Month: April 2012

How Husband & Wife can create Magical Financial Life [Video]

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

What happens when husband and wife take equal interest in their financial life? – It helps in creating an ‘awesome’ financial life. Yes! When both create partnership and put efforts, it helps in creating magical results in their financial life. In the world of personal finance, husband and wife is considered as one entity. They both go out, earn money, help each other in elevating their financial life. We would love to share about two of our client’s rather friends who worked together in designing an awesome financial life.

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Financial Success of Jassi and Priya

We always tell our clients to live their financial life in a way such that it inspires others. Personal finance is not at all personal if you are confident to share your financial life with the world. It can have results, it will have mistakes but the point is you are proud of the way you live your financial life. This video is of Jassi’s and Priya’s success, we simply played role of a catalyst.

We really want each and every Jagoinvestor reader to create such videos so that we can inspire everyone to live a good financial life. The lesson is if they can do it you can do it too. They really took the Financial Coaching with an open mind and heart, they got on calls on time and are very good receivers. It is their victory that we would like to celebrate it with the world. We asked them to record how they felt after working with us and share it with others, have a look at the video below (youtube link)

Find more about Jagoinvestor Services

Did you listen to their sharing? Did you notice their high enthusiasm and excitement level that they carry with them for their financial life? Did you see how they are on the same page, Did you see how they have created partnership as a couple. Don’t see this video as how great our service is, but really listen to the enthusiasm this couple has shown in their sharing what they created in their financial life. Jassi shared with me once that this video was created in one take and when you see you can experience that it is straight from their heart.

This sharing is really straight from the heart and it is something we would love to share with as many people we can. They are an example that if both husband and wife get together financial success is bound to happen.

May be it’s NOT your cup of tea

May be you think personal finance is not your cup of tea and you do not like to take interest in financial matters. It is not possible that you understand each and everything about finances but at least you can always support your partner when he/she is trying to improve the overall financial life. I like action movies and my wife likes watching romantic movies. I would join her for romantic movies even though I don’t like watching them. It is really not about movies it is about taking interest in those matters which are of interest to your partner. I love reading and my wife hates reading books. From past 1 month she has started reading books, in fact she completed one book which she started and she said she is enjoying reading.

We really have the power to generate interests in our partner if we want to. We can slowly enroll them into financial matters or any matter that we think are important for building a strong future. No need to force or put any compulsion, the more you demonstrate and enjoy something the more they will be keen to join. Take the risk of sharing with your spouse to take interest in financial matters the maximum they will say is NO to you but at least give an honest try to it, give a loving invitation to join you in creating a strong financial future.

Respect your co-pilot

One of the experiences I had was when a woman (one of our client) who got in touch with us for basic financial planning. Initially she gave only her data to us as her husband was not taking any interest in financial matters; he even refused to provide his details. When we delivered the plan to her she showed the same to her husband and he slowly started showing interest in financial matters. I could see how committed the lady was for their financial future. They decided to pay us once again to get a new plan which had combined data of both of them. I could see that this was a golden opportunity for this couple; this moment can be a moment of change for them. I agreed to re-do their collective finances but instead of financial planning I enrolled them in to doing financial coaching.

They agreed and we started the process. On every call wife was a stand for her husband and with each call husband started taking interest in financial matters. He started sharing what needs to be done to take their financial life to the next level, where they need to bring improvements, he started doing the home work that I would give, and every coaching conversation was received by him with an open heart and mind. They really started enjoying the process of wealth creation. They could see that if they play together in their financial life they can achieve anything that they want. Husband and wife are one entity, they hold common vision. I could share with the husband how lucky he is to get such committed wife in his life and to really see her as co-pilot in driving their financial life.

Conclusion

This magic is waiting for you and it can happen in your financial life too.  Forward this article to your spouse if you want their 100% participation in your financial life.  If your spouse is taking equal interest than its time for acknowledgement and to celebrate your partnership. If you need external help go to some planner or a financial coach, schedule a meeting and really take your financial life to the next level. Lastly if you are single you can create similar partnership with your siblings or someone you really trust.

This week action

  • Sit with your spouse and create your financial future
  • Acknowledge your spouse for being with you in your financial ups and downs
  • Take one action together in your financial life and share with us the outcome

How Hindu Succession Law applies if written WILL is missing ?

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Do you know that Hindu Succession Law applies for the division of wealth in case a person dies without a written WILL? I know you might have never thought about it because you are not aware of how ugly it gets when the will is missing. Money is so powerful that relations don’t take time to break. Family members can really fight over the issue of who gets how much out of the wealth and a lot of times unexpected things happen. Even people you never thought can suddenly appear claiming their share in the wealth.

A properly written will (and registered one) is the best way to make sure the wealth is passed on to different people as desired. But in reality people don’t write will and keep thinking “one day, I will surely write a will when ..”.

So now coming back to the point, if a will is written, then there is no confusion and the wealth is divided as per the WILL. However, if a WILL is missing, then the wealth is divided as per the Hindu Succession Act 1956 laws for Hindu’s, Jain’s and Sikh’s. We have a separate law for Muslims and Christians, but for this article’s sake, let’s just talk about Hindu succession Law applicable for the Hindu population.  Also, note that in this article mainly we are talking about the succession laws related to what happened after death of a MALE (not female).

HIndu Succession Act 1956

Concept of Legal Heirs under Hindu Succession Law

Legal heirs are well defined in the Hindu Succession Law. All the relations are categorized into two classes called class I and class II. The first right on wealth is of Class I heirs. Only if there is no one available in Class I, then relations under Class II can claim their rights. If Class I & Class II both are missing, then there is something called Agnates and Cognates, but we will talk about it in some time. For now, let’s understand Class I & Class II heirs under Hindu Succession Law

Class I relations 

  • Son/Daughter
  • Widow
  • Mother
  • Son/Daughter of a pre-deceased son (pre-deceased means “already Dead”)
  • Son/Daughter of a pre-deceased Daughter
  • Widow of a pre-deceased son
  • Son/Daughter of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased son (3 levels)
  • Widow of a pre-deceased son of a predeceased son

Class II relations 

  • Father
  • Brother/Sister
  • Son’s daughter’s son/daughter,
  • Daughter’s son’s son/daughter
  • Daughter’s daughter’s son/daughter
  • Sibling son/daughter
  • Father’s Parents
  • Brother’s widow
  • Father’s sibling
  • Mother’s parents
  • Mother’s sibling

If Class I & Class II is missing?

In the absence of heirs of Class I and Class II, the property is passed to the agnates and cognates of the deceased in succession. Now, one person is said to be the agnate, if he/she is related by blood or adoption wholly through the male’s chain line. Similarly, one person is said to be the cognate of the other if the two of them are related by blood or adoption, but not totally through males, i.e. there has to be some intervention by a female ancestor somewhere. The first preference is given to Agnates and only if there is no Agnate, then the Cognates comes into the picture. To understand Agnate/Congate in plain Hindi, It means “Bahut Door ke Ristedaar”, Agnates are “Door ke Rishtedar” from the chain of Male line and Cognates are “door ke relatives” , but does not compulsory from the chain of males in the family. But leave this point as of now, I think from an understanding point of view just Class I and Class II is enough for someone.

Note that if there are more than one Widow’s, then they get one share only and then divide it between themselves and a person’s immediate family will also be considered as one unit only.

Some Important Rules and Points

  • A child in the womb is treated as a separate child as if he/she was out in the world, He/she gets a separate share in the property.
  • No succession rights if the widow has remarried on the date of succession.
  • If a person has killed the person from whom he was supposed to acquire the wealth and has been declared as a murderer by law, then he loses his right to acquiring assets.
  • If there is no heir qualified to succeed to his or her property in accordance with the provisions of this Act, such property shall go to the Government.

For Muslims, the succession laws are defined under The Shariat Act. Under that 50% of the property goes to the Widow irrespective of the number of other legal heirs (remember in case of Hindu Succession Law its equal share between Widow and children) and rest is shared in equal parts between children

Some Examples

Now based on the learnings we had till now, let’s see 6 examples (not real) and how the wealth will be divided into each of those cases. I have tried to take different scenario’s.

Example 1

Lets say Ajay is dead without a will and he has 5 people in his family

  • Wife
  • Two son
  • One daughter
  • Father

In that case his wife, 2 son and 1 daughter will come under Class I , but his father will come under Class II , in that case all the 4 people under class I will get equal share in his wealth. So Wife will get 25% of the wealth, First son will get 25% , second son will get 25% and daughter will also get 25% of the wealth (married or unmarried) .

Example 2

Lets say Robert was 60 yrs old. He dies in an accident and has no WILL . Suppose he has following people in his family

  • Wife
  • Widow of his dead son
  • 2 Children of his Dead son

This is an interesting case , in this there are mainly 2 units . The first one is his Wife who will get 50% of his wealth and the next unit is the Widow and 2 son of his dead son who will equally get 50% of the wealth and legally, they all need to share it in equal amount . Note that this happens considering as if the son was alive, in which case he would have got 50% share and then his family chain would claim it from him. So understand that each family here would be 1 unit and all the members of that unit will again share it back between them with same principles.

Example 3 

Suppose Ajay is dead without a WILL , but his family consists of

  • A pregnant Wife
  • Mother
  • Brother

In this case , there are 3 entities in the Class I , those are Wife , Mother and the Child in the Womb, here 1/3rd wealth goes to Wife , 1/3rd goes to the unborn child and 1/3rd goes to Mother. Note that a child in the womb has same right as a born child.

Example 4 

Suppose Robert dies without a WILL and leaves behind

  • Father
  • Brother
  • 2 children of his sister (sister is dead)

In this case, you can see that Class I has no member, all the members are from class II , in which case Father will get 1/3rd wealth, Brother will get 1/3rd part and his sister’s children will get 1/3rd and will divide it between them in equal parts.

Example 5 

Ajay dies without a WILL , his family consists

  • Mother
  • Brother
  • 2 Sister’s
  • Widow of one of his dead Brother

Here you can see that only one person belong’s to class I (mother) and every one else is in Class II , hence 100% of the property goes to Mother (remember that Class II gets anything only if there is no one in class I)

Example 6

Ajay is the head of the family and lives in a ancestral house in Pune and has his personal savings in Bank FD and one flat in Mumbai which he had bought from his own funds. Now Ajay dies, but he was smart and he has written a WILL and written that everything goes to his Wife and no one else gets anything. Suppose his family has

  • Wife
  • Mother
  • Brother
  • Sister

Now what happens in this case ? In this case, his Bank FD and his flat in Mumbai will 100% go to his Wife and no one else, However his ancestral house in Pune will be divided equally between all the 4 members. This is because there was a flaw in the WILL . An ancestral property can not be passed on through a WILL . Ajay had made a mistake thinking that he can assign the flat in Pune to anyone he wants . A person can only pass on his wealth through WILL if he has earned it (think bournville) , if you have acquired it from your older generation, then it will be claimed by all the legal heirs, and in this case it will be passed on to all the legal heirs of the family , so 25% to each member as they are all into Class I for Ajay’s father

Hindu Succession Law in case of a Female death

Till now we saw all the rules which are applicable if a person in question was a dead male, but in the case of a female some points are a little different.  The property of a female Hindu dying without WILL shall be distributed according to the rules set out as follows –

1. Firstly, upon the sons and daughters (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) and the husband;
2. Secondly, upon the heirs of the husband ;
3. Thirdly, upon the mother and father;
4. Fourthly, upon the heirs of the father; and
5. Lastly, upon the heirs of the mother.

Important Points in case of Women Property

  • If the women have acquired any property from his Father or Mother, in that case, the first right will be of the heirs of her father and not husband, in case of absence of his sons or daughters
  • If the women have acquired any property from her husband, in that case, the first right will be of the heirs of her husband, in case of absence of his sons or daughters

An Example

Suppose Supriya is a widow without any children dies without a WILL. She has acquired 1 flat in Mumbai from her Father’s, and has acquired one Flat in Pune from her Husband through a WILL, now suppose Supriya has 3 people in family.

  • Father in law
  • Mother in law
  • Brother in law

Now understand this case properly , As the person in question here is a Women, there will be distribution of her property like this-

The flat in Pune was acquired by her from her Father and as she also has no children, that flat in Pune will go to her Father’s legal heir. if Supriya had a Sister Poonam, in that case Poonam would be the legal heir of her Father and she would get 100% of the flat in Mumbai. Supriya’s Family would not be able to claim it legally.

However the Flat in Pune was acquired by Supriya from her husband and in this case , her husband’s legal heir would be claiming it, which means Supriya’s mother in law would get the absolute right on the Pune Flat because only she comes under Class I (Father and Brother come under Class II for a Male) .

Conclusion

In case a will is missing and the legal heirs get into a fight over the wealth, things can get ugly and the wealth might to someone which you might not have wanted or imagined. Hence writing a WILL should be on a high priority list. This article just gives very basic rules under Hindu Succession Law, in reality, things can get more complicated and it’s always advisable to hire a good lawyer in these cases. This article is just for information and awareness purposes. Dont take it as the complete guide.

Please share your case or define an imaginary case and let’s see how the wealth would be divided in that case as per Hindu Succession Law.

Joints Account , Nomination or Will – Which one to use ?

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

There are 3 ways one can pass on his wealth to someone – joint accounts, nomination and Will. A lot of people do not know which one is more powerful than the other and when to use which one. Today let’s discuss a few points about joint accounts, nominations and will and some scenarios which will make them clear.

3 mistakes which investors make

1. Not understanding what a joint account means

If you want to make sure that after your death, your wife operates the account without any problem, then don’t just make her the nominee, better make her a joint account holder in the bank account itself.

If you choose “either or survivor” mode, she will be able to transact and do things along with you. But remember that when you make her a joint owner, she is the owner of 50% part only. If something happens to you, she will not automatically get your 50% share. It will be divided as per your WILL or will be divided as per succession laws.

2. Forgetting about old joint holders

A lot of people have joint accounts with their father, mother, brother etc years back, but now they want to pass on their wealth to their children/wife on their death, so they put their names in the nominee and also write a WILL (for full proof documentation), but once they die, the nomination and WILL be of no use, because there is still a joint account holder and their share cant be touched. So better change the joint account holder if you wish to pass on that part to someone else in the family.

3. Not changing Old nominations and WILL

A lot of people do not change the nominations of their bank accounts, mutual funds, or life insurance policies due to laziness, someone else is on the nominee list, but they want to transfer the asset to someone else. A lot of people think that making a WILL is the final solution, but in real life, there can be complications. What if the nominee and the person mentioned in a WILL are different? The nominee can take out cash from the bank or do some transactions. Then the legal owner will have to run from pillar to post to claim that money back and do all the legal work. See this classic issue of forgetting about the WILL

Hi , I am facing a big issue .. My husband had written a WILL long back stating that all the wealth should go to his brother after his death, but this happened years back, when we were having a lot of issues in marriage and fights, but after that everything was fine and things were on track. But seems like my husband never wrote another WILL after that and didnt change the WILL.  He died recently in an accident and now his brother has claimed all our property and bank balance because of that WILL . What can I do ?

Truly speaking, This lady can’t do anything … her husband was ignorant about these things and now she will pay for his mistakes!

Some best practices

  • If you are 100% sure that your wealth should go to some specific person, always have a joint account with that person with you as the primary person and also write a WILL for your share, so that it also can be passed to them seamlessly later.
  • Make sure your nominee should be the same person you want to pass on some policy proceeds or property, It does not make sense to say in WILL that your wealth should go to A, but in nominee the name mentioned is B.
  • If you have opened any accounts/properties/mutual funds/policies long back, it’s a good idea to revisit it and see that the nominee name is appearing and is consistent with what you want it to be.

Joint Accounts, Nominations and Wills are all ways to pass on your wealth to someone else once you die, so it is very important that you structure these in the best possible manner. Have consistency in all these 3 things. If you pass on your money to a person better open an account or buy the asset along as a joint owner, make sure you put his name as the nominee and also make sure that the WILL is written with clear directions.

How Axis Bank fooled a Home Loan Customer – Real life Case

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

This post is to bring to you notice how banks can get you in trouble while signing the home loan documents and use your casualness and trust to force-sell you some junk product. Recently one of our readers Nitin Mittal took a home loan from Axis Bank after a lot of research and study, but Axis Bank officials sold him a home loan insurance without his notice and issues him loan of extra 4.25 lacs along with Max New York life Insurance company. Read his story in his own words

I applied for a home loan to Axis Bank, Ghaziabad Branch considering good interest rates and transparency. The property was Amrapali Heart Beat City-I, Sector-107, Noida and I was sanctioned a loan of Rs 45 lacs. In this duration 100s of papers were signed by me telling me that these are all formalities and are needed.

However when the first disbursement was made then I came to know that the total sanctioned amount is Rs. 49.25 lacs. When I enquired I was told that the balance 4.25 lacs is the amount of insurance policy that the bank has paid to the Max New York company for a full cover of 49 lacs for me and my wife for a full tenure of 25 years in single shot.
This was never told to me clearly and I cannot bear such a loss. The purpose of bank was to earn unlawful commission from insurance agency at our cost. Also the cost of insurance is much higher than the prevailing market rates. I and my family feels cheated by this unscrupulous activity and seek you help to save our hard earned money.
As nobody in the bank replies properly and only assures that the insurance will be returned if loan is prepaid . this is only a way of fooling customers. The bank has not only disbursed 4.25 wrongly but also charging interest on the same.

It is, therefore, requested kindly do something in this matter so that my loan amount is reduced back to 45 lakhs. Also please the interest charged on this insurance amount should also be waived off.

Home Loan Customer and Mistake of Axis Bank

The fact that the customer came to know about the home loan insurance after the loan was sanctioned clearly shows that Axis Bank operations was not transparent at all and the customer was taken for granted. How can you sell him a home loan insurance without even telling him? This has to be communicated well? Was there a person one to one communication done with the customer if he can afford it or not ? A normal term plan with 50 lacs cover with 25 years tenure will cost less than 1 lac , but a policy worth 4.25 lacs was issues and no one even cared to understand it from customer point of view. This clearly shows the in-sensitiveness of the bank officials involved in the whole process.

What do you suggest in this case? What can this customer do and what do you think about Axis bank ? Will you ever consider Axis bank for Home loan after hearing about this case ?

Not disclosing your old Insurance policy can lead to Claim Rejection

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Everyone makes mistakes and are not aware about it ! . A lot of people who buy more than one insurance policies, do not declare about their existing policies to the new company. Some do this because they are not aware about this “compulsory” rule, but some do it intentionally! & there are some who do not pay much attention to it thinking that they will be able to “escape” it and fool the company. However, you should know that companies are very careful about the rules and regulations as mentioned in the policy and declaring your old Insurance policies is a mandatory and important rule. No matter how much your policy sum assured is for, even if its 1 lac, you have to declare it when you take a new life insurance policy (This means term plan, ULIPs with insurance cover, Traditional Policies) . For an example see how Debajyoti was confused on this non-declaration of old policies question and I told him how it was a very important thing to do.

Declare old Life insurance policies while taking a new policy

Today, I am going to discuss a recent case I saw in Crime Petrol (a tv show showing real life cases, must watch) and it is an eye-opener for those how have not declared their existing insurance policies while taking a new life insurance policy. Because in this real life case, a guy family was rejected 1.25 crores of life insurance claim just because the guy did a small mistake, he never disclosed his old policies. Read on –

Real Life Story of Sandip from Gujarat

Sandip was in a lot of debt. His business was not doing well and he was very much worried about his family and what will happen to them. The only solution he could think of is Life Insurance money which they would get after his death, but his life insurance was very very small (few lacs). So he took around 1.25 crores worth of life insurance, thinking that after his death, their family would get all the money.

But there was an issue, a big-big issue. He could not commit suicide, as it was not covered for the first year and his life was becoming really hell and he didn’t want to live anymore. So the only solution was that he should be killed in an accident or some one murders him. He asked his friend to kill him in a way that no one comes to know about it and it looks like murder. This way, he would die and his family will get the life insurance money and his family would live happily.

His friend was scared to death to kill him and really was not able to do it as he was a good friend of Sandip, but finally he killed him on his request. Police came, verification was done and finally Police was able to crack the case and catch his friend. The family figured out about the insurance policy when Sandip’s wife saw the documents in an almirah . The family went to insurance company and asked for claim amount, but the insurance company pointed out the violation of terms and conditions and said that the claim will NOT be paid as there was violation of rules. Family freaked out and gave all sorts of reasons why they should get a claim , but rules and rules. The family filed a case against the insurance company in court, but that was of no use as the court also gave judgement in favour of insurance company.

The family never got any money. Here is the youtube episode of the Crime Petrol Story I was talking about for those who want to watch it

Have you declared your old policies to new insurance company?

You have probably done the same mistake. If you were holding any endowment/moneyback policy, ULIP, Term Plan or any kind of Life Insurance and then you took a new policy and didn’t declare all the old policies, then after your death, your family is not going to get any money! Please take it seriously.

So your action item is to check with your insurance company customer care about the declaration of old policies and incase you have not given that information at the time of taking the policy, better give them this information, because I don’t think you should be doing that big charity!

Want a Loan ? Pay your phone/electricity bills on time !

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Is there a way to determine whether or not it is risky to lend ‘You’ money? How do I know that you wont be a bad customer one day? Very simple – Just look at your credit history and see if you paid your dues on time or not; How many times you were late in making your credit card payment, home loan payment, personal loan dues. This is how CIBIL took birth in India.

But wait – Is this enough? No, we have several other kinds of dues and we make various  payments – those are mobile bill payments (post paid- around 5 crore of them), internet monthly fees (post paid), electricity and other utility bills, even your health insurance premiums. So now very soon you will hear that your mobile bills, electricity bills, internet bills etc are being tracked (actually they are already being tracked) and they will contribute in making of your credit history.

As of now CIBIL, Equifax and Experian (all 3 are credit Beauru) use only your Loan repayments as the criteria for your credit report and credit score, but the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act 2005 allows insurance, cellular as well as phone services companies to be counted amongst specified users of credit information companies, therefore, making them eligible to use the database. So very soon all such payments will start contributing to your credit score.

Past records will also affect your credit report

All the major telecom service providers in the country — BSNL, Vodafone and Airtel — are now in discussions with CIBIL for sharing their customer database. So, have you ever declined paying your phone bill? Have you delayed your electricity bill for many months/years or have been late all the time? Do you have this attitude of paying the mobile/internet bills only after getting 2-3 reminders? If the answer is YES, then you better know that all those past sins are staring at you and soon will haunt you.

Be ready to see your home loan or car loan application being rejected because you never paid that vodafone bill for Rs 1,500 and ran off or changed your address? Dude!, your name, photo, past address, DOB is all with them- it will unfold now and if you doubt that- see what CIBIL has to say about it.

“Our systems are capable of handling past payment records as well. If the telecom companies are able to give us the past payment records, we will upload them in the system,” says Arun Thukral – MD, Credit Information Bureau

It’s not clear how much weightage will be put on these kinds of utility bills and insurance premium payments because these are small ticket size in nature and should not be seen in lines with home loan EMI’s and credit card debt which can grow to a big amount. But what do you think about this move and do you think its right?

Which Model of Financial Advice do you like ?

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

There are many different ways financial advisory runs in India (and worldwide). You must have encountered one of them for sure at some point of time. I have been able to pick 5 financial advisory models and wanted to highlight them and want you to tell me which advisory model you like and which one you hate? & why?

1. Financial adviser earning commissions out of products sold to you

This is the most common advisory model. Also, due to the widespread know how of this model, majority of Indian’s are stuck with bad and unwanted products. In this model the advisor/agent/planner comes to you, pitches the product, makes it look amazing through graphs/projections/emotional-blackmailing and then you buy it. In this model, the commissions are the main source of compensation for the seller. There is no fees paid by you directly to him and you feel like a KING.

2. Financial Advisor with fixed yearly charges

This model is not much widespread, but some people do it. In this model, the advisor/planner (whatever you call), will be available for you throughout the year, whether you need him/her or not. Its kind of yearly contract where he advises you on anything you ask him on your financial life. If in some year you ask more, that’s fine, you pay same fixed cost and in some years if you don’t “consume” his services much, still you pay him the same money. With this model, you are clear about the fixed cost you will incur on your financial advisor and even advisor knows that his cash flows are fixed. This model as per me is one of the best, but sadly this does not work much in Indian environment.

3. Financial Advisor on demand (pay when you want advice)

This model is very much like the above one, but in this you pay your advisor “on the go”. So whenever you take his advice or use his time for asking anything, you pay only for that much time, nothing less and nothing more. Again this model is not that much widespread, but some courageous advisors take this route. This model from one angle is really “american” style, where each thing is paid on “hourly” basis. So if you take 20 hours of your advisor in some year, pay for 20 hours. And if in some year you take only 5 hours, just pay for 5 hours. For advisor it makes his life easy as he spends his time only for what he is paid for and is really committed to produce the value for that time. Indian’s laugh on this model as of now.

4. Financial Advisor on One time payment basis

A lot of advisors work on one time basis, you approach an advisor, you take the service/advice and he works with you till you get what you need and then tata-bye-bye-see you. Financial advisors really try to make sure that there are yearly relationships, but most of the times clients don’t come back after a year as they feel it’s a waste doing it again and again. But some advisors just run on this model. So it really ends up like – “Come, pay the fees, take what you want, and that’s all”.

5. Fees charged as percentage of Portfolio Worth

Call it wealth management or Financial Planning + Wealth Management, in this model a fixed percentage of your net-worth is charged. The yearly fixed fees can be present or missing, but a percentage of your AUM (total worth) are taken by the advisor/planner/wealth-manager. A lot of people feel comfortable with this model as this is linked to their net worth. If there is no increase in their net worth, then no fees to be paid, but if the net worth increases, you give away a part of it in fees.

Which model do you like and why?

Now the question is which model do you like and why? What is the reason you like a particular model and why do you think it should really be encouraged? A plain brainstorming! let’s do it. Leave your comments and express yourself!



Jagoinvestor Workshop in Bangalore -13th May [Video]

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

We conducted a paid workshop recently in Pune called “Design your financial life” . The idea was to take participants beyond financial products and involve them in the thinking process. It was a fun filled day with lot of participation and some really good money conversations which made people really think about their financial lives and how they are leading it till now. Here are some snaps and video testimonials of participants.

Workshop in Bangalore | 13th May (Sunday)

The next event is scheduled in Bangalore on 13th May 2012 (Sunday). The seats are limited and there is a Rs 200 discount for the first 10 people who will apply the discount coupon ACTIONTAKER . They will save Rs 200 on the ticket. It will be a full day event from 9 am to 6 pm at Shilton Royale , 9, 100 Feet Road, | Koramangala, Bangalore 560 047 (Near Sony World). The resigtrations are based on first come first serve basis and it will close by 10th May 2012 .


Spend one day for your financial life

We really want these event to be your event and not just a jagoinvestor event. Its an opportunity to spend a full day dedicated to your financial life. We really encourage people to take those 10 hours for out of 1 full year and just focus on how you want to shape your financial life for future. There will be lot of sharing’s , conversations on money and some exercise’s which will really help you get a deep insights in the area of personal finance.It might be the case that you are interested in this workshop but not registering right now , in that case just let us know that you are interested and still thinking.

Pictures from Pune Workshop

Personal Finance Workshop

We really want to make this workshop a readers event and we want couples to come together so that they can jointly spend a full day in this workshop.

8 tips to Improve CIBIL Score !

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Is your CIBIL report and Score messed up ? Then the biggest question you must be having is “How to Improve CIBIL Score ?”. “Bad credit score” is really a scary phrase these days. Many people are stuck with a bad credit score/report due to their own or credit card company mistakes, but most of the times I see that it happens due to poor credit behaviour and mis-management of credit officers. Everyone wants to improve cibil score, so that they do not face any issue in getting loans at some point in future. Now in this article, I will highlight few tips/points which will help you understand what makes a great credit report and good credit score. To understand this, just be clear that your credit score is dependent on several things and taking care of each point is very important. Read in detail about CIBIL Score here

1. Late payment / missed payments

The biggest reason for a bad credit score is bad loan repayment history. A lot of people pay their bills late or miss the payment completely. It’s so tempting to pay the minimum balance now and pay the balancing due later. Doing this just saves you from late payment fees, that’s all. The interest is charged and more than that you should be worried because this information is updated by your bank to CIBIL and the next thing is obvious, your credit report and score gets uglier each month because of this. So every time you miss your home loan EMI, car loan EMI, credit card payment or you make a late payment, it affects your score badly. If you have done a lot of late payments or missed payments earlier, its your time to fix it by being more disciplined from now on. Dont worry, if you now promise to pay things on time and do it regularly for next 1-2 yrs, it will surely improve cibil score for you.

Common sense Tip: Don’t pay your bills through cheque just 1 day before the last due date, because it does not mean that your payment is done. Some one will collect it, send it somewhere, then some one will make an entry for it etc, etc… This can take some time and result in delayed payment. Why not drop it 5 days earlier instead of 1 day? Please automate the payments for EMI’s and your bills. If the bills are not fixed each month, at least put a recurring reminder in your phone 5 days before the last date and then make the payment. If I can do this, why can’t you? In last 4 yrs, I have made my FULL credit card payment 48 times exactly 4-10 days earlier than the last date of payment. My CIBIL score is 831. You can also check your CIBIL score online

2. Large Number of credit cards and loans

There was a time when having 6-8 credit cards was a commonly practiced trend and something to show off, now you will pay for it! A lot of credit cards and loans above a “natural” limit is a big negative thing. That shows credit hunger and an extreme dependence on credit in your life. It shows that your life is too much dependent on external credit. Lets say you have two friends Ajay and Robert. Ajay asks for some credit from 2 people in whole year and then asks you for another Rs X and you have good friendship with him, I am sure you will think once and then may be give the money to him. But on the other hand imagine Robert who has taken a credit from 8 people in your office and 2 other people outside office, then when he comes to you and asks for even Rs X/2 amount, you will think 5-10 times before giving it to him. What kind of feelings you will be having in mind? What all doubts will be there in your mind? Some thing same happens in the loan industry, if you have more than “required” or acceptable limit of credits, it badly affects your score. Your score reduces point by point each month.

Common sense tip: If you have a lot of credit cards, better increase the limit of 2-3 of them and close the other credit cards. This way you will have same Credit limit in total and have reduced number of cards. Its better to have 2 cards with 25,000 limit each, than 5 credit cards with 10,000 limit each.

3. Utilizing your full Credit Limit each month

One of the easiest way to improve cibil score is to effectively use your credit card and do not utilize it fully to the limit. If your credit card limit is Rs 50,000 a month and every month you use 40,000 or 45,000, it will affect your score in bad way. Even if you are paying your dues on time, still what it shows is that you are utilizing your limit to fullest, companies don’t know that you might be doing it deliberately to “manage” your credit effectively, but the way it is seen is that your life is dependent on credit. So stop reaching 80% or 90% of your credit limit. A 30%-40% credit utilization is well accepted and seen as “positive” and make sure its the case with all the credit cards you have.

If you have 2 credit cards with limit of Rs 10,000 in first card and Rs 10,000 in second card and you spend Rs 9,000 from first credit card, but Rs 0 from second credit card, then your 1 st credit card utilization is 90% & 0% in second. Which means that you are seen negatively on your first credit card and “positively” on second card, but what you can do is spend 5,000 from first card and Rs 4,000 from second card, so that your credit utilization is 50% and 40% on both the cards and its “positive” on both.

Common sense tip: If you are reaching your limit, either make sure you move to cash/debit card for a part of your expenses and reduce your credit card limit, but in case you can not reduce your expenses on credit card, better call your credit card customer care or write to them that you want your limit to be increased. Most of the companies will do it. Just tell that you have few things lined up in next 2-3 months and you want the limit to be increased.

On the other hand think well before closing a credit card that you are not using. Your over all credit limit will come down if you close a credit card. So make sure you think twice before closing a credit card from credit utilization ratio point of view.

4. Higher percentage of Unsecured credit

A high number/amount of unsecured credit is bad. Unsecured credit here means credit card debt and personal loan debt, which are totally unsecured and you can run away with it. If you have total 1,00,000 worth of debt and out of that 80,000 is because of credit card and personal loan, then 80% of your debt is Unsecured. This is bad. If you had 80% of Secured debt like education/home/auto loan, then it was a different thing. I believe this is very obvious, the more unsecured debt you have, the bad it looks like. It shows that your life has more “emergencies” than a normal person, which makes you hungry for immediate credit. So this makes sure your credit score takes a hit. Remember that having a good mix of credit types is a good idea. So if you have home loan, education loan and credit card, that’s 3 types of loans, which is good. But if you have 5 personal loans and that’s all, it shows too much dependence on one kind of loan.

Common sense tip: Make sure your total unsecured debt, looks small in front of your total debt. You if have 80,000 of unsecured debt out of total debt of 1,00,000, then your unsecured debt ratio is 80%. If you take 5 lacs of secured loan, then your unsecured debt comes down in percentage, that makes things look better. Or make sure you prepay a part of your unsecured debt and bring down the percentage, Its one of the ways to improve cibil score !

5. Being a guarantor without giving a thought

If I take a home loan and ask you to be a guarantor for my home loan because I have helped you with so many things in personal finance, because I have answered so many of your comments and helped in solving your queries, what would you say? Don’t think more on this, you better say “Go to hell”. Because if I default on that home loan, you are held liable and your score will go down. While my score will be affected more, yours will also take a good hit! A lot of people because of various reasons become guarantor for other’s loan and then the primary person runs away or is unable to pay off the loan. Don’t do it, unless you are really sure you want to do it. I can do it for my brother, but not for you.

Common sense tip: Don’t leave your documents here and there, if you don’t agree to become a guarantor, many people try to make you guarantor by forging documents and misusing xerox PAN card or driving licence. Signature is easy to copy these days! Also when your friend who has spent good time with you in last 3 months, asks you to become a guarantor, tell him you were thinking of asking him to be guarantor for your home loan, good way to test the friendship!

6. Duration of your credit history – more is better

Longer the history, better it is. You will trust a 5 yrs old friend more than 3 months old one. That’s true in case of credit history too. If you are paying your payments/EMI’s for all loans on time from last 5 yrs, it’s very much a proof that you pay on time, you have a good history, but if I have a good history from last 5 months, that is not that strong. So higher the duration of good payment history, the better your score will be and will help you to increase cibil score.

Common sense tip: If you do not have a credit card, there is a good reason why you should get one now and do your payments with credit card and pay in full every month, so that your payment history is built.

7. Too many inquiries in short spam of time

Making too many inquiries in a very short time is not looked at positively. Imagine you have made a credit card inquiry, a personal loan inquiry, a car loan inquiry in last 3 months itself. What does it show? It shows credit hunger, it shows that you want to snatch any credit which you can get, you want to get things in life on credit. Hence have a respectable amount of gap between each inquiry you do. Dont apply for home loan with 6 banks. Note that each and every inquiry you do is reported in your credit report and if your report is full of inquiries, your score will stink! Any lender will doubt your payment capacity when you are so much dependent on credit. So the best way to improve cibil score is to keep your enquiries minimum.

Common sense tip: A lot of people just apply for loans even if they really don’t need it, keep this thing in mind and deliberately make sure that there is few months of gap between 2 loan applications (at least 6 months gap would really be good).

8. Settlement of your Loan Or running away

This is the worst mistakes of all. There are people who first take on a lot many loans and then are unable to pay it. So they either ran away (companies mark it as “write-off”) or at best just made some payment and settled the loan (companies mark it as “settled”). And this will make sure you are blacklisted for at least 7 yrs. You will not be given any loan, you can cry your eyes out for that 1 small credit card and you will be treated like you are nothing.

Common sense tip: Cut your debt, when it shows a sign of going out of control. One common ground rule which can be followed it that the overall outstanding credit at any point of time should not be more than 1 month of your take home salary. There is no solution of an out of control credit card debt other than paying it in FULL. Live a life with credit card as if you don’t have one!

Each tip on How to Improve CIBIL Score has its own weightage

Note that different factors which affect your credit score has its own weightage, so one factor can be more stronger than the other, but make sure you follow all the best practices and do not make any wrong decision. Look at your actions from the lender point of you. See what kind of people you would like to give credit if you were the loan provider. Just act like what you had expected

Did you understand how you can improve cibil score ? Can you share some top to increase your credit score , incase its not covered in this article !