Posted on July - 20 - 2011
Who can honestly say that he is not enjoying the show?
Clowns to the left of us, jokers to the right…it’s fun, isn’t it?
Yesterday, the Dow fell and gold rose above $1,600 to a new record high. The euro fell, but against the dollar it is still more than 50% higher than it was when it was introduced 10 years ago.
In Europe, the world’s leading bankers and financial policymakers try to figure out how to avoid doing what comes naturally – going broke.
And in America, politicians scramble to raise the debt ceiling level before it is too late.
The big question is: who will default first? The Europeans? Or the Americans?
Larry Summers, former US Treasury Secretary, warned on TV that failing to raise the debt limit would be worse than after the Lehman bankruptcy in 2008. Ben Bernanke told Congress the same thing.
In Europe, the IMF and the rest of the financial elite have the same message. Don’t l
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Posted on July - 19 - 2011
It’s important to know what’s in your credit file if you’re following a debt reduction plan. The information contained in your credit report can serve as a cautionary tale about your past spending habits, and as motivation for getting your finances back on track.
How to check your credit report
Check your credit report at least once a year. You’re entitled to get a free report every 12 months from each of the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. If it’s been a long time since you’ve seen your reports, request all three to become familiar with the information contained within them. After that you may want to stagger reviewing the reports throughout the year. Visit Annualcreditreport.com to request a copy of your files.
Reviewing reports can help with debt
So exactly how does reviewing a credit report help with debt reduction? Information
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Posted on July - 18 - 2011
Recently, we at Apnapaisa received a query mentioning the case of Mr. Rakesh who had paid premium to a life insurance company to buy a cover of Rs. 50 lakhs. Unfortunately, Rakesh died in a fatal accident within 15 days of paying the premium to the insurance company. On finding premium receipt in Rakesh’s papers, his wife approached the insurance company for the claim. But the claim was denied. It was only then that she realized that life insurance policy was not in existence as the premium was received only as a deposit (in fact the receipt issued by the Insurance company clearly indicated that the money was received as a deposit and that the risk cover had not yet started) and her husband had yet to undergo some specific medical tests required by the insurance company.
All that the wife got back was the premium amount paid by her husband. So all the careful planning by Rakesh to take an adequate life insurance for the safety of his family had come to naught simply because of his dilly-dallying approach towards completing the formalities for the life insurance policy.
Let’s try to understand why the claim was rejected
Insurance is a contract and a contract will be considered complete only when both parties agree to the terms and conditions of the contract. A co
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Posted on July - 18 - 2011
In my series on National Pension System in the columns of DNA, it seems readers can’t get enough of it (courtesy number of reader’s mail received).
Taking it a step forward, I will take up tax treatment under NPS in this piece.
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As readers are already aware that there are two types of NPS accounts – Tier I & II. Tier I account is mandatory whereas Tier II account is optional. Thus only Tier I account is eligible for tax benefits and is in true sense the core of the National Pension System. However normal tax provisions of taxation of profits on sale of investments apply when you redeem the units credited in your Tier II account. But all deposits and withdrawals to and from the Tier II account are tax neutral. There are no limits as to number and amount of withdrawals from Tier II account.
Till now for the better understanding of readers, I have refrained from quoting complex Sections of Income Tax act, I had to do it here for better clarity on taxation of NPS. Please be
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