Category: General

Meet this 15 yr old youngest participant from our Mumbai Investor Workshop + Some Pictures

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

We completed our Mumbai workshop just 2 days back on Sunday and it was a great experience overall to connect with our readers . However there were 2 most amazing experience which I want everybody else to know about.

Youngest participant was just 15 yrs old

Yes, you read it right .. One of the participants had booked a couple ticket and he choose to bring his young son who was just in school to make sure that he put the right seeds in his son’s mind about money and personal finance. We were really amazed seeing this and congratulated him on his attitude towards money and his commitment for this son future. The best part was that his son participated well and also shared what all he has learned from the session at the end.

investor-workshop-jagoinvestor-1

One of the best things about the workshop was that a lot of couples attended the session together, one person came along with his mother, another guy came along with his best friend and many participants also came along with their siblings . It was an environment filled with learning and dedicated to do something for their financial life. We also had fun doing some group exercises, which everybody loved and had a great message.

There were conversations about Financial Freedom , Passive Income and many other amazing topics – which all the participants liked a lot. Here are some more pictures

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Bangalore and Pune Workshop

We still have few seats left for the workshop in Bangalore and Pune. For those who always wanted to attend this workshop should come over, because mostly this will happen only once in year. The workshop will have some very deep conversations about various topics like Financial Freedom, Passive Income, your mindset about your financial life and how you can focus on next 5-10 yrs in designing your financial life.

Are you suffering from “I don’t have time to read Policy Document” Syndrome ?

Posted on by Nandish Desai

As an investor, I am sure you have done something with your money. You have put your money in some or the other financial product – assuming it is going to help you in creating wealth or it is going to help you in some way or the other.

The way some movies have flashback, you will have to go back in the past to get full value from today’ article.  We just want to make you responsible in the area of money, because taking responsibility is the first step towards bringing any kind of change or transformation.

policy document

Lets go back in the past (Flashback)

Lets say five years back some agent or adviser or relationship manager approached you with the new financial product in market, the product features and benefits were explained, you trusted your adviser’s advice and bought the financial product.

Now, before you purchased the product – Did you read the product brochure (completely) at the time of buying or even after that ?

Most investors do not invest their time in reading product brochure or policy documents and this is a major mistake most investors are not even present to.

4 reasons, why Investors do not read Policy Documents

Reason #1 – They find it boring to read Policy Documents

A lot of investors think, that reading personal finance document is extremely boring thing (its just their assumption). Some investors start yawning the moment any policy document is placed in front of them. If you ask them for a movie, they are filled with enthusiasm – but if you ask them to read policy document or mutual fund scheme document they start avoiding the same.

In this process, you may miss out on some important information which you are suppose to know about some particular financial product and it will save you from disappointment later in future.

We come across so many investors who don’t know whether the money they have been investing from last 5 years is an endowment plan or a money back, the mutual fund they have been investing is an equity fund or debt fund. You carry boredom in your thoughts and it has nothing to do with any personal finance document.

Come on – Its a one time job, which takes not more than 1 hour, that’s all !

Reason #2 – “It’s not my cup of tea” Syndrome

A lot of investors think – “Personal finance is not my cup of tea” and they feel they have licence to NOT read policy documents. You may be into medical profession, Software or any other profession.

You can’t escape from managing your financial life and reading your policy document is one core activity you need to complete.

Reason #3 – They over-trust their Adviser and prefer playing Blind Game

Some people trust their adviser much more than they trust their spouse or parents. They trust their adviser blindly. Their adviser will make cross marks on documents and then give investor the bulk offer to give their signatures, as if they are giving autograph to the crowd. And then this kind of fraud happens with investors.

These investors are playing blind game, they are taking risk with their financial future. Even when the policy document or any other financial product is purchased, they do not bother to read where they have invested their money.

All they do is call their agent and take a monthly or quarterly report which gives them a fake feeling that they are serious about their financial life. You are getting reports, but for all wrong financial products which does not serve you as an investor. You can trust your adviser – but do not skip the homework that you are suppose to do from your side.

Reason #4 – They entertain the story called “Lack of time”

When we ask a lot of investors that why they did not read policy documents or product brochures the most standard reason that pops up is “Lack of time”. From morning till night, they slog for money, which they put into a financial product and then they do not have time to read about the financial products itself, where they have invested their money.

Now how strange it that !

These people are found very active on social media platforms. By the way – I am not against use of social media, but the point I am trying to make is that, you should give time to your financial life and break the “lack of time” story.

Conclusion – Never skip reading Policy Document

This insight or tip might look very simple, but it is applicable to majority of investors. As an investor you will make money only in those products – where you have the understanding. Your primary job as an investor is to understand basic mechanism of any financial product in which you are going to put your hard earned money.

My invitation to all investors is read product brochure and make list of questions that arise in your mind and get 100% clarity on them.

So, dust all your laziness and read the product brochure, before buying any financial product and if you have already made any purchase make sure you read the policy document in detail.

So, this weekend do the following

  • Place 2 hours on your calendar, in which you will read policy documents (put the reminder in your mobile at this moment itself.
  • While you read policy documents if you are not clear, make a note of them and discuss with your advisor or customer care
  • Share with us what was your experience in the comments section

NOTE:  We want to meet more and more investors during our 6 city tour. The minimum investment to participate in our workshop starts at Rs.3500/-. Come be a part of Design your financial life 2.0 ( You will have the most amazing time as an investor)

Design your financial life 2.0 Registration Opens  – Mumbai , Bangalore, Pune

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Day before yesterday we released video of our Design your financial life 2.0 and we had influx of mails from all over asking for more details about the program. We are so touched by the excitement level that some of you hold in your heart. Below is the video which explains what this program is all about

Why we conduct Design your financial life Program?

We did our first Design your financial life 1.0 workshop in Pune. It took a lot of effort for us to design the overall design of the program as we were doing it for the first time. I wanted my wife to participate and so I asked her to participate in the program and Manish did the same at his end. I still remember the first reaction I got from my wife, she said, “What will I do in your boring personal finance program?”.

I told my wife I promise the program will be fun and I extended my heartfelt invitation to her. Finally my wife said yes to me. I told her be a good participant and asked her to really work on her financial life. On the other end, Manish was struggling to enroll his wife into the program and somehow he also managed to convince his wife. This was MOMENT of joy for us, we still feel it is the best thing we ever did.

Finally we got both of them into the program and they enjoyed each and every part of the event. They were happy to see how much our readers love us and how fun personal finance can be. I can never forget my wife taking notes during her participation and after we returned back she got a lot more committed with her money. Same was with Manish, his wife made a commitment to start her own venture and her vision is still alive and she is working on it.

We really want investor to dedicate some committed time for their financial life so that they can work on their financial life. We want individuals and couples to get on same page when it comes to money management, we really want to make personal finance interesting and fun and there are very few who give dedicated time to their financial life.

Why this transition from Design your financial life 1.0 to 2.0

We started with one day workshop but now after working with a few hundred investors we realized that the one day event needs something more to it. Our intention is not to get fee from investors, we want their full commitment and we want them to produce some amazing results in their financial life. To produce tangible results we are moving from 1.0 to 2.0. It is no more a workshop, it is now a 12 weeks program that will help all kind of investors in designing their financial life.

Some Special Criteria to join this program

(Put your hand on your heart and get honest with yourself)

  • If you find personal finance boring (like my wife)
  • If you convince others and yourself that personal finance is not your cup of tea
  • You hate numbers and are a big time avoider when it comes to money management
  • You are PhD when it comes to procrastination
  • You want to get into action but you don’t know from where to start
  • You are confused with what to do and what not to do because of the overall bombardment of information on you on the name of investor education
  • You really want to move beyond planning and want to learn how to design your financial life.
  • You want to make 2014 your BEST FINANCIAL YEAR

If you fit into above criteria we would love to have you in our new avatar of design your financial life program. The program is happening in 3 cities, which are

  • Mumbai
  • Bangalore
  • Pune

Invitation to Join Design your financial life 2.0

From the bottom of our heart we would love to invite you to be a part of this program. Your financial life is right now going in some direction; it will take some shape after 5, 10 or 15 years from now. Now, you can allow your reasons/circumstances to lead your financial life or you can design your financial future. This program is a wonderful structure for action takers. Looking at our schedule we will only be able to do such event once in a year and so make sure you don’t miss it. Also, it is always fun to get away from the computer screen and meeting offline at deeper level.

If you have any questions or queries feel free to either ask in comments section or mail us.

How can you add an “extra” Godrej lock in your bank locker and make it 10 times more secure?

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Today you are going to learn how you can add an “extra” 3rd lock in your bank locker and make it really more secure compared to what it is now at this moment. This information is really hidden one and almost no one is aware about this really interesting and useful thing.

I would like to thank Jay Sheth, a reader of this blog to share this information with me in one of his comments. Let’s acknowledge him fully for his openness for sharing this amazing information with all of us and appreciate him to take out time to send me all the pictures and information which you are going to read below. The author of this article is Jay Sheth, so from now on the article language will be as if he is sharing his experience.

Why there is 3rd Key Hole in the bank locker ?

One day when I was operating my Bank locker I realized that there is a third hole in the bank locker apart from the two key holes where I and the bank person put our respective keys to open the locker. This made me wonder as to why it has a third key hole when it’s not being used?

third hole in bank locker

With these thoughts, I further researched on this. There is hardly any information on the internet. I met several authorities, contacted Godrej (who are manufacturing locker cabinets) and found something very useful. There is something called as “Renter’s Personal Lock” which is available directly from Godrej, and we could fit it ourselves easily with just a screw driver.

So if you open your bank locker, and see the exact back side of this 3rd keyhole, you will see that there is a specific fixed place along with already drilled screw holes , where this “Renters Personal lock” from Godrej can be installed. Let me show you how the back side looks like

backside of bank locker

How to Install this lock in Bank Locker ?

There two ways you can install this extra lock in your bank locker.

Method #1 – Install it yourself – This method is recommended, to install the lock yourself. It is very straight forward. When you buy this Lock from Godrej, It comes into a sealed pack, with the lock, one single key, and 2 screws. All you need is a screw driver at your end to install this. Visit your bank locker, once the bank person opens the locker for you, and leaves from there, you can then close the door first (so that no one disturbs you). And then you can put the lock in the bank of the locker and install it with screws there.

Here are the easy steps to put up the lock yourself:

  1. Insert the key in the “extra” (bottom left) keyhole.
  2. From the back side of the door, place the new lock in such a way that the key inserted above gets in its keyhole. This will give you the correct positioning quickly.
  3. Tighten the two given screws with a screw driver (top left and bottom right side respectively).

Let me show you a sample picture of how it has to be installed, it will give you a fair idea.

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install godrej lock into bank locker

Here is an important point if you are installing it on your own. Just get your locker opened and wait for the officer to walk out. Then install it at your pace and leisure. Next time when you want to open it, you will have to put both keys (the key cannot be taken out while the lock is open, which is for our safety only. But the officers will know). But that’s perfectly fine, as it is absolutely legal and allowed – just that many officers do not know the rules, so to avoid arguments with them just put it up silently for the first time. Read this incident where one guy struggled to get back his locker content back after it was closed by bank.

Method #2 – Installation by Godrej – Contact the Godrej Dealer in your city and they will send a person who will take around Rs. 250-300 as installation charges and will do it for you. This is a simple way, but cost a bit to you. There could be the following issues in this approach:

a)  You might not be able to find the right person in your city, as this whole thing is not well known and even some Godrej guys are not aware about it. Manish called a guy in Pune who said that you can get this done in Pune. You might want to search a bit in your own city.

b) For confidentiality reasons, you might not want them to know the bank, location and locker number of the locker in which you intend to put this lock. Naturally, all of this is compromised if they install it for you.

c) You might have a hard time convincing the bank officials that this is indeed a person from Godrej, as many banks are pretty strict about only allowing the actual renters to enter the locker room.

Once you are done installing the extra lock, from there on, your locker will open only when all the 3 keys are applied, where those 3 keys are

  • Your Main Locker Key
  • Bank Locker Key
  • Your EXTRA Godrej Locker Key

Here is how it looks from the front when you have installed the extra lock.

bank locker front with godrej lock

Should I really add this “extra lock” to my locker ?

Bank lockers are very safe compared to your home locks. But then it is only comparatively safe. You must have read about a lot of incidents where there were robberies in bank and lockers were looted, you might also have read about stories of how someone’s locker belongings were missing when they checked it after many years. There is always this thought which crosses one’s mind that what if there is some security loophole, or if someone misuses your bank locker main key, what if it’s lost and goes into a wrong hand? In that case, if you are too concerned about your bank locker and want to add a 3rd layer of security (which is just one time work and costs a bit) , then you can install this 3rd lock.

There have been incidents where bank lockers have been compromised and looted . So now its your choice, if you want to add this extra lock in your bank lockers or not.

How to Buy the Personal Renter’s Lock ?

Now let’s come to the main topic of from where you can buy this extra lock called “Renters Personal Lock”. You will get this only and only from Godrej company. You can contact a Godrej dealer in your city and ask him about this lock. It costs approximately Rs. 800-1000. If you are interested in getting it installed by the Godrej person, then you should ask about this from the same dealer itself.

renters personal lock from godrej

You can buy the lock and get it via Courier

You might face some issue finding it, but don’t worry. Keep trying to find it from many vendors, try to search Godrej dealers from justdial or internet and will surely be successful.

If you are in Pune – then you can buy it from this place mentioned below.

Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd

4, Shop 517,Dyananda Society,

Dyananda Society Sadashiv Peth,

Pune, Maharashtra ( West ) – 411030

Phone – 020-24471453

Price mentioned by them over phone to us – Rs 880

If you are outside Pune, you can still buy it and get it delivered via courier

Manish called them and confirmed that they will be able to deliver the lock via courier to all over India, however the courier charges will apply apart from the lock price of Rs 880.

Just call 020-24471453 and the contact person is Mr. Gafur Shaikh . Hope you get it 🙂

(Please understand that we are just connecting you to them, and nothing else. If you face any issues with them, it will be between you and them, dont blame us for that)

Let us know if you are going to install this extra lock in your locker or not. Also tell us what you feel about this information.

Finally thanks Jay for sharing this useful information with all of us.

LIC Online Term Plan Launched – 37% cheaper than Offline version

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Good News! . Finally LIC Online Term plan is launched. The name of its online term policy is LIC e-Term and can be bought via LIC Direct initiative. Investors community was waiting for this online term insurance from LIC from very long time and finally many will buy the term plan to cover their family. In this article I want to give you a crisp review of LIC Online Term plan.

LIC online term plan launched

Let me share some of the features of LIC Online

1. Completely online buying – without agent help

Like any other online term plan, LIC e-Term is completely online term plan. You just need to calculate your premium, give your details online and then buy the policy by paying the premium. Incase you need to appear for medical examination, that will be done offline.

2. Different premium for smokers and non-smokers

There are two categories of premiums which will apply. The first one is called Aggregate category which will apply for all those who will choose the sum assured between 25 lacs and 49 lacs (it does not matter if you are smoker or non-smoker) . This category has to be chosen if you are smoker anyways (incase you take more than 50 lacs of sum assured)

The next category is non-smoker is called Non-smoker if are choosing sum assured more than 50 lacs and if you are a non-smoker.

choose category in lic eterm online term plan

3. Eligibility Conditions and Other Restriction

  • Minimum Sum Assured : Rs. 25 lacs for Aggregate category and Rs 50 lacs for Non-smoker category
  • Maximum Sum Assured : No limit
  • Minimum age at entry : 18 years (completed)
  • Maximum age at entry : 60 years (nearest birthday)
  • Maximum cover ceasing age : 75 years (nearest birthday)
  • Minimum policy term : 10 years
  • Maximum policy term : 35 years

4. Cooling-off period

If the Policyholder is not satisfied with the “Terms and Conditions” of the policy, the policy may be returned to us within 30 days from the date of receipt of the policy bond stating the reason of objections. On receipt of the same the Corporation shall cancel the policy and return the amount of premium deposited after deducting the proportionate risk premium for the period on cover, stamp duty charges, expenses for medical examination and special reports, if any.

Cheaper Premiums of LIC Online Term Plan

The great news is that LIC Online term plan premium is much cheaper than the offline version of its term plan. If you see the premium rate charts, you will see the premiums for LIC e-term is around 20-30% cheaper then the offline version.

For example – The Yearly premium for LIC online term plan for 50 lacs sum assured was Rs 7,300 (for 30 yrs old male and for 30 yrs term), compared to Rs 11,600 for the offline version (LIC Jeevan Amulya II) . For the same profile HDFC Click2Protect charges Rs 6,000 , so LIC online term plan is around 20% costlier to HDFC Click2Protect plan.

Here is the graphical comparison for the premium difference between 3 policies

LIC online term plan premium difference

Details you have to provide for taking LIC online term insurance ?

When you buy the online term policy from LIC, here will be few things required. Those are as follows

  • Details about your occupation/ Educational qualification
  • PAN number
  • Your Income Details ( Form 16 / ITR for last three Years or P&L Account)
  • Details of all your previous life insurance policies (like policy number, sum assured, plan etc) taken in last 3 years.
  • Details of family members like age, state of health, age and cause of death (if applicable)
  • Details of your medical history including illnesses, injuries and any medication.
  • Bank details like Account number, MICR code etc.

Can NRI take the online term plan from LIC ?

Yes, NRI’s can also buy the term plan from LIC, but it clearly mentions that they will have to be present in India for medical examinations.

Step by Step process of buying LIC Term plan online – VIDEO

You can just go to this LIC eTerm Page and start the process of buying the plan. Below you can watch a 10 min video on how to buy LIC online term insurance policy in step by step manner. I have explained more of the things in the video itself.

Comments on LIC Platorm and overall experience

I have gone through the overall form filling experience and I find it well researched and thorough. LIC has taken a lot of time to come up with platform. Given the popularity of LIC and the trust of its customers, LIC will surely be going miles and will gain millions of new customers. Investors now are well aware of the importance of term plan and its popularity will only grow overtime.

Are you buying the LIC Term plan ? How did you find the review ?

Last Bootcamp Batch of this season from 19th May (Free Wealthclub membership worth Rs 4,999)

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

It is said that all the good things come to an end; with this article we are announcing the last batch of our online Boot camp. Initially we planned to conduct such boot camps on regular basis but looking at our current schedule and projects on hand we won’t be able to conduct boot camps on regular basis.( It is not like we will never do them but yes it will take some time for them to re-start)

bootcamp environment

Last batch comes with a SPECIAL GIFT

Here is your LAST Chance to be a part of our BOOT CAMP

Kindly see this blog post as personal invitation from our team to participate in our upcoming boot camp. If you are someone who wants to be a part of committed investors mastermind group, you will create a lot of value for yourself. You will get a chance to work on your financial life and will be able to gain valuable insights.

If we (I and Manish) had to choose between financial planning and boot camp we would opt for boot camp because here you get a chance to learn from other investors, here you learn to get on driver’s seat and because boot camp is all about TAKING ACTION and moving forward.

Some of the highlights of Bootcamp

  • Bootcamp happens online on facebook group (closed)
  • Bootcamp is flexible in timings, so there is no fixed timings when you have to be available
  • Bootcamp is a group program which helps everyone to learn from group and move ahead each week collectively
  • Bootcamp is 6 weeks program
  • Every week bootcamp focuses on one area of your financial life
  • Bootcamp is an action oriented program, not knowledge oriented

7 Special Things YOU can do for your Parents – along with Buying Health Insurance

Posted on by Nandish Desai

Today’s article is not about which health insurance you should buy for your parents or how much health cover you should buy, the intention of this article is to help you to do something special for your parents health than just buying health cover for them. This is something that no insurance company or website ever taught you or told you about.

Health Insurance is Important, but … 

Health cover for parents is important – but a lot of people miss out on something very important, which I am going to address in today’s article. After your parents reach a particular age, do they really need health cover or is it something else? Do they need your money for paying premiums or is it something else? If you buy health cover for your parents – Is the job done or something more needs to be done?

I was thinking about these questions and they really made me think hard. I and Manish invite each one of you to add this new dimension to your financial life.

7 Special Things you can do for your parents apart from buying health cover

In my view buying health cover for your parents is just 30% job done. The rest 70% is where you can do something special for your parent’s health and we want all our readers to focus on that 70%. Now lets see each of those 7 points below.

1. First Give Them Total Assurance

assurance to old parents

Your parents need assurance (some kind of confidence) from YOU and nothing else. And so go and have conversation with them that makes them feel confident. Tell them, with or without health insurance – you will take care of them. Make a promise that you will provide them with the best medical facilities no matter what, if required put 2-5 lakh aside and dedicate the corpus/fund for your parents health.

This will build your parents confidence and may be this assurance and confidence will add a few years to their life. Assurance is one of the best gifts you can give to your parents. They got to see, experience and feel your rock solid stand that you hold for their well being.

2. Having Loving Conversation

loving conversations with parents

Parents want one simple thing from you and that is LOVE. Love is the best policy you can cover your parent’s whole life with. I invite you to block some uninterrupted time for your parents every day or every week. Loving conversation will act like therapy to your parents. We all reach at a point in life where money and financial products takes a back seat and all you want to receive is love and nothing else.

I know life is hectic and we are loaded with different kinds of responsibilities and it is difficult to take out time, but see that you do something in this area and have loving conversation with your parents. It can be a small thing like calling them from your office and asking them if everything is fine or not? Caring is 1000 times more powerful than any health cover or policy.

3. Help your parents to connect with their friends

connect parents with old friends

This is one of the most special things you can do for your parents. Do something so that they stay connected with their friends or with people they love to spend time with. When they are surrounded by their friends it means they are surrounded by energy and enthusiasm. Friends are the best support structure for your parents. It helps them to keep their old days and memories alive.

Make list of people your parents would love to meet but they have not been able to see or meet them from a long time. And arrange a meeting for them. Old friends do one thing very nicely and that is they will bring a smile on your parents face.

4. Go on a walk with them

going on walk with parents

How many of you go on walk with your parents or grandparents regularly? It is important to understand your parent’s inner world. What are they thinking, what are their concerns and worries or what is it that they want to share but are afraid to share. When you go on a walk with them you get a chance to understand their world better. You get a chance to be with them fully and you are able to understand them.

Giving such quite time to your parents is worth millions. Your parent’s health will start improving with this simple step of yours. After all health is a conversation that one indulges into and you have to empower them with respect to their health.

5. Help them engage with some light physical activity

old parents exercising

My parents go for evening walk every single day. They go to a nearby club for their evening walk and they have been doing this from last many years now. Evening walk has become like a ritual to them. I think any kind of such light physical activity is extremely important. It can be going for walk, or doing light yoga or some simple kind of simple activity.

Help your parents in this area if they are currently not engaged with any kind of physical activity. Body, mind and spirit is all connected and for sound health of your parents see that some light physical activity is part of their routine.

6. Keep a Check on their diet

keep check on parents diet

It is our responsibility to take care of our parent’s diet. Sometimes our parents are not very particular about their diet or about their food intake. For 3-4 days observe your parents diet, are they drinking enough glasses of water or not? Are they having raw vegetables and fruits in their diet or not? If possible get a dietitian to design their diet plan and help them to stick to their diet plan.

7. Yearly full body check-up

full body checkup senior citizens india

This is extremely important task. If possible place this task on your calendar. After crossing 50 ask your parents to undergo full body check-up every year. One of my close friends mother is detected with last stage cancer which is now hard to cure. Body is the most complicated vehicle god has ever created and such regular check-ups are a must to keep this vehicle running.

Sharing from my life, my father gets his yearly check-ups done but my mother is scared of going through such check-ups. After writing this article I am going to enroll my mother for the same.

Some Final Words

It’s high time you think beyond parents health insurance cover and do something special for your parents. It’s not like you have not been taking care of your parents health, I am sure you must be doing your level best in this area. Your time, care and respect are three greatest gifts you can give to your parents. Your parents need YOU more than health cover and always keep that in mind.

Please note that we are not stopping you from buying health insurance for your parents (It can be of great support to you financially). The words put into this article are not new, but still a lot of people are not able to think beyond buying health cover for parents and think that once they buy it, their job is 100% done.

Do share with us in this week or month what special you are going to do for your parent’s well being or health?. Also do share your thoughts with us on this and please share this article with all your loved ones.

This article is written by Nandish Desai

New Fraud by Agents – Changing Policy tenures from “Single Premium” to “Yearly”

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Today, I wish to highlight a fraud, which has been going on for many years, but one that has not received enough attention. While the fraud itself is small and easy to conduct, its impact on investor wealth is significant.

What is exactly is the Fraud ?

Many investors, who wish to deposit money in some financial product as a ONE-TIME payment, opt for a ‘Single Premium’ policy. Here they are required to just pay the premium fee once, and the policy carries on for many years after that.

The mistake some investors make, is that they convey these instructions verbally to their agent and do not fill up the form themselves. Neither they do verify the tenure filled by the agent. Now what many unscrupulous agents do, is that instead of ‘Single Premium’, they specify ‘Regular Premium (or yearly) as the payment scheme – leading to a situation where the investor has to pay the same premium amount every year for many years thereafter.

beware of agents filling up form

What are the possible problems which happens ?

  • The premium amount is quite substantial at times. People can’t afford that sum each year and subsequently have to discontinue the policy
  • Investors remain unaware about the tenure of the policy and stay under the assumption that they do not have to pay any more money. However, the policy lapses after a year due to non-payment (If the investor does not have an email id, they do not even get premium reminder emails)
  • Even if investors come to know about the changed tenure, they need to run around from pillar to post just to cancel the policy – suffering the consequences of a problem which should never have been theirs to begin with
  • This whole experience shatters their faith in agents/ companies and leads them to avoid other agents in the future, even good ones.
  • There is a massive emotional impact as investors see this as a breach of trust and at times they lose their hard earned money – funds which thy might have set aside for some dream project!

3 real life examples of how investors were cheated by agents by changing the Tenure

There are several readers on this blog, who shared their real life experience in the comments section on how they were cheated and lost their money and peace of mind. I just want to make you aware of these experiences. Read on below.

Example #1 – How Mr. Syed Jibran cheated by people at HDFC Bank

Through the HDFC bank, I told the concern person to deduct the amount of Rs 200000/= from my saving account and consider as the single premum only, as i cant pay the amount of rs 200000/= every year. But later I come to know that they have consider my premium as the regular premium. Next day I sent the mail to head office, not to process my application and refund the same amount in my saving account.

I got the call from head office, that they cannot process to cancel my application, as they required in written cancellation letter . I agreed with team, but this is not at all my fault. Yesterday, I got a mail mentioning that there are free-look charges. This mail shocked me – even your agent cheats me, but you charges me. I send you many mails not to proceed my case and refund the same amount in my account. you can check that????????????????

Example #2 – How Naresh policies were Lapsed because he was cheated

One of my relative taken policy from Religare insurance broking ltd before 5-6 years ago with kotak-3 lacks, birla-8 & 5 Lacks as one time premium, now they are saying that the policy was regular premium plans and that is lapsed. sir now my relative want his money back.what should he do now.pls help.

Example #3 – How Reliance Life Insurance agents cheated Mr Ashok

We discussed with Reliance Life Insurance , Senior Sales Manager Mr Amit Khandelwal that we need single premium policy , he has taken our signature on application form and advised us not to fill the forms saying that “ form is complicated and likely to be filled wrongly by you consequently form will be rejected , better I will fill up the forms , as discussed , we are doing day in out this. “

Later on , he filled up the forms in his own handwriting, he has given his own home address and the worst thing he did he has filled up regular premium payment of 5,00,00/- for 5 years despite that we decided for single premium.

Return of policies was not possible for us as we have received policies very late , much beyond 15 days free look period , as policies were dispatched to Sr Sales Mgr address.

Even after this Reliance letter , I was keep on getting phones from local Indore office that we are discussing your case with our HO Mumbai , but off-late nothing has happened as yet. It is a clear case of mis-selling , breach of trust, fraud and forgery by Reliance Life Insurance. Reliance Life has terminated policies and Fund value is 50%.

Why is this fraud done by Agents ?

Frankly, it’s just because they earn higher commissions through this ploy. Agents earn meager commissions on “single premium” policies, but on yearly premiums they stand to reap much higher rewards.

single vs yearly premium difference

For example – For pension plans, the single premium commission is capped at 2% (that too one time only), however if it is a regular premium, the commission would be 7.5% for first year premium and 2% in subsequent years. Which means that if a person buys a pension plan with Rs 1 lac premium, for a Single premium policy, the agent will get 2,000 rupees, whereas if he cheats the customer and puts “regular” as the premium tenure, then he will get 7,500 rupees in first year and 2,000 in next year premium (provided it is paid by the investor).

Also on various other life insurance policies like endowment and moneyback plans, the first year premium is as high as 35-40%. So why would an agent settle for just 2% premium as commission, when he can take 20-40% of the premium (which is 10-20 times original commission)

How to save yourself from this fraud?

Here are some simple common sense tips which will work

  • Never ever let the agent fill up the form; you should always fill up the form yourself.
  • If you can’t fill the form for some reason, let the agent fill it in front of you, and once he is done, review each point filled by him. Take photocopies of the filled form for your reference
  • If you still sense that the agent is being dishonest, return the policy in the free-look up period which is generally 15 days from the date when you receive the policy in your hand
  • Email the management and customer care and tell them you will be complaining to banking ombudsman and grievance cell about this and also file a police complaint on fraud.

I invite suggestions from our readers on what solutions are possible if someone becomes a victim of such a fraud?

New LIC Term Insurance relaunched with low premiums

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

This is a bit old news now – but a lot of you might not know that LIC has relaunched their Term plans (offline) few weeks back. LIC has two term plan policies now called Anmol Jeevan II (below 25 lacs sum assured) and Amulya Jeevan II (Above 25 lacs sum assured) , and now both of these are relaunched (earlier one was Jeevan Anmol I and Amulya Jeevan I) to make sure that they comply with new IRDA regulations which came some months back.

LIC new Jeevan Amulya Term Plan

The main change in the new term plan and the old term plan is – that SINGLE premium option has been removed from these term insurance policies and the premiums have dropped due to change in mortality rates, which was due from long time for LIC to adopt (that was the main reason why LIC term plan premiums were very high compared to other companies)

Lower Premiums for New LIC Term plans

For the simplicity purpose, in this post we will just talk about LIC Jeevan Amulya (Sum Assured above 25 lacs) and not LIC Anmol Jeevan.

So now the premium is lower.  Consider an example where a 30 yr old person wants to buy a 25 yr policy . In this case the old LIC Amulya Jeevan premium was Rs 292 for every Rs 1 lac sum assured, however in the new Amulya Jeevan , its only Rs 196 , which is a reduction of approximate 33% .

Now with this new rates – if a person wants to buy Rs 1 crore term plan with LIC – then it can be bought at only Rs 19,600 , compared to Rs 29,200 earlier !

New LIC Term Plan premiums

Is LIC Term plan premium lower than other companies? 

No , LIC Term plan is still one of the highest even after reduction in its premium rates, but if someone is hell bound on buying a term plan from LIC only, then its a great news for them. If you consider other private companies – then the premiums are much lower for other companies like Bharti Axa, Aviva or HDFC Click2Protect . For example – A policy of 1 crore sum assured (25 yrs tenure) , most of the other companies will charge below Rs 10,000 per year, however in case of LIC its Rs 19,600 which is almost double .

Already bought old term plan from LIC long back , Will your future premiums be lower?

I dont think so, if you already have bought LIC Amulya Jeevan Term plan some time back, you will be paying higher premium which was decided at the time of buying and you will continue paying that only. So now its your choice if you want to re-purchase a new term plan or not, But better check the premiums difference in case you plan to repurchase it now , because if you re-purchase it now, your current age will be considered and it might happen that the premium difference is not much for you.

So now – if you still have not bought a term plan , and if you are only interest in LIC term plan, then its a good time to buy the term plan from LIC – go ahead !

How you are cheated at Petrol Pump and lose money on every visit ?

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Today I am going to explain a trick employed by Petrol Pump guys which might be costing you a lot of money on a per year basis. You might be loosing a couple of thousands each year because of this scam which probably goes on at each petrol pump.

Petrol Pump Scam in India

How Fraud at Petrol Pump Works!

When you ask them to fill petrol for Rs 1,000 , the attendant fills up the oil only for Rs 200 . When you ask him why he didnt fill up for Rs 1,000 . He will give a innocent smile and say that he heard Rs 200 and he will fill remaining Rs 800 , he resets the meter and fills up another Rs 800 petrol and you pay Rs 1,000 (200+800).

Whats the scam here ? The problem is that he never resets the meter to 0 , he continues from the Rs 200 point itself and go till Rs 800 , so in reality you only get the petrol worth Rs 800, but pay Rs 1,000 . The trick here is that when he says that he is resetting the meter to 0 and moves towards it, at that some moment, another team mate of attendant will disturb you with some question like – “Sir, Cash or Card?” , or “Sir, PUC karana hai kya?” , Or “Sir can you fill up this coupon ?” .

As a human tendency – you will have to look at him or hear him and in those 3-4 seconds , the main attendent will start the meter again and by the time you look at the meter, its somewhere near 300-400 , and you feel that the meter has restarted starting from 0 , but actually it was just continued from 200 point only. So you loose Rs 200 here.

how petrol pump fraud works in India

I would like to show you some of the real life experiences

Experience 1

Today I went on a 150Km trip to Kanchipuram. Because it was a long trip I decided to check the mileage of my car, so did not fill petrol at a regular pump and waited for the fuel indicator to sync with a marking. I reset the trip meter and filled petrol at the next petrol pump which was an Indian Oil pump in Pallavaram on the left while going towards Tambaram. I told the cashier that I wanted petrol for Rs.500 and took out the money from my purse and handed it to the cashier. When I looked at the guy at the pump, he told me that he had filled the petrol and wanted me to verify.

The meter showed Rs.200, so I told the guy that I asked for Rs.500, but I sensed something wrong. I was sure when he filled the next 300 from the time it took for it that he had not filled anything to start with as he showed me the meter too soon. I wasn’t sure about what to do in that position and left. It was obvious when I checked the mileage that the guy had cheated. I could go for a distance of only 52Kms with that petrol and the mileage for Rs.500 of petrol with that distance is 7.5Kmpl. Whereas if I take it as Rs.300, the mileage is 12.5Kmpl which is within the expected range. Moreover I filled for another Rs.500 at Kancheepuram and the mileage I got is 12.7Kmpl and the fuel indicator is still above the mark. I have been driving since 2001 and this is the first time something like this has happened to me. (Source)

Experience 2

At the first petrol dispensing counter (as you enter the petrol pump), the attendants frequently cheat customers. You ask them to fill, say, Rs.100 worth of petrol. However clearly you say it, one employee will fill only Rs.50 worth of petrol in just about 2 seconds when another employee tries to distract you. Within a blink of an eye, the counter goes from Rs. 0 to Rs.50. When you tell him that you’d asked for Rs.100 worth of petrol, he will apologize saying he didn’t hear it properly, and fill the remaining Rs.50 worth. The second Rs.50 petrol will take about 5-10 seconds to fill. You finally end up paying Rs.100 and getting petrol worth far less than that.

This has happened a few times with me and some friends. The cheating procedure has always been the same although the amounts differ. I know for sure that I’ve been cheated because my bike gives me a mileage of about 50km/litre normally, but when these incidents happen, I get far less mileage than this.. (Source)

How to Complain for this Petrol Pump Fraud?

IF you feel you are cheated, you can complain about this fraud to the petrol pump company like HPCL, BPCL or IOC. You have customer care numbers of these companies and also web portals for registering complaints online explaining them the exact issue (it can be various issues).

HPCL Web Portal – http://retailcms.hpcl.co.in/retailcms/registeruserissue.aspx
HPCL Customer Care Phone – 155233 / 1800 2333 555

BPCL Web Portal – http://ebiz.bpc.co.in/ccs/complaintCreation.faces?form1:sbu=1000
BPCL Customer Care Phone – 155233/ 1800222725

IOC Web Portal/Customer Care – https://www.iocl.com/TollFreeCellNumber.aspx

Some other things you can do other than complaining

  • Also ask for complaint book from the attendant, and put the written complaint in that complaint book. Most of the times they will make an excuse that the complaint book is locked in the room or something like that, tell them you are calling the company customer care and will complain about them
  • Make sure you ask them to meet the outlet manager, ask for their phone numbers if they are not present and try to talk to them, make the scene
  • Make the scene, scream at them and be tough if you are very sure you are duped and lost the money. In front of other customers they are bound to correct their mistake
  • Open you fuel lid, only when the meter is reset to 0 .
  • Get out of your CAR and stand next to the person putting fuel, makes it tougher for them to cheat you

Conclusion

This is happening all over the country of various petrol pump outlets and this can easily be a scam worth thousands of crores rupees, provided there are thousands of petrol pumps in country and millions fill up petrol everyday. The best measure to fight against this is to spread this information to more and more people you know and also be attentive and alert while you are filling up petrol or diesel in your vehicle.

Have you ever come across this fraud has it happened with you ?