All posts by ANAND BHIDE

Retiring early is a dream garnered by most individuals, but not everyone is able to realize this dream. It is not a difficult goal to achieve as long as you are focused and smart with the decisions you take.

Myth: Most of us consider retirement as a stage in life where an individual decides to hang his boots and call it a day as far his career is concerned.

However many financial experts rightly consider retirement as a stage in life wherein regular income for a bread earner may be hampered due to death, disability or disease.

It therefore prudent to not only ensure that an individual is able to manage funds in a manner that future expenses can be covered, but also protect the future expenses/ financial milestones through a comprehensive protection solution mitigating the risk of death, disability or disease which my hamper future income and lifestyle.

Many financial experts would ask one simple question that revolves around retirement: “When do you tend to spend more – On a Weekday or a Weekend?”

The answer 9 out of 10 times is : Weekend !

I am sure everyone would agree that post retirement every day is a weekend!

The bigger picture here is that we tend to spend more when we have time to for ourselves, therefore it is imperative that while considering our future expenses we consider these behavioral aspects as well.

The most challenging, and also most exciting, aspect about seeking an early retirement is that there is less time to accumulate wealth and more time to enjoy it. So it is essential to plan your moves carefully and manage your finances smartly in order to reap benefits in the golden years of life. A few errors in judgment could very easily disrupt all your plans of an early retirement. To ensure that does not happen and your dreams become a reality, here are some moves you should judiciously avoid –

1. Not creating a financial plan

Unless you have a proper formula to achieve your financial goals, you probably will not be successful. Though it is not a difficult path to pursue, you cannot set off on the journey randomly and expect results. Time taken to formulate a written plan which chalks out the roadmap is an investment in your future. This will help you manage money more efficiently, minimise the effort you might waste and provide the focus and direction required to meet your goals.

2. Big loans

An increased income brings with it the urge to spend more and live a more exorbitant life. However, indulging in these luxuries at an early stage in your work life would usually mean that you take a loan and pay instalments for a large part of your remaining work life and save next to nothing for retirement. Taking various loans to purchase a house, big cars, gadgets and other luxuries serves as a big hurdle on the road to early retirement and must be avoided.

3. Not taking insurance

Smart planning is not all about investing money in the right places and saving a certain amount of money from your income. It is also necessary to protect the money you have worked so hard to accumulate. One accident or hospitalization has the potential to dent your retirement kitty substantially. You may ignore insurance as being an unnecessary expenditure, but paying a small premium an individual mitigates the risk of death,disability or disease which may have a catastrophic effect on the planning designed towards various financial objectives including having a prudent retired life.

4. Starting investments late

Early retirement is all about making the most of your time. The more time you give your money to grow, the greater is the wealth that your money can generate. The compounding effect of wealth creation is such that a few years of procrastination could make a massive difference to your retirement funds. People tend to feel the need to save for retirement at a late stage in their work life, which is an attitude you cannot have if you plan to retire early. Ideally, you should start investing your money from the very first paycheque you receive.

5. Being reckless with retirement goals

Using the money you have saved for your retirement to fulfil other desires will not allow you to retire with financial security. Having funds at your disposal through your retired life is a need that cannot be ignored. Compared to this need, certain wants/desires could be postponed till the essentials are fulfilled. You must not drift from your direction and be reckless about the goals you set out to achieve.

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Trends

Multi-currency Card For International Students

December 15, 2017 ANAND BHIDE Leave a comment

IndusInd Bank’s multi-currency card travelling abroad hassle free for its customers. Whether you are going for a trip abroad, or to attend a business meeting or even to start a new course at a foreign location – the multi-currency card serves multiple purposes to provide a seamless experience to its customers.
One of the most important and basic requirements of studying abroad is foreign currency. IndusInd Banks helps students save money in terms of fluctuating currency exchange rates by providing them with a multi-currency card to meet their special needs. Salient features of this card are:

One of the safest forms of carrying foreign currency
8 of the most widely used currencies can be loaded onto the card
Embedded encryption enables better security against fraud and counterfeit.
Available all the time unlike travellers’ cheque or foreign cash.
With this card, students can avoid paying the processing fees, thus, saving some amount on their person
With this card, students aren’t susceptible to varying exchange rates as the amount loaded on to the card is done at a fixed rate
The card can be loaded multiple times.

Studying Abroad with Multi-Currency Card

A lot of Indian students prefer to study abroad to get quality education. Not just for studies, but a lot of students prefer to complete their internships abroad as well. For 3-6 months of internship in the US, Australia, Singapore, etc. carrying a multi-currency card is definitely the best option to carry foreign currency. This would also need that you wouldn’t need to open a bank account to meet your local expenses in a foreign location.
Foreign countries spend a lot of amount on International education scholarship and internship offers to attract the brightest of minds to their country.
Needless to say, Indian students find Australian education, US education among others, comforting and promising due to the multicultural & safe environment, similarities (cricket, weather), and the assistance offered to international students.

Handy financial tools for international students

Studying abroad in a developed country is a fairly expensive. Education loan and personal funds take care of course fees, rent and other academic requirements. However, a reasonable amount of travel money is also required while studying and living abroad. Managing finances while travelling abroad and decoding the complex maze of currency fluctuations & exchange rates could prove to be a tough task for teenagers.
Travelling with cash or standard debit/credit cards can be a risky and expensive decision. While losing cash is one of the most common nightmares, the long list of charges levied on regular cards is equally terrifying. For instance, the cash withdrawal charges, currency exchange fee, interest on ATM withdrawal, overseas purchases fee and other charges has the ability to burn a huge hole in a modest student budget. In addition, the acceptable currency changes with country to country, so does the exchange rates.
Therefore, parents should look into reliable options to ensure that their children get to enjoy hassle-free travel experience in a foreign country. Multi-currency card is one such trustworthy option that would enable young travellers to spend cash in a convenient, safe and secured manner.

Multi-currency card for global student travellers

The Indus Multi Currency Card provides the benefit of carrying 8 currencies in one card, minus the anxiety of losing or misplacing cash. It’s a simple, small and smart card loaded with features. Card-holders can load Australian Dollar, Arab Emirate Dirham, Canadian Dollar, Euro, Great Britain Pound, Singapore Dollar, Saudi Riyal and US Dollar, which offers protection against ever-changing exchange rates. This makes it a convenient and practical travel companion for young travellers who plan to explore the world on a student budget.
Are you concerned about the card’s safety and security standards? Please don’t be, because the embedded chip coupled with instant alerts, secure checkout gateway, online tracking system and immediate hot-listing in case the card is lost or stolen would keep your money safe.
The card can be utilized to make up to 12 transactions per day and the usage is limited to Rs. 5, 00,000. From booking hotels to paying restaurants bills, from purchasing flight tickets to shopping at stores, you can swipe the travel card without attracting any extra charge. You could also make use of the secondary card as a ‘replacement’, if you misplace or lose the primary issued travel card. At the end of your trip, the balance amount can be easily encashed at your convenience.

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Trends

Shop on International E-Commerce Sites without Currency Conversion Charges

December 15, 2017 ANAND BHIDE Leave a comment

There was a time when one had to request their relatives and friends living abroad to bring international brands on their next visit to India. Suitcases were packed to the brim with foreign snacks, fashion accessories, toys, gadgets and other goodies. The retail market of every country was limited to its geographical borders and regular buyers had to visit the country to buy goods from across the world.
With the growth of Internet and ecommerce, the borders are gradually diminishing. In the last decade, there has been a drastic change in the way Indians shop, thanks to the online shopping sites. We can’t deny the fact that the domestic ecommerce market in India is booming. On the other hand, facts presented by various surveys and research reports reflect that cross-border ecommerce is today’s reality.

Advent of Cross-border Shopping

A Nielsen Global Survey report published in 2016 revealed an interesting fact. As per the report, nearly 74% of the Indian survey participants had bought things from global ecommerce sites. A similar trend was witnessed in Italy and Germany, though in varying degrees. Sensing a huge potential in India’s ecommerce adoption, many global retail outlets have developed India-focused strategy and started shipping to the country.
The spending capacity of India’s middle-class citizens has consistently gone up. In addition, the number of aspirational buyers residing in tier 2 & 3 cities, remote towns and villages is also growing at a jet speed. It is a common belief that only city dwellers are aware of international fashion brands and new technology. But in the age of Google, Twitter, Instagram, Netflix and YouTube, a person’s geographical location or region has little or no effect on personal taste and aspirations.
As per industry experts, mobile innovations and better payment solutions are fuelling this trend. It is closely followed by logistics and technology. Consumers are turning to mobile devices to shop and retailers are leaving no stone unturned to come up with an effective mobile strategy to cash in on this trend.
Financial institutes too have significantly contributed to the popularity of cross-border ecommerce in India. Lack of convenient, reasonable and secure payment tools hindered the growth of global retail. However, banks have diligently worked towards making international shopping as inclusive as possible for Indian customers.

Hassle-free Shopping with Multi Currency Card

The Indus Multi Currency Card has helped to create a more inclusive shopping experience for Indian buyers as far as buying from the international ecommerce sites is concerned.
The primary purpose of this multicurrency card is to assist Indian travellers in their journey across the world. It is a compact, safe and secure card, which can be loaded with 8 international currencies such as US Dollar, Euro, Australian Dollar, Saudi Riyal and Great Britain Pound. It comes in handy while making overseas transactions without the niggling thoughts about misplacing cash, fraud and erratic currency exchange rates.
However, what separates a ‘great product’ from the others is the number of additional benefits it offers to users besides the key benefits. One such benefit that the Indus Travel Card offers is that it can also be used for purchasing things from international ecommerce sites without inviting any conversion charges.
People who shop from global shopping sites via international credit cards are usually asked to pay foreign currency conversion fee to companies like Visa, Mastercard, foreign transaction charge to banks and cash advance fee. If you shop from international ecommerce sites using Indus’ forex card, then there’s no need to pay the conversion charges. As a result, you save more without compromising on the safety, security, and convenience front. The card can also be used to shop at Delhi Duty Free store.

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Manage your Finance

4 Ways to Improve Your Chances of Getting a Personal Loan

November 21, 2017 ANAND BHIDE Leave a comment

A personal loan is an unsecured loan taken by a person to meet urgent financial requirements. It is a popular financial solution wherein you need to meet a one-time and urgent expense that might be out of your current budget or to overcome a temporary shortfall in funds.
Personal loans are a convenient way to raise immediate funds as they do not require you to make a security deposit against it. The application process is quick and simple, and you could use the money for any purpose however, you are required to state the reason for applying for it.
Although the application process is easy and funds are approved quickly, the approval depends on a few important factors. Being an unsecured loan, lenders would consider factors like your credit history and income carefully before sanctioning the funds. If you are not careful and do not satisfy certain conditions, there is a chance of your loan application being rejected. Taking a few simple measures could exponentially increase the chances of having your loan approved. These include:

Checking Credit Score

Obtaining your credit report is the first thing you should do while planning to apply for a personal loan. Your eligibility for a loan, the amount of loan that may be sanctioned to you, the interest rate, and the approval of your loan are largely dependent on the score given to you based on your credit history. A good credit score strengthens the chances of approval. Ensuring a good credit score may give you an opportunity to improve your score before applying and even give you a rough idea of the amount of loan you are eligible to receive.

Avoiding Making Multiple Loan Applications

Contrary to popular belief, applying to numerous institutions and money lenders does not increase your chances of getting an approval on one of those applications. In fact, it sends a message of desperation to potential lenders who may perceive you as hungry for credit and in need to fund your expenses from multiple sources. Furthermore, when applications are not met with approvals, your credit score is hampered, which reduces your chances of getting loans in the future. It is advisable to choose your best option and apply accordingly.

Limiting EMIs to 30% of Your Income

If you have existing loan obligations at the time of applying for a personal loan, it is imperative that you ensure that the total EMIs you are paying towards all those loans cumulatively does not exceed 30% of your monthly income. A lender would scrutinize your application based on the ability to take a new loan from what is left of your total income after you have met your existing loan obligations. Although a lender tends to be wary of forwarding credit to those who are already repaying loans, organizing your finances to limit these monthly EMIs to less than 30% of your income would give you a good chance of getting the personal loan amount you desire.

Carefully Considering the Loan Amount

You must assess your requirements carefully and accordingly apply for a loan amount. Applications for high loan amounts could lead to rejection. Moreover, applying for an amount which exceeds your eligibility in terms of creditworthiness could also result in rejection. It is always prudent to have an idea about the loan amount that you are eligible to take, based on your total income and financial obligations towards other creditors. Following this, you should consider the amount of funds that you actually need before applying to seek a certain amount of money. If only a small sum of money is sufficient to give you the necessary push, you must not get carried away and ask for a larger amount. You must differentiate between what is an essential requirement and those which could be avoided. Having determined that, you must also analyse your resources to know how you intend to repay the amount and then apply for that sum as your loan amount.

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Investment

5 Things to Note to Prevent Falling in a Debt Trap

November 21, 2017 ANAND BHIDE Leave a comment

It may seem lucrative to avail unsecured loans and make purchases using credit, but if you are not careful about assessing your funds and making timely payments against these borrowings, you could find yourself trapped in a cycle of debt.
Once you have defaulted in terms of a payment and allowed interest rates and penalties to compound on your dues, it is a long and tiring process to crawl out of this debt trap. Great opportunities and years of wealth creation might pass you by in the amount of time you might require to pull yourself out of such a situation.
To save yourself from being consumed in a vicious debt trap, you must follow some of these basic financial tips:

Swipe Wisely

You must use your credit cards wisely and not accumulate debt on them. One of the easiest ways to fall into the debt trap is by misinterpreting your credit card statement to mean that only the minimum due amount must be paid. It is often seen that people only pay the minimum amount, while the remaining amount attracts a great deal of interest that gets compounded as more and more of the due amount remains unpaid over the next month, and so on. You must be sure of your funds while making purchases with a credit card and pay off the entire amount when it is due.

Go Easy on Loans and Purchases

Due to the easy access to credit, there is an increased affinity towards spending exorbitantly on luxury items, entertainment and various non-essential commodities. Taking loans and making extensive purchases on credit is on the rise nowadays. However, as a result of these loans, a large chunk of one’s income tends to be directed towards paying EMIs.
While taking credit to create an asset that generates wealth is safe, raising funds through loans to purchase non-essential, personal items could be risky as you are not creating any similar opportunities to repay that loan. Since money is not physically being spent from the pocket, it usually does not pinch you when you are making those purchases. But this credit attracts significant interest that causes problems when the amount is to be repaid. It is easy to fall into the debt trap when you have taken a number of such loans and have not created avenues to generate money to repay your lenders.

Restrict EMIs

Taking a number of loans and paying EMIs on them when you have a consistent cash flow every month might seem like a prudent decision. However, this cash flow is not your permanent income and you must not take this to be so and plan multiple EMIs based on it. It is sensible to try and restrict the cumulative EMIs for all the loans you take to under 45% of your overall income. This way not only do you avoid over-burdening your income with the responsibility of paying off all your dues and allowing for no savings, but you also account for possible career setbacks, which could potentially upset your repayment process.

Avoid Too Many Loans

Applying for various unsecured loans shows a degree of credit-hungry behaviour which makes financial institutions more wary of the risk associated with extending funds to you, especially if you already owe them money. The more loans you take, the higher is the responsibility to repay, and any shortcomings in repayment would increase the chances of you getting sucked into the debt trap. Moreover, it also becomes difficult to track the dates of due payment for each loan and the chances of defaulting increase.

Debt Consolidation

In case you have taken some loans and are in the process of repaying various loans along with a variety of credit card bills, chances of being overwhelmed by this debt are quite high. This could snowball into a giant debt trap where you are left paying penalties and interest on many of these dues. In such a scenario, it is smart to consolidate all your debts into one big loan. Paying off one big debt is a lot simpler and might even attract a lesser interest rate compared to the cumulative amount you were paying earlier.

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