This is the 3rd series of learning from comments ,where I handpick some of the best comments which gives some very good insight and useful information. Following four comments talk about Gold ETF’s , Education about finances to Children , Real estate prices relation to supply of land and KYC .
Gold ETF’s might not be safe
There are serious allegations on various gold etf’s & custodians like GOLD across the globe of using very high leverage for gold holdings. I was going through the fact sheet of SBI GETS & UTI GOLD FUND. Susprisingly all indian ETF are using Bank of Nova Scotia as the custodian for Gold. If you just try to find out the repute of this custodian in financial blogosphere by typing ‘Bank of Nova Scotia is the custodian for Gold’ in google search, you will get to know the kinds of risks involved in GOLD ETF’s – mainly technical risk (its a technical default if gold is not held in reality). So as they say Let the buyer beware. Since most indian families usually keep atleast one locker, i would suggest its better to buy physical 100gms /coins from a reputed jeweller with bill. Its also more easy at the time of selling if bought frm a jeweller than buying coins frm bank also its costs less. – Shared by Rahul .
Money should be discussed with Children
You are right Manish as everybody must teach the children about money but the biggest dilemma people face is how they will be treated back if they start talking about money. Our society treat Money as necessary evil with more stress on the evil so 9 out of 10 times a person is feared to be called Money minded or Kanjoos if they just try to stick to a discipline of Budget within their family. So many parents just avoid asking their kids how they spend money for the sake of their image. We have always thought money as a bad thing which must not be discussed (Mard se uski kamaai aur aurat se Umar nahin Poochte 🙂 ). In our films Rich has always been a villain but things have to be changed. I still wonder that rather than showing hero taking a loan from money lender and then becoming a Daku for revenge, why dont our films show that taking a loan to spend lavishly on your daughters wedding beyond your means is bad thing and the best solution to keep lala away. Secondly we always think that kids are not mature enough to talk about sex and money. (Often not knowing how smart they are 🙂 ). We must respect their senses and impart knowledge to them gradually. If you dont teach your kid about these things he will seek Pornography and Financial Pornography is much more dangerous. Can we compare “double your money schemes in one year” with Pr*******tes in the world of finance. So every parent has to cross these mental blocks and take up this duty to empower their kids to face the real world. – Shared by Pramod
Is Short supply of Land responsible for High Real estate prices
Who says land is in short supply in India ? It is kept in short supply in India by the builder politician nexus. Have you ever tried to look at Delhi’s satellite image from Google maps. Mind you 50 % of the land within boundaries of NCR is vacant. The mechanism is – You (Farmers or forest or something else) have land. You want to build a house over that land. Govt will not allow you and will force you to buy some expensive piece of land in an “approved” area. Once all the land is sold then the same land where you or any other ordinary citizen was not allowed to build houses (becuase the land was meant for farming, forest, green belt Archeology blah blah blah) will be captured (acquired) by the govt and will be given to builders by changing status of the land use. Then you will buy the plot at sky high price and new land will freed once all the plots are sold and the cycle goes on. If govt declares its master plan at once and free all the land which is marked for residential use in one go then there will be no shortage and no high prices. BTW All of the population lives on 30% of the land. Rest 70 % is covered by ice, deserts, high mountains etc. Just wait Global warming will ensure that if 10% of the world sinks in water 20 % will become available to mankind as ice shields will go away 🙂 Wait till Unitech starts buying Norway and Siberia. – Shared by Pramod
How to Check if you are you KYC compliant
For those who are not sure if they are KYC compliant can check the http://www.cvlindia.com/. Click on ‘enquiry on kyc’ option (Direct URL) and enter the pan card number. Invalid data means the person is not KYS compliant. Shared by Raj Panda .