Kids Academy Apps: For your young ones

While we talk about investments, kids can't be ignored as well. Kids are one of the biggest investments. It takes a lot to raise a child into a good, responsible human being. There have never been so many options to teach your kids. With the advent of smartphones and tablets the options have been ever increasing. There are innovators in this field that have been coming with new apps almost daily. I recently came across Kids Academy,...

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5 Things to know before taking a Home Loan

Buying a house is an important step in one's life. Remember the song "Ek Bangla Bane Nyara" by KL Sehgal? I took the plunge some time back and like most of the normal people, I took a home loan to help me in this. Today, I'll share the few things that I checked while taking the home loan -  1. What is your eligibility? Home loan amount depends on your income, outstanding loans, credit card dues, previous payment records. Banks...

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How To Deliver a Killer Presentation That Will Earn You That Grade You Want

Do you want to impress the professor and make sure you get an excellent grade? Do you want to leave an impression on your new boss? You could spend hours in the library or on the net researching your topic and making sure you will have a firm grip on every fact and opinion, issues and opinions or you could just get yourself a wishy washy understanding while focusing on what really matters: the presentation. Once you learn a little and...

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Can I Outperform the Share Markets Ever?

I have been investing in the share markets for about 4 years now. When I started, the great fall of 2008 happened. I didn't have an idea on how to react. So, I did what most of us did - Stopped investing. Partially because I was afraid and partially because I didn't have money as all that I had in spare was already committed when Sensex was at 21000!  As per this article - Why investors always underperform the market, Sensex has...

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Few facts about LTA

Some nice to know things about the LTA component of one's salary - If you do not wish to claim LTA in one particular year you can have your employer carry forward your LTA for the next year. You don't need to submit a proof/bills for the travel undertaken to the employer now. This has been termed in a judgement by Supreme Court in 2009. check this out. But this doesn't mean that you need not keep the bills. The taxation department might still want them from you directly. The current block of LTA is 2010-13. You can claim tax...

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Can Holiday Package be claimed as LTA?

Found this article on the above topic. Thought to spread the word. Do check out - [one mint]. The answer is - Yes, it can be as far as it is a domestic travel, another thing to be noticed is that LTA is for spouse, dependent children, dependent brothers or sisters only, so if you have taken a holiday with your extended family or children who are no longer dependent on you, then you can’t claim LTA exemption on that part of the expense. Since LTA can be claimed only for travel – if your holiday package included hotel and sightseeing...

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Infrastructure Bonds - A sneak peek

The Budget for the fiscal 2010-11 introduced infrastructure bonds to facilitate financing of long gestation infrastructure projects. The government has notified an investment of up to Rs 20,000 in these bonds to be exempt from income tax over and above the Rs 1 lakh tax exemption under section 80C of the Income Tax Act.  This should result in an additional tax saving of Rs 2,000 to Rs 6,000, depending on the tax slab applicable...

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Buying ULIPS will Cost Less Now

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has announced new set of guidelines for ULIPs. They will now cost lesser but have a longer lock-in period. IRDA, on Monday, said that insurers will now be allowed to charge up to 4% on annual premium paid on Ulips for the first five years, and thereafter charges will be reduced during the tenure of the policy. For plans of 15 years and above, the charges will be restricted at 2.25%...

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ICICI Prudential Pinnacle Guaranteed NAV- Review

Guaranteed return products are undoubtedly very popular among us Indians. We use at least one of these products, say, bank fixed deposits, NSC, KVP, PPF, REC Bonds, etc., to pick up a decent fixed return.  The latest offering is by ICICI Prudential which has introduced ICICI Pru Pinnacle, a guaranteed return unit-linked insurance plan (ULIP). But the question remains as whether this plan will succeed in attracting investors...

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MoneyControl.com in discussion with Subhash Lakhotia on Budget 2010

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Subhash Lakhotia, Tax Guru; Sanjay Sinha, CEO of L&T Mutual Fund and Kamesh Goyal, Country Head of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance evaluate the Union Budget and its impact on your wallet. Below is the edited transcript of Subhash Lakhotia, Kamesh Goyal and Sanjay Sinha’s exclusive interview on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the video. Q: Upto Rs 50,000 seems to be the benefit—more so for people who are earning...

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