Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Prajna Capital

Prajna Capital

Debt Funds from ICICI Prudential AMC

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 05:24 AM PDT

ICICI Prudential Gilt Fund (Investment Plan)

ICICI Prudential Gilt Fund (Investment Plan) is a pure debt fund that invests only in Government securities. To cater to a long term horizon the fund invests in securities of longer tenure. This helps in earning the higher yield associated with longer term investments.

ICICI Prudential Income Plan

ICICI Prudential Income Plan is a debt fund that invests entirely in both short and long term debt securities of the Government and corporate sector. The objective is to earn a rate of interest that commensurates with long term deployment in debt markets that generates income for investors.

ICICI Prudential Flexible Income Plan

ICICI Prudential Flexible Income Plan is a debt fund that invests its funds entirely in both short and long term debt securities of the government and the corporate sector. The objective is to earn returns in the form of interest income and capital gains, which commensurate with long term deployment in debt markets.

ICICI Prudential Long Term Floating Rate Plan

ICICI Prudential Long Term Floating Rate Plan is a debt fund that invests predominantly in debt securities with a floating rate of interest. The majority of floating rate instruments in the portfolio are benchmarked to the 1 year INBNK rate and the rest are benchmarked to a short term rate like the Mibor with resets taking place at 3 month / 6 month intervals.

ICICI Prudential Blended Plan

ICICI Prudential Blended Fund is a blend of equity arbitrage opportunities and short term debt instruments and is open for subscription only for a limited period each month. It features two options:

Blended Plan A, which maintains at least 51% exposure to equity and equity related securities, that can be hiked upto 75%. The fund aims to hedge 50% out of the 51% equity exposure and use the 1% unhedged portion to participate in IPOs to a limited extent. The 51% exposure to equity classifies Plan A as an equity fund and therefore provides Tax Free dividends without being subject to dividend distribution tax.

Blended Plan B, invests predominantly in short term debt, limiting its arbitrage exposure to less than 50%. In both cases, the portfolio component not deployed in arbitrage is held in short term debt instruments.

ICICI Prudential Short Term Plan

The ICICI Prudential Short Term Plan invests in a basket of debt securities, which have a shorter term to maturity. The portfolio predominantly comprises of short term instruments issued by the corporate sector and takes view-based limited G-Sec exposure.

ICICI Prudential Gilt Treasury Plan

ICICI Prudential Gilt Treasury Plan is a pure debt fund that invests in short tenure Government securities (G-Secs).

ICICI Prudential Floating Rate Plan

ICICI Prudential Floating Rate Plan is a debt fund that invests predominantly in debt securities with a floating rate of interest. The focus is on instruments whose rates are benchmarked to short term benchmarks like the Mibor, so that their response to changes in interest rates is rapid.

ICICI Prudential Liquid Plan

ICICI Prudential Liquid Plan's objective is to enable idle cash to be deployed for very short periods of time. Therefore it seeks to invest only in very liquid, short term instruments, of the highest credit quality.
 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also, know how to buy mutual funds online:

 

1) DSP BlackRock Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/05/buying-dsp-blackrock-mutual-funds.html

 

2) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-reliance-mutual-funds-online.html

 

3) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-hdfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

4) Sundaram Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-sundaram-mutual-funds-online.html

 

5) Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-birla-sunlife-mutual-funds.html

 

6) UTI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-uti-mutual-funds-online.html

  

7) SBI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-sbi-mutual-funds-online.html

 

8) Edelweiss Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-edelweiss-mutual-funds-online.html

 

9) IDFC Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-idfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

 

ULIP Review: IDBI Federal Retiresurance Pension Plan

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 04:11 AM PDT



IDBI Federal Life Insurance has joined the list of life insurers taking the single premium route for launching unit-linked pension plans, or pension Ulips, by launching the Retiresurance Milestone Pension Plan.


A category that was heavily promoted earlier, pension Ulips saw a dip in sales post the IRDA guidelines in September 2010. The guidelines made it mandatory for life insurers to offer a minimum return guarantee, linked to the RBI's key policy rate, the reverse repo rate. The insurance regulator has directed that pension Ulip returns should be at least 50 basis points higher than the prevalent reverse repo rate. The minimum returns on pension Ulips can move in the band of 3% to 6% per annum, depending on the applicable reverse repo rate.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

It offers the policyholder a choice of two investment options — guaranteed return fund and guaranteed growth fund. While the first fund will invest in fixed income instruments to deliver a minimum guaranteed maturity value per unit, the second will try to enhance returns by investing a small portion (maximum 10%) in equities, besides delivering the minimum guarantee.

PREMIUMS:

This is a single-premium plan, which means insurance-seekers will make a onetime payment towards premium. The minimum premium to be paid under the plan is . 1 lakh. There is no upper limit on the premium payable.

CHARGES:

The major component of the charge structure is the fund management charge (FMC), which amounts to 1.5% per annum and includes the investment guarantee charge. Premium allocation charge for single premiums under . 25 lakh would be 0.5%.


The charges will be waived off for premium amounts above . 25 lakh. Policy administration charges will be in the range of 0.02% to 0.10%, depending on the amount of premium for the first five years. After this, the charges will be . 60 per month. Again those paying premiums higher than . 25 lakh will not have to pay any policy administration charge.

UPSIDE:

Those with low-risk appetite may find this product's guaranteed-return feature attractive. There are other such plans from other insurers.

DOWNSIDE:

The maximum possible equity exposure under the plan is 10%, which may not be adequate given that retirement planning necessitates a long term strategy.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also, know how to buy mutual funds online:

 

1) DSP BlackRock Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/05/buying-dsp-blackrock-mutual-funds.html

 

2) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-reliance-mutual-funds-online.html

 

3) Sundaram Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-sundaram-mutual-funds-online.html

 

4) Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-birla-sunlife-mutual-funds.html

 

5) UTI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-uti-mutual-funds-online.html

  

6) SBI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-sbi-mutual-funds-online.html

 

7) Edelweiss Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-edelweiss-mutual-funds-online.html

 

8) IDFC Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-idfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

 

 

Financial planning is more than just good returns

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 01:30 AM PDT

 

FINANCIAL planning is one of the most loosely used and understood terms in the personal finance domain.


Despite its varied forms of usage and terminologies, understanding of people about this science is pretty common, such as a financial planner will help you get the best returns with the lowest risk. According to another common interpretation, a planner is expected to know the best products in most domains like insurance and investments.

These interpretations widely imply that the process of financial planning is all (or merely) about recommending the best products to an investor.


Sadly, this is far from the truth. Financial planning –

A process: The process of financial planning, in its true sense, involves understanding a person, his needs, concerns, objectives, limitations and then helping the individual to fulfil his needs and achieve his goals keeping in mind all of the above. It is a process of managing the monetary resources to achieve personal economic satisfaction.


Ramesh - in a debt trap Three years back, Ramesh (aged 27 and single) was working in the insurance sector. He got caught in a debt trap due to his spendthrift lifestyle. He got lured away with the easy credit granted to him by a number of banks through credit cards and then was finding it difficult to meet even the `minimum amount due' on the due dates. Interest charges and the delayed payment charges kept piling on and finally Ramesh had to borrow a personal loan to pay-off some of his credit card debt.

So how can financial planning help here? Well, as a part of his solution, his financial plan hooked on three aspects -budgeting, allocated payments and accelerated repayments.

Ramesh's financial plan: A close look at the budgeting for Ramesh helped open additional resources to the tune of approximately Rs 5,000 every month. A lot of his monthly expenditures were allocated upper limits to help Ramesh achieve the target of `extra savings' every month. More so, he had recently taken up a bouquet of life insurance policies, with premium payments ranging from monthly to quarterly modes. All of them, but one, were surrendered and the entire premium savings were now diverted for clearing the debt trap.

Whatever in vestments Ramesh had managed till date, which were not a very big sum, definitely proved to be useful in allocating the same for clearing the cred it card out standings.

Ramesh was put on the `accelerated repayment' technique, where in, with the help of the above two exercises, a commitment amount was denominated per month to repay the debt and card out standings. Second, as soon as one outstanding was cleared, the commitment amount was not lowered, but was applied to the next debt. Thus, money from the debts cleared continued to be combined towards other debts, until all the debts were cleared. This technique helped Ramesh in clearing all his debts, without pumping extra money for the same.

As may be observed from this case, if the process of financial planning was merely about recommending products, then no planning would have been possible for him. Investment or insurance products are possible only when there is an investible surplus, in other cases, a sound plan may help in generating such surplus.

 

Conclusion: Product recommendations are vital to any financial plan's success, but comprehending this process to remain restricted to only this faction would be definitely under-estimating the power of financial planning. Products are akin to agents with whose help the planner guides an individual to achieve his objectives.


But, they should always be ranked second priority in this process.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also, know how to buy mutual funds online:

 

1) DSP BlackRock Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/05/buying-dsp-blackrock-mutual-funds.html

 

2) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-reliance-mutual-funds-online.html

 

3) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-hdfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

4) Sundaram Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-sundaram-mutual-funds-online.html

 

5) Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-birla-sunlife-mutual-funds.html

 

6) UTI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-uti-mutual-funds-online.html

  

7) SBI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-sbi-mutual-funds-online.html

 

8) Edelweiss Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-edelweiss-mutual-funds-online.html

 

9) IDFC Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-idfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

 

 

 

 

Try and live a DEBT free Life

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 12:19 AM PDT

A budget will help you ascertain if you are living within your means or stretching your finances when you cannot afford it


We had a few youngsters who were perpetually in debt.


They didn't think it is important to clear off the debt. After repeated sessions, we figured out they are not mentally prepared to clear the mess.


Eventually, we had to let them go because there was no point in trying to drive home the same point.


There is a section of people that believes it knows all. These are educated people with family backgrounds where money was discussed. It is a clear case of a little knowledge becoming very dangerous.


Another set of people has deep mistrust when it comes to listening to anyone on financial matters. This could be because of a negative thought process or due to some deep-rooted psychological issues.


Most people don't realise the kind of turbulence servicing debt can cause in their lives. They think they can go on repaying without ever having to bother about the uncertainties in the future.


Financial experts have many stories – some funny, some sad — to recount about these people. Earlier, when people used to come to financial advisors, they would have some money in their account. These days, they have only debt.


I asked this young guy how he managed to run up so much debt and he said his friends have done 'even better'. Needless to say, the guy didn't believe in tightening his belt (another old-fashioned expression) and parted company with the advisor.


Another sob story is about a couple who had huge debt but refused to listen to the advice of their financial planner, who suggested they repay more rather than invest money in the stock market.


Sadly for the couple, the market fell drastically and one of them also lost the job during the economic slowdown in 2008.

Some Things Never Change

Even if one studiously cuts out worn-out expressions like 'saving for the rainy day', 'tightening the belt' and so on, one cannot emphasise enough the importance of certain rules of money management, say experts.


Sure, depending on the expert, the tools may differ. Some may run you through an excel sheet or a power point presentation and give you numbers for saving, investment, holiday, etc.


However, the basics remain the same. And one such basic is having a budget. Prepare a budget and follow it religiously. When you try to stay within a budget, certain numbers would call for your attention. That will tell you whether you are stretching yourself unnecessarily or for a genuine reason.


The next step is to identify major financial goals in your life, such as buying a home, child's education, your retirement, and so on. Prioritise your goals and try to quantify them.


Simply put, you should project how much money you need to take care of your financial milestones many years away from now. You should always use the actual numbers and inflate it by a certain percentage to account for inflation over a period of time. This will give you a clear idea of how much you have to save and how much you should earn to reach the target figure. This, in a way, will also help you to decide on the investment vehicle.


For example, if your target corpus requires double-digit returns, you have to think of taking extra risk and investing in the stock market. If you need to grow your money at a smaller pace (in other words, you have lots of money to invest), then you don't have to take any risk and invest in safer avenues liked fixed income instruments.

TACKLING DEBT

Now, you would probably wonder why these experts are talking about the need for a budget and identifying financial goals when you are actually troubled by debt. Well, the exercise would help you realise whether your debt is within manageable limits.


For example, if you are really neck-deep in debt, it is very unlikely that you will stay within your budget or will have enough money to invest for your financial goals.


If you are going to repay your debt for 10 or 15 years, it is very unlikely that you wouldn't have a situation where you would find it impossible to service it. The reasons could be beyond your control. For example, it could be a career change, family crisis, medical emergency. The so-called smart dudes of the new generation think they have salary of 13 months, as they can roll over money for a month with their credit cards. But spending with your credit cards requires higher discipline. This is because it is easy to fall into the debt trap if you don't clear your dues every month.


All one needs to do is to ask whether you actually need a credit before you go for it. You should take a loan only if there is no way out. It has to be need-based.


Sorry, it may sound old-fashioned, but this is the only way to distinguish good and bad credit. For example, if you are taking a loan to tide over an unexpected financial crisis, it is fine. But it is definitely not cool if you are taking an expensive loan to buy an LED TV.


Another tricky area is to figure out whether one should continue with regular investments when one is faced with huge debt.


You should be able to take a call on it. For example, there is no point in earning 8% in an FD when you are paying 30% interest on your debt. It all boils down to the planner or advisor. You can, for instance, take a more humane approach and decide whether you should aggressively repay your debt or have some legroom for comfort.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also, know how to buy mutual funds online:

 

1) DSP BlackRock Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/05/buying-dsp-blackrock-mutual-funds.html

 

2) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-reliance-mutual-funds-online.html

 

3) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-hdfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

4) Sundaram Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-sundaram-mutual-funds-online.html

 

5) Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-birla-sunlife-mutual-funds.html

 

6) UTI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-uti-mutual-funds-online.html

  

7) SBI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-sbi-mutual-funds-online.html

 

8) Edelweiss Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-edelweiss-mutual-funds-online.html

 

9) IDFC Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-idfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

 

Health policies: To buy from life or general insurers?

Posted: 09 Aug 2011 11:36 PM PDT

There are more restrictions on policies from life insurers as compared to a mediclaim

NEED to visit a hospital for a minor surgery? Given the rising healthcare costs, it could set you back by at least 20,000. For anything serious, be ready to pay in lakhs.

Though most of us agree that a health policy is a necessity, picking the right one remains tricky. Especially with life insurers offering medical policies like traditional mediclaim policies of general insurers.

The sales pitch: Traditional mediclaims, being indemnity plans, cover hospitalisation-related expenses for an ailment. Health polices from life insurers pay the entire sum assured as soon as an illness is diagnosed. That would mean the latter is better. But here's some fine print.

Limited coverage: A mediclaim policy is an indemnity-based plan that settles claims, either on a cashless basis or by reimbursing bills. Life insurers have similar plans where hospital cash benefit (HCBs) is offered. Additionally, some companies also offer surgery benefits. But the benefits are defined and fixed components come into play.

There are more limits -- on both per day amount and the number of days one can avail that amount. Depending on the insurer, the amount could be between `1,000 and 5,000 per day.

Such restrictions may not always work in favour of the customer. If you were to get paid `25,000 for a surgery, you will get it. If the actual expenses were `40,000, then the extra `15,000 will have to be borne by you.

 If one were to only opt for hospital cash policies, not getting covered for the entire amount is the risk taken.

Exclusions: HCBs permanently exclude pre-existing ailments. But a general insurer will cover pre-existing diseases after four years of continuous cover.

Life insurance policies usually have a longer cooling period of 90 days from the effective date of the policy. So, even those ailments mentioned in their policy documents, will not be covered if diagnosed within this period.

However, both mediclaim and HCBs cover hospitalisation due to accidents within the first 30 days of buying the policy.

Premiums: Typically, premiums are marginally cheaper than a mediclaim. But if one opts for a surgery benefit product, the premium rates rise substantially. For instance, if a person aged 32 buys New India Assurances family floater policy for a sum insured of `2 lakh, he pays `5,725. He would be paying `5,365 for Tata AIGs Wellsurance family-classic, a standard HCB. His premium would rise to `13,794 for an additional surgery benefit of `50,000 from Aegon Health Insurance.

If the same person underwent an angioplasty and hospitalisation that costs `1.75 lakh, his standard HCB would pay him the least. With a fixed payout of `2,000 per day, he would get only `6,000. Had he opted for the surgery benefit, too, he would get `6,000, plus the `50,000 for surgery benefit.

Indemnity-based products that cover the entire hospitalisation expenses are a must, say insurance experts. Benefit-based products like HCBs could be bought as an add-on, as the lump sum amount can help cover additional expenses like loss of income, conveyance and so on, that one incurs during hospitalisation.
 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also, know how to buy mutual funds online:

 

1) DSP BlackRock Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/05/buying-dsp-blackrock-mutual-funds.html

 

2) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-reliance-mutual-funds-online.html

 

3) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-hdfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

4) Sundaram Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-sundaram-mutual-funds-online.html

 

5) Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-birla-sunlife-mutual-funds.html

 

6) UTI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-uti-mutual-funds-online.html

  

7) SBI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-sbi-mutual-funds-online.html

 

8) Edelweiss Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-edelweiss-mutual-funds-online.html

 

9) IDFC Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-idfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

 

 

How to decide when to exit a Mutual Fund?

Posted: 09 Aug 2011 10:55 PM PDT



Investors are often more worried about exiting an equity mutual fund than they are about investing in it. This kind of anxiety is natural.


Most of us are oriented towards action. Once we have invested, the next action is to figure out the right time to redeem our investment. However, the answer to this question is actually very simple. It's the exact opposite of what you did while deciding when to invest and chose a fund to invest in. I'm not being facetious. Let's first look at the 'when' question. When did you invest? Obviously, when you had the money to spare. I mean, that's the first condition for being able to invest, right? The opposite of having money to spare is to need money. That's the right answer, then. You should redeem your investment when you need the money.

The real idea behind the above rule is that you should not try and time the market. If you are an equity fund investor, you should be in it for the long-term and you should be investing steadily. Most of all, you should not be watching the market like a hawk, ready to pounce on the first opportunity to 'book a profit', or some such idea. So the answer to the 'when' is entirely internal to your needs, rather than anything external.


The second part of the exit problem is figuring out if and when a particular fund has gone from being investment worthy to something that should be exited (and the money redeployed in another, presumably better, fund). Again, the answer is the exact opposite to how you chose the fund. When you invested, the first stage was to choose a fund that was of the right type. If you needed a very conservative option, you may have chosen an MIP, or an equity-oriented hybrid fund for a little higher returns or an aggressive multi-cap fund for the highest possible returns regardless of risk, and so on.


The first thing to do is to see if the category of fund still makes sense. Are the reasons why you chose to be aggressive or conservative still valid? If they aren't, then that's again one reason to redeem your investment and shift to a different fund. Again, the reason could be opposite to the one that made you choose the investment you initially made. Further, the reason is internal to your needs, rather than something that's based on what's happening in the markets.


Last, we come to the actual fund. Finally, we have a reason that's external. Over a period of time, a fund that you had chosen carefully may just have degraded enough to warrant getting out of. Here, too, the rule of the opposite holds. You may have, in all probability, chosen a fund after looking at its relative risk-adjusted performance, such as expressed in the Value Research star rating or some such system. A fund should have been better than its peers as well as its benchmark on a sustained basis for you to have chosen it to begin with. Therefore, you should get out and switch to another fund if it no longer qualifies on these counts. Of course, if you've realised that the choice was a poor one, then you should in any case switch right away.


Interestingly, it's implicit in this way of thinking that there's no such thing as 'hold'. Investment analysts often rate things in three levels — buy, sell and hold. At least in funds (and maybe in stocks, too), if something is worth keeping, then it's worth buying. It can't be that an asset is not good enough for fresh investment but is somehow good enough to hold if you already have it. It doesn't seem to make sense.
 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also, know how to buy mutual funds online:

 

1) DSP BlackRock Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/05/buying-dsp-blackrock-mutual-funds.html

 

2) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-reliance-mutual-funds-online.html

 

3) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-hdfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

4) Sundaram Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-sundaram-mutual-funds-online.html

 

5) Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-birla-sunlife-mutual-funds.html

 

6) UTI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-uti-mutual-funds-online.html

  

7) SBI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-sbi-mutual-funds-online.html

 

8) Edelweiss Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-edelweiss-mutual-funds-online.html

 

9) IDFC Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-idfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

 

Mutual Fund Review: HDFC Index Fund - Sensex Plus Plan

Posted: 09 Aug 2011 09:14 PM PDT

Objective
To invest 80 to 90% of the net assets of the Plan in companies whose securities are included in SENSEX and between 10% & 20% of the net assets in companies whose securities are not included in the SENSEX.

Option/Plan
Growth Plan,Dividend Plan. The Dividend Plan offers Dividend Payout and Reinvestment Facility.

Exit Load (as a % of the Applicable NAV)
In respect of each purchase/switch-in of Units upto and including Rs. 5 lakh in value, an Exit Load of 1.00% is payable if Units are redeemed/ switched-out within one year from the date of allotment.
In respect of each purchase / switch-in of Units greater than Rs. 5 lakh in value, no Exit Load is payable.

Minimum Application Amount
For new investors :Rs.5000 and any amount thereafter.
For existing investors : Rs. 1000 and any amount thereafter.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also, know how to buy mutual funds online:

 

1) DSP BlackRock Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/05/buying-dsp-blackrock-mutual-funds.html

 

2) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-reliance-mutual-funds-online.html

 

3) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-hdfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

4) Sundaram Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-sundaram-mutual-funds-online.html

 

5) Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-birla-sunlife-mutual-funds.html

 

6) UTI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-uti-mutual-funds-online.html

  

7) SBI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-sbi-mutual-funds-online.html

 

8) Edelweiss Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-edelweiss-mutual-funds-online.html

 

9) IDFC Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-idfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

 

 

Process of Buying Properties through Auction

Posted: 09 Aug 2011 07:42 PM PDT



High real estate prices, particularly in a city like Mumbai, seem to defy the theory of 'correction'. Prices seldom budge from their lofty highs, feel buyers, especially those with inflexible budgets. The prices may at best soften a bit or a developer may offer some extra facilities in lieu of reduced rates. Therefore, the common perception is that negotiations apart, there is very little home buyers can do to buy a flat in their budget. There is yet another, relatively less explored way of buying properties at discounted rates – through auctions of repossessed assets conducted by banks. Essentially, these are properties taken over by banks after the original borrower defaulted on the repayment. Likewise, you can also keep an eye on properties that corporates may put on the block owing to their changed requirements. In such auctions, you can hope to buy properties at rates that are 15-20% lower than the prevailing market rate. This could depend on several factors like location, neighbourhood, quality of construction, social infrastructure, etc. Some properties, however, could quote a premium, depending on such factors.


If you are scouring for cheaper prices, you could keep a close watch on advertisements in newspapers. Banks and housing finance institutions may issue a public notice about the sale of such properties in regional and English newspapers.


The advertisement will mention how to take part in the auction. The auctioneers may also facilitate a visit to such properties. You may have to shell out an earnest fee – a deposit amount – too. Another advantage of buying auctioned properties would be blemish-free title deeds, since the bank would have ascertained their legitimacy. Nevertheless, you would do well to do your due diligence, particularly in case of properties where corporates have defaulted, as these could come with multiple liens. Also, do not assume that your winning quote covers the total cost of buying the property. Make enquiries from the builder or the housing society's secretary about outstanding dues, if any. Insist on a letter clarifying this aspect from all these parties to avoid claims in future.

 
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)