Cover Story
You don’t have to chase exotic financial products to protect yourself from the ill-effects of inflation. Take a look at your insurance policy first.
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Cushion against rising rates
With prime lending rates going up, all forms of loans have become costlier. Here’s how you can protect yourself from the sharp rise in borrowing costs.
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Squeezing out liquidity
The hike in home loan interest rates has depressed the demand for property. While investors have almost vanished, even end-users are postponing purchases.
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Appreciation of the rupee will bring down inflation
We interviewed Ajay Shah, Senior Fellow, National Institute for Public Finance and Policy, on how inflation can be controlled through exchange rate.
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Inflation-proof your portfolio
As the inflation rate moves up, key market indices are spiralling downward. Is there a way of making sure that your portfolio is not affected by this rising rate?
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Illusion of more
Do you know your purchasing power was higher in 2006 than in 2007? And the culprit is the higher rate of inflation.
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The case for wage inflation
The rising inflation rate could mean lower standards of living unless we ensure that incomes keep up with prices.
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Life-cycle inflation
Your consumption basket changes over your lifetime. We explain how this affects your inflation. Also, five financial planners reveal their inflation computations.
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How to tame inflation
Like a beast on the rampage, inflation is playing havoc with our day-to-day finances. But there are steps we can take to protect our wallets from severe damage.
Systematic investment plans (SIPs) have become a popular mode of investing in mutual funds.
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Tax-plan funds deliver negative returns
With four of the top five tax-plan funds delivering negative returns in the past year, this category has fared worse than the equity diversified funds.
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Nibbling away your returns
The commission charged by fund houses on investment in mutual funds where no intermediary has been used, is unjustified.
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Betting on commodities
Money Today - Plexus Management come together for evaluation of new fund. This time it's Mirae Asset Global Commodity Stocks Fund.
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'Have exposure to global funds'
Avoid any complex and complicated product. Focus on proper asset allocation. Also, have exposure to global assets through international equity funds, suggests Balasubramaniam of Birla Sun Life MF.
Any interest earned from saving is taxable. The interest income is to be added to your total income while computing your tax liability.
Technology
Brinda Vasudevan
There’s no doubt we are growing increasingly dependent on headphones, earphones, earbuds, headsets, face-plugs or cans… call them what you will.
A drop in the US crude inventories has sent the commodity to new heights of $144 a barrel. Analysts foresee the black gold at $150 a barrel soon.
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Get ready to bottom fish
Fund manager Dipen Sheth picks up two previously held stocks and adds more of another blue-chip in the making, even as markets hit a 52-week low.
The extent to which the rise in the price of a product or service affects your family budget depends on two things—the level of price rise and the share of that product or service in the family’s consumption basket.
Dhanbad-based Amit Kumar and Sonila Soni must invest their entire surplus income in a mix of equity diversified funds to exploit their high-risk appetite.
Books
Tanvi Varma/Money Today
A legendary fund manager profiles his career to list out 21 principles of stock picking. At times, the advice seems simplistic, even confusing, but given the current market scene, it makes for a good, practical read, says Tanvi Varma.
There are some thumb rules to help you zero in on the best schemes. Read the four parameters on which a fund should be evaluated.
A snapshot of the rupee’s performance to help you take decisions on travel and overseas investments.
For instance, how many of us know that inflation doesn’t actually destroy our wealth? It redistributes it—somebody’s high price is somebody else’s high income.
We regularly carry stories on banking and insurance sectors, while four pages are devoted to mutual funds. However, we will try and cover these subjects more extensively.
The nose-diving Sensex and the damp market sentiments may be giving you sleepless nights. We put the spotlight on the biggest market concerns at the moment and outline the way things may play out in future.
While the prices of almost all food items, especially food grains and cereals, have risen sharply in the past 10 years, sugar prices have remained relatively stable.
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