Let me tell you a secret

I am in the market to buy a car these days, and while the process is really frustrating me because of reasons I don’t want to get into here, I have realized there is a lot to learn from car salesmen.

One of the most interesting things I noticed is how a lot of them let you in on a secret.  The first guy I went to showed me how to read car prices by looking at the serial number assigned to the cars by the dealer. This was not something that he claimed as a trade secret, but simply referred to it as an old dealership trick.

The second guy showed me some sort of a receipt, which was from the auction where he bought the car. This was something he said he didn’t showed anyone, but was showing me just to emphasize what a great deal I was getting. A trade secret of sorts.

Yet another guy shared his personal mobile phone number with me only because I seemed like someone who was serious about buying a car and didn’t look like I’d call him at odd hours.

I’d lie if I say this didn’t work on me. Although I do realize this is an old method of gaining trust and exerting influence – it really does work on me. It especially works wonders when mixed with a show of sincerity and a few small actions that sort of backs their word. Simple things like calling back, and faxing documents quickly.

I think some part of this is also to do with the general frustration that creeps in when you have to go through dozens of cars without liking any of them, or have to wait for up to 15 minutes on the phone to talk to your credit union. When the car salesmen is the only cheerful person in the entire sales process – you do tend to trust him a bit more than is good for you. But, then again, I might be being too skeptical, and the sales-guy might really be telling me a secret.

Anyway, it is a good trick and I feel that it works well most of the time. Would love to hear what you think about it.

On a totally different note – posting has been light and will probably remain that way because I have to deal with a lot of stuff at the same time, and do a lot of running around. Car buying is probably the biggest, but not the only one, hopefully this will get done soon, and I will be freed up in a few days.

Economy and your finances carnival March 28th 2010

Welcome to this poorly formatted edition of my carnival. I apologize for the formatting, but I have spent an insane amount of time trying to get it right, but for some reason couldn’t get it to work. So please bear with me because at least the formatting doesn’t impact the quality of the posts themselves.
Billeater.com presents Use Twitter to Save Money posted at Billeater.
Melissa presents Eating Organic on a Budget | Organic Eating Daily posted at Organic Eating, saying, “How to eat organic foods without breaking the bank”
KPC presents Overview of the Mortgage Refinancing Process – TopTenREVIEWS posted at Mortgage and Refinance Review 2010. Continue reading “Economy and your finances carnival March 28th 2010”

Tanks, guns and jets

I didn’t mean for this to happen, but I somehow ended up reading these stories one after the other and thought I’d make a quick links post with these stories.

1. Israeli tanks in Gaza in worst clash of the year

2. South Korean navy ship sinks

3. Arjun tank outruns Russian T – 90s

4. Nuclear capable Dhanush and Prithvi – 2 to be test fired tomorrow

5. Russian bombers intercepted in British airspace

How to find tax saving mutual funds?

With the tax season around the corner, there is quite a bit of interest in tax saving mutual funds. I wrote about one such fund – SBI Magnum taxgain a few days ago, and I thought I’d create a comprehensive list of tax saving mutual funds. But, on further research I found that there is a really easy way to find such mutual funds, and thought it better to just describe the steps here.

1. Goto Value Research Online, and click on “Funds” on the top.

2. You will be taken to this page, where you can see “Search Tools” on the right hand side. Select “Equity: Tax Planning” from the drop-down as shown below, and click “Go”.

"tax saving mutual funds"
How to find tax saving mutual funds?

3. You will be taken to a page that has the list of all tax saving mutual funds. Really simple and effective way of looking at tax saving funds.

You are welcome!

State Bank of India Interest Rates

Update: October 18 2012

I updated my bank interest rates page yesterday, and realized how many different types of interest rates there are. So, I thought I’d create this page with State Bank of India interest rates that will act as a reference for different types of interest rates as well as a ready reference – if someone is specifically interested in SBI interest rates.

"state bank of india interest rates"
Interest Rates

1. Domestic Term Deposits: The first one in the list is interest rates for domestic term deposits below one crore rupees.

Here is the table that has those rates.

Tenor

Below Rs.15 Lakhs

Rs.15 lakhs to less than Rs. 1 Cr

Existing Rates w.e.f. 07.08.2012

Revised rates  w.e.f. 07.09.2012

Existing Rates w.e.f. 07.08.2012

Revised rates

w.e.f. 07.09.2012

7 days to 90 days

7.00

6.50

8.00

7.50

91 days to 179 days

7.00

6.50

8.00

7.50

180 days

7.00

6.50

8.00

7.50

181 days to 240 days

7.25

6.50

8.00

7.50

241 days to less than 1 year

7.50

6.50

8.00

7.50

1 year to less than 2 years

9.00

8.50

9.00

8.50

2 years to less than 3 years

 

9.00

 

8.50

 

9.00

 

8.50

3 years to less than 5 years

 

9.00

 

8.50

 

9.00

 

8.50

5 years and up to 10 years

8.50

8.50

8.50

8.50

 

2. Domestic Term Deposits for more than one crore rupees: If you have more than a crore to spare for a term deposit – you will get a different interest rate. Here is that table:

Tenor

Rs.15 lakhs and above  to less than Rs. 1 Crore

Existing premiums w.e.f. 07.08.2012

Revised Premiums

w.e.f. 07.09.2012

Effective Rate

w.e.f. 07.09.2012

7 days to 90 days

100 bps

100 bps

7.50

91 days to 179 days

100 bps

100 bps

7.50

180 days

100 bps

100 bps

7.50

181 days to 240 days

75 bps

100 bps

7.50

241 days to less than 1 year

50 bps

100 bps

7.50

1 year to less than 2 years

8.50

2 years to less than 3 years

8.50

3 years to less than 5 years

8.50

5 years and up to 10 years

8.50

3. Resident Indian Senior Citizens: Senior citizens get a slightly interest rate in India, but not if their deposit is more than a crore. Here is a table that shows these rates:

Tenor

Below Rs.15 Lakhs

Rs.15 lakhs to less than Rs. 1 Cr

Existing Rates w.e.f. 07.08.2012

Revised rates  w.e.f. 07.09.2012

Existing Rates w.e.f. 07.08.2012

Revised rates  w.e.f. 07.09.2012

 

7 days to 90 days

7.00

6.50

8.00

7.50

91 days to 179 days

7.00

6.50

8.00

7.50

180 days

7.00

6.50

8.00

7.50

181 days to 240 days

7.25

6.50

8.00

7.50

241 days to less than 1 year

7.50

6.50

8.00

7.50

1 year to less than 2 years

9.50

9.00

9.50

9.00

2 years to less than 3 years

9.50

9.00

9.50

9.00

3 years to less than 5 years

9.50

9.00

9.50

9.00

5 years and up to 10 years

9.00

9.00

9.00

9.00

 

4. SBI staff and pensioners: If you are a SBI employee or pensioner – you will get 1% extra on top of the regular interest rate. If you are a pensioner above 60 years old, then you will get dual benefit – 0.50% extra for senior citizens, and 1% extra for the staff.

5. Savings Bank Interest Rates: Savings account get an interest rate of 3.5%.

Let me know if I missed out anything or if you have any other questions, and also look at the fixed deposit rates in India offered by other banks.

If you are a NRI, then the NRI Interest Rates page will be more meaningful for you, and if you are looking for more information on fixed deposits, then this page lists down more resources on fixed deposits.

Click on the New Here page to see how you can make the best use of this website.

Image by nOr

Systematic Investment Plan

We have talked about systematic investment plans (SIPs) several times, but only with respect to ETFs, and there is no post here that talks about systematic investment plans in general, so I thought I’d do a post about the nuances of a SIP.

A systematic investment plan or SIP (as it is more commonly known) is a way to invest in mutual funds regularly.

The idea is for you to set apart a sum every month or quarter, and use that to buy units of a particular mutual fund, regardless of its price. People like such a system because it helps them save regularly and build up an investment.

Setting up an SIP is really easy, and all you need is an account with a stock broker. I will take an example of ICICI Direct, and show you how easy it is to set up an SIP.

All you need to do is log in to your account and go to the “Mutual Funds” tab and click on SIP.

Continue reading “Systematic Investment Plan”

Difference between investing and gambling

This guest post is brought to you by The Digerati Life, a site that covers financial topics that range from investing, budgeting and saving to debt management and credit cards. Check out the site’s Everbank review as well as its coverage of the best high yield savings accounts, to get a feel for what they offer.

When we invest, we need to be realistic about our investment returns.  We should begin investing by assuming that our gains will be minimal.  When you do find yourself losing money, cut your losses before they become overwhelming.  Don’€™t be a perfectionist about each investment decision you make, but do a reasonable amount of homework so you know what you are getting yourself into.  There may even be times when it’s best not to invest.

One fallacy to consider is whether or not you treat your money like poker chips.  Are poker chips an asset?   They aren’t because they have almost no value outside of a casino.  A stock certificate only has value on the stock market — that is true, but its value is universally recognized.  Everyone in our society recognizes the value of a stock certificate. Anyone would recognize the value of your stock if you offered to sell it to them.  Now try taking your poker chips across the street to another casino, or better yet try selling your poker chips to your neighbor at your next BBQ.  It would’n€™t work because an asset is generally an item which can be bought and sold, whereas poker chips can only be bought and then cashed in, at one particular casino.

Depending upon the size of your bets, you can lose all of your money when gambling.  Investors can also lose all of their money.  However, a stock has three possible directions, up, down, or staying the same.  Has there ever been a time when a bet you made at a casino remained the same value?  When gambling, you either win or lose and the result is immediate.  An investment may go down, and then recover its value and climb beyond its initial value.  Investments are less likely to leave you with a total loss of your money, unlike a slot machine.

You can put coin after coin into a slot machine and lose all of those coins.  On the other hand, the same money saved up in an account at a discount broker that’s placed into a stock investment can yield a large return.  A win on the slot machines is not a payoff from an investment.  You bet a dollar and receive tens of thousands of dollars in return… that is a chance occurrence, and not a return on your investment.  The proportion is wrong.  When investing, proportions make a difference in the size of your return, usually.  In gambling, the payoff is out of all proportion to what you would expect from an investment return.  Consider what happens to a lottery ticket winner who wins millions of dollars by purchasing a ticket that only costs one dollar.  Is that return in proportion to the investment?  I don’t believe so.

All casinos offer games of chance for entertainment purposes.  While there is the possibility of a return on your money when you bet in a casino, your winnings cannot be considered an investment return.  Simply put, you cannot calculate your return on a casino bet, especially in a randomized game.  You don’t know how much you’€™ll make when you gamble.  Neither do you know for sure what you’ll yield from your investments.  The reason no investment is guaranteed is because no stock broker or financial advisor knows what the outcome of any investment you make will be.  But your return can be calculated with a reasonable guess.

Since there are 52 cards in a deck, any astute gambler can figure the odds of certain cards being played during the course of a game.  This poker probability is well known to those who take their gambling seriously.  Many players will take this knowledge into a casino, and win money at blackjack or poker.  Yet, is that kind of foreknowledge comparable to the types of foreknowledge an investor uses to approach the investment spectrum?  I would argue no.  Like gamblers who play their cards poorly, investors are at the whim of human fallacy and greatness, but that is where the similarity ends.  Casinos are run by wizards behind curtains, and in the end, the money you spend is only for fun.  Any returns you receive are by chance, and so cannot be considered investment returns.

Gambling, and not investing, is like an arm wrestling match; once the contest is over; there is a clear winner and loser.  Investment brokers house countless investors who are matched against hundreds of other investors just like them, who are also vying for the best returns they can get for their money.  The contest is only over when the investor sells their stock certificate (property.)  Their wins or losses are due to the investors’ efforts and not chance: how well did they choose their stocks, and did they have the fortitude to stay with that investment until the returns were positive?  The win or loss in investing is not necessarily immediate as in gambling.

Stock market wizardry is generally a mirage, with most investors finding that they are more human than magician.  Your gold rush will come from your own efforts, rather than by chance, and another hard day’€™s work of investing feels pretty satisfying.

Economy and your finances carnival March 20 2010

Welcome to the March 7, 2010 edition of Economy and your finances. This carnival is not as long as the other ones because there weren’t that many entries. The carnival has not been as regular as it was in the past and that may be one reason for that. Anyway, the entries that are present are great, so happy reading!

Debt

BWL presents How Much Can You Afford To Pay For A House? posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, “A look at how much you can (and should) pay for a house…”

Economics

Mike @ Green Panda presents What to Expect From Mortgage Rate Trends for 2010 posted at Gather Little By Little, saying, “Since the major cut in the interest rate back in 2008, we haven’t heard much about the FED cranking up the intraday rate so far. However, with recent GDP stats (5.7% annualised rate for the last quarter), we will surely hear some whispered rumors about the prime interest rate going up.”

SBI Magnum Taxgain scheme

Image by Alan Cleaver

SBI Magnum Taxgain scheme is a mutual fund from SBI that helps you get tax benefit under section 80 C (the one with the one lakh limit), and primarily invests in equity. Before I go any further, let me state that there is a 3 year lock in period in this fund.

Over the years, I have heard a few people ask whether the lock – in applies if they don’t claim the tax benefit, and the answer is: Yes.

The lock in will remain intact regardless of whether you claim the tax benefit or not.

The Magnum Taxgain scheme will primarily be invested in equity, and at the end of February 2010 – it had 91.73% of its assets invested in equity. The fund leans towards large caps with Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, L&T, United Spirits and GAIL being its top 5 holdings as on Feb 28 2010. It’s well worth noting here that the top 10 holdings of the fund make up 31.2% of its assets.

Over a 5 year period the SBI Magnum Taxgain fund has given annualized returns of 26.3% against Nifty returns of 20%. This page from Moneycontrol shows that this is among one of the better funds over a five year period. Its returns beat Nifty over a five year period which is a good thing, and the fact that it gives you tax benefits as well is just icing on the cake.

On a 1 – 5 scale – it has got a 4 rating from Value Research, and “Fund Return Grade” of “Average”.  The minimum investment in this fund is Rs.500, and you can also set up SIPs in this plan.

In the past I have written about keeping the tax angle in mind while investing, and if you were thinking about some tax planning, then this is certainly one of the options you could check out.