EPFO interest rate

Current year EPFO rate may be above 8%- read more in the link

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/savings-centre/savings-news/epfo-likely-to-give-8-6-interest-in-2012-13/articleshow/16879307.cms

Real estate prices- why blame "others?"

In the last week, I have seen many newspaper and blog articles like "XXX to be blamed for India's housing bubble" and "Why Real estate stocks should not be allowed to be listed in India".

I would say that these articles have highlighted only one side of the story. We have to agree that the contribution of the so called 'middle class' population to the bubble is also significant.

Unless there were people to buy flats at extraordinary rates, the sellers wouldn’t have been able to create the so called 'housing bubble'.

The salaried class who 'invested ' their hard earned money and those who committed more than 50% of their net salary to EMIs are also responsible for this.

The greed of middle class to be a part of owning 'fast' appreciating assets is also a significant contribution factor to this so called 'bubble'.

Regarding the 'listing of real estate stocks', many retail investors have lost their money. But even in this case, the decision to invest was an individual decision. Once it goes for a toss, it is very easy to blame everyone around except ourselves.

If an investment goes for a toss ( or loss !) and you start blaming 'others' for it, most probably you took an uninformed investment decision out of greed.

Note :- This article is not to justify the wrong doing of  'others' . But to highlight the rule of ' Investor/ buyer be aware of all the facts when making any financial decisions'

Why reading 'pink' papers is more for fun.

You may think that you need to read all business papers and be updated to make informed decisions. They are actually in the business of churning out opinions in the name of news and are not printed with an intention to make you rich. So, they have more of entertainment value than information.

See a sample news on gold published today.

Comparing NPS fund performance

The above table reflects the returns from various NPS funds - source PFRDA website.

The column " Auto" is added for getting the best fund considering a mix of  equity, government and corporate  investment schemes. ( Proportion assumes Equity -50% , Corporate - 30%, Government bonds- 20%).

Read the " Colours" in each of the column to reflect the lowest ( red) to highest return ( green).

Obama, Outsourcing is irreversible!

If you are thinking that I am going to talk about outsourcing from west to east, I am definitely not referring to that.

I am talking about " outsourcing" that has happened in the Indian middle class lifestyle during the last decade or so.

A few scenarios quoted below,

Activity	Outsourced to/ through
Cooking food	Hotels & restaurants, Ready made food
Playing with Kids	Gadgets, TV
Making sweets for festivals	Sweet shops
Socializing with family and friends	Social network sites
Taking care of parents	Old age homes
Health care, obesity	Slimming centres

We are all focused on only one core thing i.e. Earning money. But still we don't seem to have enough of it!!

So, whether Obama supports or not - Outsourcing is irreversible!

How do they make money?

There are a host of services that we use on the Internet everyday ( like email, social network ,etc).Most importantly, we use these services free of charge. If you have been wondering ,"How do these guys make money?", here's a link which gives an high level answer to your questions.


http://rcs.seerinteractive.com/money/