Buy Cancer Cover and Secure your Finances

 The risk of cancer has become real and is beginning to threaten most of the population in India. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), this life-threatening disease is expected to affect more than 17 lakh people and resulting in over 8.8 lakhs in the country by the end of 2020. Some other reports specify how cancer is set to engulf even the youngest of the population and will be a major health concern by the end of 2035. 

What is even more burdening is the cost of treatment for cancer. If not diagnosed and treated properly, cancer can cause death most certainly. In such a case, buying a term insurance plan or a health insurance is not enough, it is always wiser to invest in stand-alone cancer insurance to financially protect you and your loved ones from the dreadful disease.

Importance and need of a cancer cover

Cancer is a deadly and financially burdening disease. Moreover, with the recent advancements in the treatment of cancer, newer technologies have become more out-of-reach for the common man. Hence, a specialized cover like cancer insurance provides your financial support in dire times.

2 Ways You Can Ensure That Your Family's Financial Goals Are Fulfilled

A Goal Without A Plan Is Just A Wish”- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

We set goals all the time. For instance: losing 10 kilos, eating healthy, running a marathon, writing a book and so forth. But financial goals, which are the most life-changing goals of all, are often put on the back burner.  

Accumulating funds for children’s education, building a multi million-dollar investment portfolio or starting a business can all seem a bit too hard. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With the right financial instruments, plans can be put into place, and everlasting happiness can be attained!

7 Important Things to Avoid Regarding Personal Loan

Personal Loans are a great a way to tide over your short term financial need as it requires relatively less documentation, quickly disbursed and doesn’t require any collateral. The interest rates these days offered by banks and financial institutions are also very competitive especially for borrowers with high credit score.  But there are certain vital things that one should keep in mind regarding personal loans:

1. Avoid Applying for loans with too many banks: This is a very important point as not many people are aware of this fact. You need money urgently and you might be tempted to apply with multiple banks in case your desired bank doesn’t approve your application. With advent of online banking, it has become very easy to apply for personal loan online with several banks. This is a bad strategy in this case. Every time you apply for a loan with a bank or any financial institution, it will check your Credit Score on CIBIL. Now with each credit score check your overall credit score comes down a little bit. Now if some four - five banks check your Credit Score at the same time it’ll hamper your score in a meaningful way, which in turn will pose a problem in getting your loan sanctioned. Also lower credit score result in higher personal loan interest rates.  
2. Avoid taking large loan amount: Just because personal loans are structured in such a way that you don’t have to discuss the reasons for taking one, it doesn’t mean you try to get as much as you can. Take only as much as you can afford to repay. Taking a loan amount more than you can afford to repay on time will put you in a debt trap. 

How to improve your credit score through simple snowball effect?

If you are reading this you are definitely looking for improving your CIBIL score (the most widely used credit score referred by lenders to hand out the loans) and this article will certainly help you in achieving this objective specially if you haven’t taken a loan before.

Since you don’t have a credit history the lending institutions will hesitate to approve your loan application especially medium to large ticket sized loans for items like Cars, Home etc. Let’s first understand the range of scores assigned by credit rating agencies and their grades:

Credit Score Ranges
Range	Grade
0 or -1	No Credit History
550 - 300	Bad
551-649	Poor
650-699	Fair
700-749	Good
750 and above	Excellent

If you fall into the first three categories of the above table, not only there is higher chance of application rejection but also the cost of loan is going to be higher, which is the interest rate you pay on the loan amount. The only way to improve your credit score is to make timely payment on your dues and in short term that can be done either by having a credit card and paying all its dues timely every month or you can improve yourCredit Score with Personal Loans.

Go Cashless with Debit Cards

Debit cards make daily money management easy and fuss-free, and they also offer many benefits that save your money. 

The country took to the Digital India initiative in a big way when de-demonetization was announced in November 2016, bringing the nation to a standstill. With ready cash not available, people were forced to transact using their debit and credit cards for all their needs. However, this was a positive development as far as spending electronically goes – debit cards offer tremendous mobility to all users since you don’t need to dispense with cash at all. Whether swiping the card at a payment terminal, or withdrawing money using the ATM card, or using the card number while completing an online purchase, a debit card makes money management really simple.

Leading banks in India offer customers debit cards online, with frequent cashback offers and discounts on using the card. Apart from the convenience of using the card, the debit card offers result in good savings and unique experiences for the card holder.

The argument for using debit cards…

Earlier, most people preferred using credit cards instead of debit cards, because the former added a lot of reward points on most purchases. However, banks have excellent debit card offers that offer customers a range of experiences, discounts and cashback on using the card at select merchants. These days, airlines, five-star hotels and high end retailers also accept payment using debit cards, while some e-commerce giants offer EMI schemes against debit cards as well. Moreover, debit cards are always a better option than credit cards, for the following reasons: 

5 Things You Should Know about Credit Monitoring

Imagine you going through a lot of pain to maintain that perfect credit score. You make all your payments on time, no defaults and there is no chance of you being in bad books of credit. All of a sudden you encounter an emergency and decide on applying for a personal loan. When applied for the same, you are rest assured that your loan will be sanctioned within no time; all of a sudden you receive a bad news stating your loan has been rejected! Now you are in a confused state on how this happened and how is it possible on the first place, because you used to make all your payments on time.

After a brief inquiry, you happen to know that you are a victim of identity theft and your information is used for making various financial purchases. Your banker understands the same and suggests you opt for a credit monitoring plan. But what is a credit monitoring plan? Is that necessary for me? How is it going to be beneficial for me? If you have been a victim of identity theft, the answers to such questions are mentioned below:

Credit Monitoring

Let us first understand what is credit monitoring. A credit monitoring service is offered by various third party companies who can keep a track on your credit related transactions and maintain your credit score for future transactions. Customers usually use this service to guard them from identity theft and also to improve cibil score.A credit monitoring service keeps a close eye on your credit activity and notifies you of any credit transactions happening towards your account. The transactions can include any hard inquiry, purchase of a new loan, etc. Some monitoring services also give you a comprehensive tracking of the cibil scores.

How to Plan for Retirement When You're Already in Your 40's?

We are always told to start saving for retirement right from the time when we are young. However, what are you to do if you weren’t able to save much and have entered your 40s now? Is it still possible to plan for your twilight years now? The answer is “yes”!

The following are some tips on how you can plan for your retirement even if you started late:

1. Pick a Number

The first thing you need to do is determine your retirement amount. Many experts believe that you need around 10 times your ending income to survive through the retirement years.  However, since you are beginning to save money quite late, you may not be able to achieve that target by the time you retire. So, what you can do is crunch some numbers and get a “conservative” figure that works for you.

2. Start Saving

Now, not only you need to start saving as soon as possible, you must increase the saving amount every month. The rule of thumb is that you should put 10% of your income in the retirement fund, but in this case, it might not be enough. This is because you have to achieve your target in less time as opposed to those who start saving for retirement early. Thus, you should go for 20% savings instead.

You should also try to increase the percentage over time as you see fit. Just be sure you have enough room for the payment of EMIs and credit card bills as you don’t want to hurt your CIBIL score. After all, it’s not easy to get a loan with bad credit score.

Easing into retirement by reducing liabilities

Make your retirement the happiest phase of your life with systematic planning and a few decisive moves today.

Every person who works hard all their lives does so with the expectation of retiring in style. They wish to ease into the last years of their lives in comfort and peace, secure in the knowledge that they’ve done everything they could for the good of their loved ones.

But wishing for a peaceful retirement and actually getting it are two different things. It takes a lot of planning and hard work to be able to retire with grace and dignity. And the time to put in the work is now, while you are still employed and have a regular income. You can follow this simple guide for retiring with complete fiscal security.

Think of retirement as a journey, not a destination.

Many people think of retirement as a phase where one’s active life ceases and one of rest and relaxation begins. But you can fashion your retirement the way you want – you can be as active or as laid back as you wish! It can be a phase of true contentment, as you rediscover and explore the things that matter the most to you. You did not have the time to indulge your hobbies the way you would have liked for several years – retirement gives you the opportunity to travel, make new acquaintances, take up a sport or hobby, be by yourself… the world is your oyster, and it’s time to make it yours!

5 pitfalls to avoid in the home loan application

Following are the common areas of error that you are likely to make when applying for a home loan – and how to avoid them.

As if buying a house in an escalating property market wasn’t difficult enough, you also need to navigate the home loan process carefully. Though home loans have been suitably simplified by leading housing finance companies, some parts of the process can prove to be veritable landmines. These errors can prove costly in the long run, and even result in the loan application being rejected. We list these areas of potential trouble and enumerate how you can avoid them:

1. Not having enough money at your disposal for a range of payments.

Most first-time home buyers are aware that they require some amount of money to make a down payment on the house. The down payment is normally split into two components: The token or booking amount, and the first installment on the house. But you also need to have sufficient money at your disposal to pay the following costs, which will not be paid from your home loan:

• Stamp duty costs 
• Registration fees
• Lawyers’ and broker fees
• Money to pay towards placing an advertisement in the paper asking for claimants to the property to come forward (this cost is split between the seller and buyer)
• Home loan application fees
• Lender’s evaluation and processing fees
• Stamp duty on the loan agreement
• Pre-EMI money (before the first EMI is deducted)
• Society/developer transfer fees
• Society membership fees

Find out all these costs and set aside the money accordingly – or you may come up short!

How to plan early for a relaxed life post working years?

Benjamin Franklin once said "Failing to plan is planning to fail" and it sounds so obvious for one of the most important part of our lives - RETIREMENT. Proper retirement planning considering your current standard of living, your assets and liabilities and the impact of inflation on them, will help you enjoy a relaxed life post your working years.

Use a retirement calculator to estimate the amount you would need to invest now to lead a comfortable life post-retirement. Once this amount is known you can buy a retirement policy from an established insurance provider. Today more than a dozen insurance companies offer retirement &  pension plans with several benefits / flexibility ranging from single premium pension plans to regular annual premiums, lump sum payment to annuity payouts or a combination of both and many others.

6 Important Things to Know About Fixed Deposits

Fixed deposits at banks are one of most convenient, safe and hassle-free investment instruments that also provide reasonable returns. With the advent of online banking these days, you can open FD online within few seconds and clicks.  The tenures in fixed deposits are fixed and usually provide higher return on higher duration. For example, a one-year deposit might fetch 6% per annum return while a 5-year deposit might fetch 7% per annum return depending upon the financial institution. Following are some of the key things to know about fixed deposits:

1.  The rate of return on fixed deposits is fixed. Unlike other high-risk investments like stocks, mutual funds, and debt funds, FD Interest rates aren’t dependent on fluctuating market rates.

2.   All banks provide flexible tenures to choose from. You can open an FD account for as low as 6 months to a maximum of 5 years.

3.   You can avail loan against your Fixed Deposits. Some banks provide up to 90% of the total FD value as personal loan. Unlike other unsecured personal loans, you get lower interest rates when you secure your loan with your FD as collateral.

4.   You can choose between cumulative and non-cumulative options. In cumulative fixed deposit option, interest is accumulated over the tenure of the FD and is paid only at the time of maturity. This helps you in getting a lump-sum amount on maturity. You can use a simple FD Calculator to know the amount you will receive on maturity. A non-cumulative FD works on the opposite principle. In these fixed deposits, the interest payments are made to the investor in a periodical, steady, and timely fashion. This makes it the most sought-after investment option by retired investors, or those who seek frequent cash flow.

Debit vs Credit cards – Which one is better for you?

While shopping you have the option of paying either through your credit card or your debit card. Though the difference might not appear, but there is a huge difference the way payment is processed behind the scene.

Paying through Debit card is almost like paying cash and is usually without transaction charges. Payment though debit cards is also instant. On the other hand credit card transaction requires a signature, and is processed by the credit card company. The funds may or may not be immediately deducted from your bank account, depending on how the retailer handles their transactions. Some stores "batch" their credit transactions and send them at the end of the day. Unlike debit cards, to the merchant, processing a transaction as credit usually involves a credit card transaction fee to the major issuers, like Visa and Mastercard. 

Credit cards are mostly a better option while shopping online because of host of offers provided by issuer banks such as interest free EMI, zero transaction charges and higher reward points. It is also relatively safe as you are never liable for unauthorized charges, unlike debit transactions, which are the same as cash. It is advised to use your credit card while purchasing a flight ticket as many companies offer air miles for purchasing the tickets through credit card.

NSC or Tax Saver FD – Where should you Invest?

When it comes to tax planning there are variety of investment instruments yielding different returns, depending on the risk you are willing to take and the flexibility you desire from the instrument. As you know ELSS is a great investment avenue from tax planning perspective as it yields market based return.  which could be sometimes very high but is also subjected to volatility. This particular instrument is good for young professionals who have time by their side. Young investors are also able to withstand volatility better than elderly professionals as markets beat all other asset classes on a 10-year time period by a wide margin.

But if you are risk averse then Tax Saver Fixed Deposits, National Saving Certificates & Public Provident Fund are the popular choices in India. FD Interest Rates are generally lowest among these three but FDs offer quarterly compounding which results in somewhat similar yields. PPFs are similar to EPFs, with relatively lesser benefits, but available to all citizens of India irrespective of their profession. Since EPF or Employee Provident Fund is available to most salaried individuals, they can choose between Tax Saver FDs & NSCs for further investments from tax-saving point of view. In this article we will explore the similarities and differences between these two instruments.

File Your ITR Online To Claim Tax Refunds

You can file your return of income for claiming refund of taxes even if your income does not exceed the exemption limit due to TDS. Your employer, Banks & financial institutions deduct TDS sometimes more than your tax liability which you can easily claim by filing your Income tax return. This return for claiming the refund of excess taxes paid can be filed within a period of two years from the end of the financial year for which the claim of refund is related.

Filing of tax return these days have become very easy and in many cases even free through several e-filing portals such as H&R Block which also provides assistance in case you are stuck somewhere. All you need to do is to check your tax liability using an Income tax calculator and if you have paid more than what you are liable to pay then file your return online to claim the refund of excess tax paid. 

Why Life insurance and which is the best term insurance plan in India?

Being responsible also means ensuring that your loved ones or financial dependents are safeguarded in case an unfortunate event of death or disability occurs to you. That protection to your family can be provided through life insurance.

Most youngsters won't buy life insurance because they procrastinate this decision of buying insurance. They would spend on gadgets, outings, fashion, etc. which may be a good choice or may be appealing but financial planning for the future is also important. When realization strikes most of them would already be 45 or older and hence may have to pay more because life insurance is directly linked to age or may have  a hard time getting his/her policy issued due to medical issues.

Look beyond interest rates before switching your home loan

With so many comparison sites around, it is no longer difficult to find out who is offering the cheapest mortgage rates. If you are already servicing a home loan from a Bank or an NBFC, you might find that you are not getting the lowest home loan interest rates offered in the market and it becomes quite tempting to switch the loan and take advantage of low rates offered by others and thereby reduce your EMI or tenure. 

But switching your home loan just because somebody else is offering lower interest rate is not a wise decision and can lead to lot of harassment and can even turn costly. Following are the 3 things you must consider before deciding to switch you mortgage provider.

7 Mistakes You Shouldn’t Make When Purchasing Term Insurance in India

Buying a term insurance and buying the right term insurance plan, both are different things. In the scramble to get a low-cost policy, people often forget to read the fine print and end up making mistakes that give inconvenience to their loved ones in the future. Given that, how useful a term insurance policy is, you can’t afford to make a mistake. It is important to exercise caution and wisdom while buying a policy. How? By avoiding the following mistakes:

Image credit: cnbc.com

1. Not disclosing important information on the policy application form: The insurer has rights to reject a claim if it finds that the policyholder did not mention vital points in the insurance proposal form. If your close relative has suffered from any chronic ailment, mention it in the form at the time of buying the policy. Similarly, if you are a heavy smoker, don’t categorize yourself as a casual smoker. It is a suppression of a fact. It is important to disclose your facts otherwise your dependents may face a tough time in getting the claim amount. So even if it means paying a few bucks extra in premium or having to undergo some medical tests, it will be worth it because the purpose for which you are buying a term plan — to secure your family’s future— is met. It is important to be honest when it comes to filling up the form, so that the claim is not rejected and your family is completely secured.

Now get loans through ATMs

The Automated Teller Machine (ATM) got introduced in India about 3 decades back. Initially, the machine that were launched as cash dispensers have over the period taken over host of other banking transactions. Today, the ATMS that are available on all corners of our cities have become an integral part of day to day banking transactions.

With the technological advancement, you can now even look at getting an instant personal loan from these ATMs. What does this mean to you?

• Cutting out on process delays and getting easy personal loans
• As lenders will be vying for migrating the borrowers to ATMs for operational ease and cost effective process, one can expect low interest personal loans
• Given the wide availability of ATMS, funding can be received from any corner of the country without any hassle.   

Health Insurance must for a sound financial future

We all talk and listen a lot about financial planning and the importance of right asset allocation for Equities, bonds, gold, real estate etc. but even the best of the allocation strategy will fall apart if we are not adequately insured for life and health.

While many of us have a life insurance, though very small and inadequate, majority of Indians have no health insurance. As per recent National Sample Survey Data released in April 2016, Over 80 per cent of India’s population is not covered under any health insurance scheme. The data reveals that despite seven years of the Centre-run Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), only 12 per cent of the urban and 13 per cent of the rural population had access to insurance cover. This poses a major threat to a family's financial future. 

Post Office Small Savings Rates - Ready Reckoner

Govt of India has decided to review small saving schemes rates at Post Office on a quarterly basis instead of revising the rates once in a year. 

For the quarter effective 1st April 2016 to 30 June 2016, the rates have been reduced by 0.4% to 1.3% depending on the saving scheme. You can download and print the post office rates in India ready reckoner pdf from the following link: