Saturday 19 December 2015

4 Money Tips That Will Save You Loads This Festive Season

It was a sunny Sunday morning and I called Rohan, my good childhood friend and also a financial planning client, for a game of tennis. During the game, Rohan was looking somewhat pensive. Having known him for all these years, I knew something was wrong.

He confided in me that his cash flow situation was not good. His expenses had shot the roof, in the last few months. With festive season round the corner, he was concerned about his promise, to buy some expensive items, to his family. He reached out to me, to bail him out of this situation, with my advice.

The good news is that Rohan is not alone. With the advent of a booming credit economy and online websites offering zillions of deals and discounts, it is becoming difficult for families to resist the temptation to splurge more than they can. This, of course, proves to be costly in the long run! Here are four tips on how to spend wisely and save smartly, during this festive season.

1. Set the right expectations within the family

Family is typically the centre of our life. We love, we care. But we also tend to sometimes go berserk while expressing our love, by indulging them in expensive gifts. Let's be more financially disciplined and understand that while we do love our family, purchasing expensive gifts is not the only way of expressing one's love. Ensuring proper fiscal prudence and things like taking the right insurance, making proper investments etc. play a much bigger role in deciding a family's well being.

Stop spending recklessly and set the right expectations within the family. Make it a practise, to sit together before the festive season and mutually discuss the financial situation. Then arrive at a consensus on the allocation towards festival bonus. A collective decision plays a big role in enhancing ties between family members. Also, often it is here that the compatibility between the spouses comes to test.

2. Set a budget and stick to it

The best way to take control of festival spending and saving is to decide on a budget, an upper limit. Ideally, a festive spending should not let the couple stop any systematic investment they've been making for their financial goals and the spending should be out of the bonus received from the employer. So, if a person receives for example, Rs. 1 lakh Diwali bonus from the employer, then rather than deciding how to allocate after it hits the bank account, the couple should pro-actively discuss and plan it well before. So, a good strategy can be to use Rs. 50,000 to pre-pay the EMI, Rs. 25,000 to beef up the emergency fund and the remaining Rs. 25,000 towards festival purchases. Now fixing the upper limit at Rs. 25,000 in this case automatically fixes the family's expectations and is a more systematic way of capital allocation.

3. Go for things you ‘need' rather than things you ‘want'

As Warren Buffet, the legendary value investor, has so wonderfully said: "If you spend on things you do not need today, you'll have to sell the things you need later". Remember this golden rule when you make your vital spending decisions. So, instead of buying a high-end car with a loan, if you purchase a mid-segment car with full cash down, then simple maths will tell you the savings in interest cost and even fund another small car! So, why waste money. The important question for a couple to ask themselves is, ‘Do we really need this?' Clarity on this front is half the battle won!

4. Do not succumb to clever marketing tactics of sellers

The universal problem of shoppers is that they often go shopping to buy with something in mind and then walk out of the mall having shopped everything, but what they had intended to.

This is due to lack of self-awareness. As Robert B. Cialdini shares so well in his book"Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion", marketers employ all kinds of tactics to get your ‘yes', even without your knowledge. From the discounts to the offers to the easy EMI schemes to even the overall ambience when you enter the mall, everything is carefully designed. They are just waiting for the bait!

This is where you have to set your financial goals and spending limits very carefully in your mind. Else, be ready for a long journey of loans and interests to pay.

Shop only for items which are within your budget, pay via cash/debit card (preferably, do not carry your credit card, at all). Say no to loans and offers, and browse around before finalizing your purchase. Don't fall into the trap of zero per cent interest schemes; ask for the fine print of a deal/offer and check the processing fees in case of loan transactions.

Also, do not forget to ‘ask' for a better deal. More often than not, you'll get it.

The festive season brings with it a lot of joy, celebration and good cheer. It is in these times that a person may lose his or her focus on financial planning. Do not make costly financial mistakes. Spend, but within limits, with the right awareness and after taking a holistic view of your finances.

As far as my interaction with Rohan was concerned, our tennis game ended up in a personal finance class. It left him feeling confident about his festive financial planning, without compromising the financial well-being of his family.




Friday 6 November 2015

Let,s Celebrate  this Diwali with Peace Prosperity & Happiness by just  following  this 7 simple steps towards Complete Financial Well-Being



One the Eve of Diwali, I just want to wish all my avid reader a very happy &  prosperous Diwali, Diwali is the biggest, brightest and the most celebrated festival in our country like India. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, hope over despair. It is well-known that Goddess Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth and prosperity, Goddess Saraswati is the Goddess of knowledge and wisdom while Lord Ganesha is considered the God of intelligence. Gaining wealth without knowledge and intellect will only result in misusing the wealth. So, this Diwali we must all make an effort to acquire knowledge and intelligence to manage and spend wealth for prosperity to last and flourish. That’s precisely the reason why people worship these three deities together to welcome wealth along with knowledge, wisdom and intelligence. It is so unfortunate that though we spend half of our lives working long hours to make our ends meet to  earn money & live our livelihood, Still yet we are barely able to take out time to manage our personal finances. The need of the hour is to not only earn wisely, but also allocate our time in managing & understanding our relationship with  money and come out clear change in our mindset. To make it more simple to understand just this simple steps to follow it.

1. Educate & Enhance  your Financial knowledge:  Today everyone  of us suffer from financial illness  like low returns, loan trap, under insurance, insufficient retirement funds and improper asset allocation. The major cause of these problems is that though we had studied & understand  various subjects like mathematics and science at school, but we have not been taught about personal finance which is important  in our daily life. Having the right education  of PERSONAL FINANCE is imperative and is the first step towards your financial well - being & Financial Freedom too. 

2. Have a Goal for every Investment Objective: Planning is important at every stage of life, and is absolutely important  when it comes to matters of money. You must set your financial goals for every stage of life and plan their achievement levels. Financial Goals can be of three types: Short, medium and Long-term. A short-term Goal could be anything like say purchasing a car, a medium-term goal may include planning your child's education or child marriage  and a long-term Goal could be your retirement planning. Whatever be the financial requirement, it can be fulfilled by determining its urgency and thereby making a saving plan for each goal.

3. Budgeting: To gain control over your finances, you need to know how much you are earning and where you are spending. Budgeting will help you to identify high or low  expense area and help you to understand  how you can curtail unnecessary expenses. This knowledge can be very helpful in saving money and building wealth in the long run. 

4. Loan Management: We should review our existing loans and ensure that we only have good debt aka loans that will help us in increasing our net worth in the long run like education loan. In case we have bad debt we should plan for repaying the same immediately  like  your personal loan or car loan. A proper debt management  will also help us find out ways to reduce our interest burdens too. 

5. Invest as per your Risk Appetite: We should understand that risk and return are the two sides of the same coin and an investment with a higher return indeed bears a higher risk. Therefore, we should plan our investments as per our risk appetite and investment horizon. We should also ensure that the post tax returns on our investments are able to beat inflation and additionally, offer sufficient liquidity.

6. Tax Planning align to your Financial Planning: For most of us, tax planning is an end-of-the year activity just before march month ending, Last minute exercise. Tax planning should actually be done keeping in mind our needs, It should link to our different life goals and risk appetite in conjunction with the overall financial planning. You should take help of an expert who can help you plan your taxes in a way.It save in maximum for your financial goals.


7. Take the help of Professional: In Personal finance matter we only become our expert or follow our uncle/neighbour friend  rather than  seeking  expert professional advice in this regard,  Infact  in every field, such as consulting a doctor for our health, an architect for constructing our home, a chartered accountant for managing our taxes, or a lawyer for handling our legal matters, sadly when it comes to taking advice on one of the most important matters of Life ‘Finance’, or Personal Finance  we listen to anyone and everyone. Our beloved friend who is also an insurance agent becomes our insurance advisor, our chartered accountant becomes our wealth manager, our  office colleague  who just made money from a ‘hot stock tip’ become our share market advisor. And we absolutely forget the need of the most important and relevant of all a qualified financial planner for our financial planning  need.

Irony  in India, the financial service providers often focus on providing commission or brokerage based recommendations. They are not bothered about providing right information  to their clients to help them manage their money for financial well being. Hence, we need qualified  financial experts who can give solutions considering one’s over all need & requirement , attitude, life style, risk tolerance and financial situation. Transparency and integrity  & qualification are the main aspects you must consider while selecting a financial planner for yourself  for your Personal Finance.


Conclusion :-  So  just  follow  this steps  for  your complete Financial Well-Being & again  Wishing  You a happy and prosperous Diwali that will last a lifetime.

Friday 30 October 2015

HOW SIP WORK ?


Every now & then we heard about SIP Investment in Mutual Fund,But millinoare dollar question how to go about it, so answer lies here:-
A thumb rule of investment is that one must not take too much risk & still get inflation beating return. One way of ensuring this is Systematic investment plans (SIPs), in which a person can invest in a disciplined manner at regular intervals without being too adventurous.
Everyone has financial Goals such as buying a House or Car, Children's Marriage and Education and building a Retirement Corpus. You can allocate different amounts towards these based on the time you have for meeting these Goals. If you want to invest for your retirement, go for an equity fund. Invest in equities for any Goal which is five years plus  to seven years away. For example your child's education, go for a Equity Large-Cap Fund or an Multicap Fund. If the goal is immediate, such as buying a car or house, you can choose a less Risky & Volatile option such as a Hybrid Fund.
"In volatile markets, it is always good to go on a SIP mode as it helps one get the benefit of cost averaging over time. As markets keep rising and falling all the time, the cost of buying units is averaged out over time as the investor gets more units when markets are down.

BENEFITS OF SIP :-
Ensures Disciplined Investing:- There will always be times when the urge to splurge is high. This makes it difficult to contribute towards creation of a large corpus over a long period. SIPs enable you to do this by the discipline they impose. Since the amount gets invested automatically at fixed intervals, the chances of you continuing the investment for a long period are higher.
First decide the allocation, that is, how much money will go into what type of funds. Focus on three types:- Large Cap/Small Cap/MidCap Funds and Debt funds. "A typical allocation should be 50% in Large Cap Funds, 20-30 % in Small Midcap Funds and the rest in Multicap funds," he says.
Second decide the number of schemes in your portfolio. Given that we have three prime Asset classes, the portfolio should have at least three schemes," he says. An ideal number is five to four Equity and one Debt. Thereafter, one should choose the schemes based on the advice of the financial planner or after research that takes into account risk-adjusted returns over a period.

Riding Through Volatility:- If you are among those who are nervous about investing in equity funds because of market ups and downs, SIP will work best for you. It not only minimises the risk of losses due to fall in equity markets but also saves you the hassle of timing the markets, i.e. investing when they are trading lower and exiting when they are rising.
In the last five years, the broader market, the BSE Sensex, has moved from 18,000 levels to 26,000, albeit with huge volatility. Now, let us assume you invested Rs 10,000 every month into an Index Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) between September 2010 and September 2015. Your investment of Rs. 6 lakh would have grown to Rs. 8.04 lakh today with 11 %  Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). The Lump Sum Investment would have grown at 8% CAGR. The higher SIP return is due to the fact that you bought at various levels, both when the market was rising as well as when it was falling, averaging your cost. The average SIP return of large-cap diversified equity funds during the period was 14 %. Diversified Equity Funds are actively managed and hence are able to deliver superior returns.
"We recommend SIP to retail investors whose time frame is not less than 7 to 10 years to avoid ill-timing the market. This is because there have been instances of negative point-to-point returns over Seven to Eight years .

Power of Compounding:- A SIP allows you to gain from the power of compounding if you are investing for goals that are some years away. An amount of Rs. 10,000 invested every month for 10 years will grow to Rs. 23 lakh at a modest CAGR of 12 %. Everyone has financial goals such as buying a house or car, children's marriage and education and building a retirement corpus. You can allocate different amounts towards these based on the time you have for meeting these goals. If you want to invest for your retirement, go for an equity fund. Invest in equities for any goal which is five to seven years away, says Gaurav Mashruwala, Certified Financial Planner. For your Child's Education, go for a Large-Cap Fund or an Index fund. If the goal is immediate, such as buying a car or house, you can choose a less risky option such as a Hybrid Fund.

Value Averaging Plan:- Under VIP, the investor sets a target for monthly growth and adjusts the invested amount according to the performance of his fund. Take a person who invests Rs. 5,000 in a fund and sets a 12 % growth target every year. Therefore, he expects his fund to return one per cent every month. This means his investment should become Rs. 5,050 by the end of the one-month period. However,  if his investment grows only to Rs. 5,025 . Next month he will increase the amount to Rs5,025. If it grows by Rs. 100 to Rs. 5,100,  he will invest only Rs. 4,900 instead of Rs. 5,000.  This means the person deploys more money when markets are down and less when they are up. Hence, he buys more units on dips. "However, the downside is that your savings rate remains volatile.

DOES SIP ALWAYS WORK?
SIPs underperform in a consistently rising market as its main advantage of cost averaging is not realised in such a case. You end up investing at higher prices and keep getting fewer units. Take the period from 2004 to 2008, when the Nifty moved up from 2,000 to 6,000 levels. During this period, had you invested Rs. 5,000 a month from January 2004 until December 2007 (before the financial meltdown), your investment would have been worth Rs. 5.75 lakh until then.
In comparison, if you had invested Rs. 2.4 lakh (Rs5,000x48 months) as a Lump Sum in January 2004, your money would have grown to Rs. 7.8 lakh. Subsequent events, however, would have negated all the gains. In 2008, the Nifty fell from 6,000-odd levels to 2,500. Anyone who invested a lump sum would have had all his gains wiped out in a single year..
"Anytime is a good time to start a SIP provided its link to your Financial Goals”.


Sunday 4 October 2015

FINANCIAL WELL-BEING CAMPS


Financial Wellbeing is the state of being wherein a person is making the most efficient use of financial resources, is in a position to absorb any financial shocks, is on track for meeting current & future financial goals, and has a feeling of peace & satisfaction about financial life. Financial Wellbeing can be achieved by any individual / family irrespective of their income level or wealth level.

Financial Wellbeing Camps are a 2-3 Hour educational & interactive programs by personal finance experts & independent trainers organized in companies, housing societies, clubs, associations & colleges to educate the participants on achieving financial wellbeing and help them get started with basic tasks to manage their personal finances better, guide them towards creating wealth and fulfill life’s financial goals & dreams.

We, Value Wealth Advisory Services have conducted many such Financial –Wellbeing Seminars in Reputed Companies & Institutes covering Professionals and housewives, Teachers and many more.


We have Conducted Financial Well-being camps at the following companies & institutes:-
·       Bisleri International Pvt Ltd
·       MD India Health Care Pvt Ltd
·       Gokhale Institute
·       Sophia College
·       2 Open House
·       My Dentist
·       Power Grid Corporation Of India


Look What our Clients are Saying













My experience with Value Wealth Advisory Services was awesome.   If you need an investment advisor or financial planner who is ethical, detailed, basic, and Professional, Value Wealth Advisory Services is the place to go. Their Process is thorough and they do not settle for average. For, Value Wealth Advisory Services, My Goals were top priority and they continue to help me every step of the way. Cheers to Vinay and his team.
– Jairaj Awasthi, Mumbai

Value Wealth Advisory Services is a very professional firm. Their financial plan is very comprehensive and the level of detailing they go into is Truly Commendable. Their cash flow management calculations and the consequent recommendations take into account all the requirements of a family and offer complete clarity as to the way forward. Vinay and his team have excellent knowledge and approach the planning exercise in a professional manner. The exercise itself takes time and we had to discuss many times before the final plan was out. The effort we put in was well worth it. I highly recommend Value Wealth Advisory Services to anyone who really wants a financial blueprint in life.
– Mahesh Agarwal, Kanpur

Value Wealth Advisory Services has really helped me access my financial credibility. A Little Skeptical at First I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process from filling a exhausting data gathering sheet to managing my monthly cash flows and understanding the various aspects of financial planning.Vinay makes financial planning really innovative and Involves the client in each and every step of the planning. I must say that I found a friend in my financial planner. I Will Happily Recommend Value Wealth Advisory Services to skeptics like me, because it truly changes your life.
– Jigar Shah, Bhavnagar

Having Value Wealth Advisory Services as our financial planner has helped us a lot. Mainly, it has made us realize the importance of having a goal-based approach to planning our finances. It has instilled some discipline in us, when it comes to prioritizing our goals and ensuring that the necessary amounts are put away in order to meet those goals. All this has ensured that our money works harder for us.
– Chaitanya Balakrishnan, Tamil Nadu

ESTATE PLANNING














There are 2 reasons why we work hard & earn money. Firstly, money is a means to an end. We need money for our everyday survival and goal fulfillment & secondly, we want wealth for ourselves & our loved ones. We want to leave behind our legacy, our wealth, our estate. So, we earn money, intake it, invest the remaining, with the aim that the hence accumulated wealth will become a legacy that you leave behind for your parents, spouse and kids & grand kids.

But have you ever thought what if the Wealth created by you does not go to the assigned person? Yes, the laws of succession in India are complex. If you die, without a will i.e. Intestate, your property & estate will not be automatically given to your spouse & kids, if not specified it will be divided according to the Indian succession & Hindu act. So, all this wealth, taken years to build might go in the wrong hands.

Estate Planning or Succession Planning simply means planning for your estate so that the designated asset goes to the designated person. Estate Planning is often understood by people as “creating a Will”. Estate Planning is much more than creating a will.

Writing a will is easy. You can write it yourself on any A4 Size paper or even orally stated will is a valid will. But it is recommended that to avoid family conflicts, it is necessary to get a will written & notarized.


BENEFITS OF ESTATE PLANNING





























Value Wealth Advisory Service’s Financial Planning emphasizes on proper “Estate Planning” & guides you by hand in the entire Estate Planning Process. 

WEALTH MANAGEMENT















Rome wasn’t built in a day & neither will your wealth. There is no magic formula for doubling your wealth in 2 days or 2 weeks or even 2 months. It is rightly said, that creating wealth should be like watching grass grow, if one wants excitement, one should go to Las Vegas. So, when someone tells you invest in this, you will get double or triple in 2 months, its non-sense and most certainly bogus.

Wealth needs work, patience & dedication. There are no shortcuts & no magic beans. Wealth management is integrated processes for helping clients manage their wealth. It involves huge a wide range of services and the services depend upon each investor & include Investment Management, financial planning, retirement, Estate planning, tax planning, debt management and cash flow.

Value Wealth Advisory Services provides all-round-360-degree Wealth Management. Grow your Wealth with Value "Wealth" Advisory Services!! 


RETIREMENT PLANNING
















RETIREMENT PLANNING

In a recent article published by a leading daily, it read “India is one of the Worst Places to Retire”. This is indeed true, India has no Social Security measures, no Health Care for the elderly, one in 3 elders are orphaned and there is no Loan given for Retirement.

“The goal of retirement planning is to create a plan. It feels silly to come out and say that, but from what I’ve seen, most investors never actually take the step of creating a concrete plan. Instead, they read a few articles about various retirement planning topics and they leave it at that. (And many investors don’t even do that much.) The more specifically you’ve planned how you’ll manage your portfolio — and your finances in general — the less likely it is that you’ll have to go back to work or dramatically reduce your spending later on in retirement.”

Think it over, your Child can take an “Education Loan”, you can take a “personal Loan” for daughter’s marriage but there is absolutely No Loan being given for Retirement. So, basically after retirement you are left to your own. No parent wants to be a burden on their kids and we all want to lead a Luxurious life after Retirement. 

Many perceive retirement as a “Low” priority goal but this should be your top goal. As and when you start earning, you keep aside 5% of your monthly income for retirement. Trust us, your EPF & VPF will not cover your Retirement. With Life expectancy & Medical costs rising day-by-day, planning for Independent-Retirement was never more.

Retirement should be Fun & world tours should be taken and monetary-independence must be enjoyed. But we don’t expect you to plan out your own retirement, No, Everyone needs help & it’s okay to not-know.


If you are confused about your retirement and are finding it difficult to think in advance then consult Value Wealth Advisory Services today. Under the assistance of our finest personals, we promise in solving all of your retirement related worries instantly. 

NRI Planning


India is “THE” growing economy in the world today & everyone wants to place its bet on India. With a strong Government at helm, India’s chances of becoming the biggest Economy in Asia is not too distant a dream. India is currently at the epicenter of Financial Economy with everyone running to Invest in Indian Markets. These are Interesting times for India and you too can become a part of its Success story.

Value Wealth Advisory Services has been catering to NRI Crowd for the past decade and has provided unbiased-financial advise across the globe from Singapore to United Kingdom to Dubai. Value Wealth Advisory services has created a niche for NRI Investing. 

There are certainly attractive avenues in India, where NRIs obtain the freedom of investing into diversified asset allocation and significantly build up their investment portfolio. NRI’s can now invest in various assets & instruments like: 


Take Advantage of Value Wealth Advisory Service’s round-globe investment Advisory Knowledge & experience. Be a part of India’s Success Story. Plan with Value Wealth Advisory Services today. 

Insurance Planning


We all have numerous Traditional Insurances and Insurances where we pay Rs. 50 – 60 Thousand annually for a cover of Rs. 10 Lakhs. It takes no genius to tell you that this is a bad deal. Insurance is not a kind of Savings option. It is not for your child’s higher education, marriage etc. Insurance is a pure – life-cover! Don’t think you will get 10-12% returns, but understand that you will get the peace of mind that your family’s wellbeing is protected even after you. So, in totality you only need 5 types of cover.
















This is all the coverage you need, don’t fall a victim of the traditional-policy-returns. The returns are fake. It’s not true. Get a term Insurance for yourself & earning spouse – health insurance for family & parents – Disability & critical illness cover for deadly diseases & Property Insurance for your assets.

Value Wealth Advisory Services assists you in selecting the best Insurance Cover that matches your Needs not someone’s Commissions. Ensure your Family’s well-being even after you with Value Wealth Advisory Services.



TAX PLANNING





Only two things are certain in Life, Death & Taxes – Benjamin Franklin

We all wait till the last week of return filing & rush to our CA’s for advice. CA’s are knowledgeable in accounts, they cannot guide you on how to make proper Investments year-around to get the Tax Benefit. This is something a Financial Planner plans with you.
                           
You should sit in front of our Financial Planner on 1st April of the Financial Year and discuss how your Investments will help you in saving taxes. There are hoards of products that can help you save tax apart from EPF & PPF.

We bet you didn’t take tax benefits of all these Investments. This is the difference between a CA & a Financial Planner. A CA will only tell you how much tax to pay, a Planner will tell you how to “legally” save taxes.

Taxes are tough but we make them simple for you. Our Team of Tax Advisory makes it a priority to ensure that your Tax Planning is done swiftly, efficiently, on time & help to save taxes.