Telecom/Other Utility Bills  3,500  175  2,100
 21,500  1,400  16,800

 

This is a guest post by Gaurav Thakur, who is currently working as an analyst with a mutual fund company. An IIT Kanpur alumnus, he has primarily worked in the financial services industry, working with Citibank India Credit cards for a couple of years and also spending time in Citibank’s personal loans division.” This article has appeared first on gaurav blog here.

Which credit card you have already and are you satisfied with your credit card reward points and cash back benefits ? Did you get any insights from this article on credit card rewards points ?

Worst 5 yr period in Stock markets – Are you happy with your Investments ?

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Most of the people are worried about their Mutual funds, ULIPs and direct stocks returns. In the last 5 yrs, Stock Markets have been so bad that literally no mutual fund has given a good return in last 3-5 yrs , except few. I recently saw a reader asking this question

I have been going through SIP returns for last 5 years of some best recommended mutual funds and found that the returns were less than the Bank FD rates or at par… What is the use of investing in risky mutual funds if they cannot deliver returns better than Bank FDs in long run… I suppose they are high risk low return investments… please enlighten..

Your investment return is function of underlying Asset Class

A very simple, but not an easy thing is to digest that it’s not the investment product, which is doing bad, but the underlying asset class. Take the same example of mutual funds, ULIP or Index Funds. Its not the “fund”, but the stocks which they are invested in, that are doing badly. Stock markets in India have seen one of their worst 5 year periods (2007 – 2012). In my book “Jagoinvestor”, there’s one chapter on equity and debt, where I take last 30 yrs of history and show how in the long term, equity has given good returns and as the tenure increases, the returns get stabler and better .

So because stock markets have given bad results in the near term, its natural that the investment product which uses those stocks will also give similarly bad returns. So your fund might have just done its job of picking stocks as per their mandate, but the underlying stocks have done so badly that the mutual funds really can’t do anything here. What really you need to look at, is if the mutual funds have beaten its benchmark or not . If not, that’s when the issue is with the fund.

When did you exactly buy matters?

Yes, the last 5 years returns have been really bad!. No investor would be happy with these returns. However, did you notice that your opinion will be strongly biased, based on the tenure you have been holding the stocks or mutual funds? Some one who had bought near the peak of 2007, will surely say – “Stock market is the worst investments, never believe someone who says they are good.”  A person who had bought stocks in 2002 and had sold in 2007 , would say – “Stock markets are great” and someone who bought in 2002 and is still holding would also say – “Overall they are good. Ups and downs are always there.”

Let me show you some numbers. I took past 10 years of monthly NIFTY data starting from Sept 2002 to Sept 2012. Then I divided it into two halves, so there is  the first 5 years (Sept 2002 – Sept 2007) and the next 5 years (Sept 2007 – Sept 2012) . Here are the results of the returns based on the Index values.

Nifty Returns from 2002 - 2012

First 5 yrs

You will see that the first 5 yrs  were a really golden period, which gave close to 35-40% for lump sum as well as SIP investments. Someone who had been invested in this period would know how amazing the returns were.

Next 5 yrs

If you have been lying in this group, you must be complaining and surely your investments have not done well. You are disappointed and you have lost your wealth. But sadly it’s only because you are in this group.

Total 10 yrs

If you see the returns in this period ,you will see that the lump sum returns are 19% and even SIP return have been around 13% , which is a respectable rate of return. Most of the returns were eaten up due to the last 5 years, but even with those 5 years counted, the returns are good enough. At least better than PPF or FD returns and that too tax free .

Nifty Returns from 2002 - 2012

Stock Markets vs your Investments Return

“Equity gives good returns in long term” is a statement which is nothing but a probability linked statement , It means “most likely, equity will give good returns in long term”  It’s purely a function of time and your consistency in investing. While 5 years can be seen as a long term tenure, there can still be 5 years tenures where the returns are not that good and you might get bad or negative returns. Also note that it’s not your investment product, but the underlying asset is behaving wrong. So rather than complain about the fund, better complain about the stock markets .

What was your biggest take away from this article ?