Cover Story
- Unknown to most investors, financial products of all types are being brazenly mis-sold. Find out if you are already a victim and how you can avoid becoming one.Credit cards: Something for nothing?Insurance: Expensive and inadequateHow to make an informed choice
- Ulips are arguably among the most popular investments today. But has your agent told you that there’s a flip side? Worse, has he even told you that you have bought a Ulip?
- If that’s what your broker tells you, without explaining that you can lose everything in a few hours, he’s mis-selling. Stocks can be rewarding, but if you are ready for the rigour.
- In their rush to make commissions, insurance agents ignore that the primary purpose of insurance is the financial security of dependents—something you must not forget.
- Listen to your agent’s recommendations on mutual funds—but do your homework before you hand over the investment cheque.
- It’s convenient and hugely useful, but there’s no such thing as a free credit card. The company will get its money in some form or the other.
- It’s no secret that the broker community has more rotten apples than good ones. But it’s difficult to make out who is who till it’s too late. Yet, there are ways to avoid being taken for a ride. Here are six things for investors to do.
- Commissions are structured in such a way as to promote instances of mis-selling. Here are key incentive rates and some expert opinions.
Stock watch as on May 20, 2008
We tie up with Trisys Research to identify stocks that aren't in the limelight, but have the potential to give high returns. It’s a collective failure on the part of investment managers of India that they have been painfully slow to offer investment options in China and other Asian countries.Exploration and metal stocks perform well
Exploration and metal stocks are in demand, with many of them among top performers. In a dramatic move to reduce risk, Dipen decides to sell off a big chunk of the holdings of the two portfolios and sit on cash till the weather clears. Agent honesty test
Here are 20 key questions across four financial products that brokers should be asking you. 'Don't focus on one asset'
Don’t have a bias towards a particular asset class. Diversify and have goals around which financial plans are structured, and monitor them regularly. Money Today and Plexus Management evaluate new funds for you. This time it's the Reliance Banking Exchange Traded Fund. UTI’s Ulip plan commands huge investor confidence with its AUM substantially more than the other funds. Here's presenting the first of a 26-part series on mutual fund investing. If you're a new investor, use this series as stepping stones. If you've already started investing, this could show if you're on the right track. Piping in profits
The ever-increasing demand for oil and its transportation is fuelling the growth of pipeline manufacturing. R Sree Ram picks out some attractive stocks. Riding the greenback
Zensar has projected sales of Rs 950 crore and net profits of Rs 80 crore for 2008-9 against an exchange rate of Rs 39 to a dollar. The dollar has now crossed Rs 42. It is an opportunity to be grabbed. What an investor needs is not important. What an advisor wants to sell gains precedence. Who loses in the bargain? The investor, of course, who gets something he didn't want or even need.How to make an informed choice
It is dismaying that the level of research that goes into buying a mobile phone is far more than that made to purchase a life insurance policy. Life insurance is critical and deserves more attention. Financial rights get a boost
When it comes to money, the two key roles we all have to play at some point or the other is that of a customer and an investor. I want to take a term insurance policy
As the sole earning member in your family, you need a good life insurance cover. Advantage of a good start
Delhi-based Jasneet Bindra has managed her investments well. Now she must invest in equities regularly to make the best use of a high risk appetite. Time to come to terms
Very few people are aware of term insurance plans. Here’s a look at what is available. Step-by-step success
Though he started young and had to face many obstacles, Hanif Sattar’s determination and meticulous planning has seen him make a success of his garment business. Home away from home
The quest for privacy and pet-friendly lodging at wallet-friendly prices culminates at self-catering holiday cottages across India.The icing on the cake? Most have a cook standing by should you feel too lazy to wield a ladle. Getting a bit cheap
There are products that keep getting cheaper and better. But nothing beats personal computers in delivering the twin benefits of falling prices and rising quality year after year. Vijayawada: The connectivity hub
Vijayawada is a major transit point and an important link connecting two industrial zones of Andhra Pradesh—Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. Power cells
We take a look at some of the most common batteries available—and also see if there’s any way in which you can actually get more life out of these cells. Words from the wise
More than 65 of America’s most successful investors share their moneymaking formulas in this debut venture by Liz Claman. What are different ways of investing in gold?
In May 29 issue, we had done an article—‘Gleaming Options ’—on the different modes of investing in gold. Timing profits
Ideas that are unique—in concept or execution—can create or add to your income. For Delhi-based Shalini Verma, indulging her passion for art and fixing clocks to her paintings has been a lucrative venture. From the Managing Editor
Almost every Indian investor has made at least one investment that he does not need. These are investors unable to distinguish an enthusiastic salesperson from an unscrupulous one. 
