Useful articles about Home Loan

http://www.nitinbhatia.in/cheapest-home-loan-rates/
http://www.nitinbhatia.in/home-loan/floating-home-loan-bplr-vs-base-rate/

Thanks to Nitin Bhatia for compiling such useful info.

Teaching kids the importance of Money - From Integrated Enterprises India Ltd

Teaching kids the importance of Money

1. Save for a rainy day In order to have a healthy personal finance many people struggle with: saving money. From the time children are old enough to desire toys, books, and other entertainment items, we must teach them how to save for the things they want to buy. An allowance or what is popularly known as pocket money is a good tool for this concept. Your child may want a video game that costs Rs. 5000.00, but he or she gets an allowance of only Rs. 500 per month. It's their choice: chocolate or comic books today, or the more expensive item a couple months from now. Almost all personal finance boils down to this essential concept, and it's best to learn from experience. You can help with this notion another way, by offering to pay interest if your child saves part of his or her allowance with you, or by matching part of her savings if they start a bank account - say, you'll contribute Rs. 100.00 for every Rs. 500 they put in the bank. Offering a higher rate can get them to immediately see the benefits of not spending their money. Your child may find that momentary desire passes, but the satisfaction that comes from saving money lasts indefinitely. 2. Work hard for your money Helping children make the connection early in life that money isn't something freely given, but is earned through work. This isn't to say that you should put your small children to work repairing your house. Instead, emphasizing that nothing comes free, even if you're tempted to bestow upon your offspring everything that their hearts desire. If you choose to give your kids an allowance, tie it to the successful completion of certain jobs throughout the week. Or you may choose to set a market rate for various tasks. Age-appropriate chores and rewards are the key. Younger kids can help with simple things like setting the table, where doing the job well isn't as important as learning how to see it through. Older kids can take on more arduous jobs like mowing the lawn, in exchange for greater compensation. You may even encourage them to begin offering their services around the neighborhood.

3. Understand a budget A budget is a new concept to children as much as it is for many adults too. Younger children, especially, simply won't realize that mommy and daddy have a limited amount of money to spend every month. But learning what a budget is, and why it's a good idea, is one of the central pillars of financial literacy. The best way to teach kids how a budget works is simply to show them. That's not to say that you should open your books up to your children and show them every penny coming in or out (although you may consider sharing some details with teenagers about things like your mortgage payment, car payments, and so on). Instead, just give them a broad sense of how adults have to divide up their money each month. One easy way to demonstrate this concept is to take a stack of Monopoly money, and tell your child that the stack represents how much money you make every month from work. Then, divide up the bills one at a time to show how much you spend on the house, how much you spend on food, how much you save, how much you give to charitable organizations, and so forth. The denominations aren't important. What's important is showing your children that you have a conscious plan for your money, and that you're on top of the family finances. Encouraging children to start a budget of their own is key: Part of their allowance should go to savings, part to charity, and part of it is just for fun. Help your child identify what he | she truly values, and budget their money accordingly. 4. Embrace the power of compound interest Here's a story of Albert Einstein, when asked to name the most powerful force in the universe, answered "compound interest." While the story may not be true, the concept certainly is. Compound interest simply means that the rate at which your money earns interest increases over time. The earlier you start saving, the better. 5. Beware of credit Credit cards can be valuable tools in a healthy financial lifestyle, however children need to be taught from an early age that credit cards are not free money. Here, again, we can give age-appropriate lessons on how credit works by simplifying the concepts and acting as your child's bank. As they grow up more information like loans, EMIs and Overdraft facilities and more can be taught to them depending on their ability to understand these concepts. 6. Be a Role Model This is the final and most crucial step of all of the above. If we are not seen doing all of the above as an adult, then children will know very clearly we do not live these habits on a daily basis. Then, they start getting confused and will end up being confused about their finances as well.

PPF Tutorial

For everything you need to know about PPF, refer to this tutorial

http://www.equitymaster.com/outsideview/detail.asp?date=05/04/2012&story=2&title=Have-a-PPF-Account-Read-This

Debt is not bad as long as you plan your Finances well !!!

After all, Debt is not bad always. It all depends how well you plan your finances.

Long Term gains in Debt Mutual Funds - Calculate tax with Cost Inflation Index !

For fellow Indian Investors, who have long term gains with the sale of Debt Mutual Fund Units, you got to pay either 10% of LT Gains (or) 20% of  LT gains post Indexation benefits - whichever is lower as Tax (along with applicable cess, surcharge).

Given the higher inflation range these days, typically 20% of  LT gains post Indexation benefits will be the lower one compared to the other.

To know Cost Inflation Index for the year 2010-11, 2011-12 please refer to the following link

http://taxguru.in/income-tax/cost-inflation-index-meaning-and-index-for-all-the-years.html

Apartment Rentals near Marathahalli, Bangalore

Apartment Rentals near  Marathahalli have been going up at a faster rate. Dunno when there will be stability - read as rental increase proportional to Annual Inflation.

Sample Link from Sulekha :
http://classifieds.sulekha.com/bangalore/alllocalities/rentals/apartments-flats/adlistings.aspx?locality=kadubeesanahalli|karthiknagar|marathahalli&bedrooms=2bhk&rent=owners|&pageno=1

Magicbricks PropIndex - Good tool to know the trends

Please take a look at Magic Bricks PropIndex - It helps to know the pricing trends in many cities across India.
For bangalore, here is the link.
http://www.magicbricks.com/property/microsite/buy/prop-index-new/bangalore.html

Rent vs Buy a Home Calculators !

Some of the useful calculators are at,

http://www.reliancehomefinance.com/Calculater/HomeFBuyRentCal.aspx

http://www.itrust.in/tools-and-calculators/Buy-vs-Rent/Calculator.jsp

http://www.propmart.com/tools/rentorbuy.asp

Buying 50 laks house with 25% downpayment - 12% Annual Home loan Interest -15 yrs tenure - 5% increase in value every year
is better only if you choose to stay for 12-13 years. :-(.

In 12-13 years, would a Apartment be worth of that 1 crore valuation given the "Quality" of construction these days ?. Would any builder dare to answer to this Million Dollar Qn ?

Direct Tax Code (DTC) 2012

The proposed rates and slabs are as follows:

Annual Income	Tax Slab
Up-to INR  200,000 (for senior citizens 250,000)	Nil
Between INR 200,000 to 500,000	10%
Between INR 500,000 to 1,000,000	20%
Above INR 1,000,000	30%

Men and women are treated same now

Useful Links for DTC articles

http://www.investment-mantra.in/whats-new/direct-tax-code-2012-onwards/
http://www.pankajbatra.com/india/new-direct-tax-code-dtc-highlights/

http://www.paycheck.in/main/work-and-pay/incometax-info/a-completely-new-and-revised-direct-tax-code-updated-on-31-08-2010
http://www.saraltaxoffice.com/articles/direct-tax-code-highlights.php

LATEST News : (24th feb'12) Heard that DTC has been postponed for another one year. Simplicity has taken back seat. Poor government policies.