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It is a unique initiative and readers have called it an innovative product.

RupeeCamp is not just about education and financial literacy. It’s totally outcome oriented where you will take financial decisions and set up your financial plan. Check out the website for more details

RupeeCamp details are embedded below and you can download the details. I will be happy to answer questions.

I would be delighted if you decide to attend the first RupeeCamp at Mumbai. Please send me a mail to me on ranjan@ranjanvarma.com for a special discount coupon code. Thanks.

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The insurance cover includes company’s assets in India and abroad, employee benefits and business interruption. The cover had come up for renewal from July 1.

For renewing its cover, Infosys paid a premium of Rs 29 crore including a Rs 4-crore premium for the business interruption cover, an insurance company official confirmed. Last year, it had paid Rs 25 crore in premium including a Rs 3.5-crore premium for business interruption.

This is the fifteenth consecutive year in which National Insurance has managed to retain the account of the software major.

The policy provides insurance cover for all assets of Infosys, located in India as well as abroad. Infosys’s assets in India are located in centres such as Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Mohali, Jaipur and Thiruvanthapuram.

Besides the asset cover, employee benefits such as health insurance for employees and their family, and personal accident cover have also been renewed. Infosys has around 1.10 lakh employees on its rolls in India. While National Insurance will provide the lead cover, ICICI Lombard General Insurance is the co-insurer.

Hospital network

A preferred network of hospitals, defined benefits for named illness and employee participation in claims has helped Infosys keep a check on the insurance costs. The hospital network is chosen by National Insurance and Mediassist, the claims administrators for Infosys taking factors such as quality of treatment, cost efficiency and transparency in procedures and billing into account.

The rise in the premium is commensurate to the increase in the sum assured. With Infosys’ employee count going up, the sum assured has also gone up, said the official.

The travel insurance cover, provided by Tata AIG General Insurance and the group life insurance cover provided by LIC were also renewed.

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Like any other endowment policy, this scheme is also bundled with the dual benefits of investment and life insurance. But unlike most schemes, it promises guaranteed returns on maturity. This is probably what is driving investors to this scheme, which is scheduled to close this week. However, those who have still not invested would do well take a sneak preview before following the herd, for if the scheme has pros, it has cons too.

Notwithstanding the imbedded insurance benefit, prima facie, this scheme appears a more lucrative investment option. If one were to read its fine print, it reads as – upon survival, the insurer is liable to get the maturity sum assured (MSA) and guaranteed additions. MSA is the one-sixth of the basic sum assured, i.e. one-sixth the amount of life cover. Thus, for a life cover of Rs 1,50,000, MSA would be Rs 25,000. Guaranteed additions have been bifurcated for the 10-year and five year plans. Thus, guaranteed addition is Rs 100 per thousand of the MSA (and not the life cover) per year for a 10-year term and Rs 90 per thousand of MSA per year for a five-year term. Sounds not only confusing but also exorbitant!

To summarise the above thesis – an investor would get 1/3rd the life cover as maturity benefit for the 10-year policy and approximately 1/4th the life cover if the policy tenure is five years. Thus, for a life cover of Rs 1,50,000 for 10 years (which is also the minimum required by the scheme) the amount bound to be received on maturity is Rs 50,000. This is almost double the premium paid – subject to the age of the investor at the time of taking the policy (See Table). The entire premium, however, is required to be paid through a single payment at the time of taking the policy. Thus, an investment at the age of 25 years for 10 years in this scheme would earn risk-free compounded returns of 7.28% per annum.

However, the policy doesn’t score well on the insurance front. It makes sense only if the insurer can foresee death within the first year of taking the policy. Death of the policy owner within the first year of the policy period will ensure the beneficiaries with the entire amount of life cover and the guaranteed additions, too. However, in case the unfortunate event occurs after the first year of the policy the beneficiaries will get only one-third of the life cover with guaranteed additions from the insurance company.
While this scheme does offer decent returns, it is more beneficial to those in the lower age group. Investors in higher age bracket may consider other investment options.

NABARD’s Bhavishya Nirman Bonds (NBNB), those re-opened last week, call for an initial investment of Rs 8,750 per bond (earlier it was Rs 8,500 per bond) and return Rs 20,000 per bond after an investment period of 10 years. These bonds thus offer a post tax CAGR return of 7.97%, a tad higher than Jeevan Aastha. However, they do not qualify for the tax deduction under section 80C of the income tax act. Another product from NABARD, the rural bonds, currently offer 8.5% interest and are eligible for tax benefits under section 80C. The downside is that the interest amount is taxable on maturity, and the interest received on these bonds is not compounded over the years. Thus the benefit of compounding is lost which one can otherwise earn in bank deposits or other savings instruments.

Other investment options that can be given a thought are the National Savings Certificate (NSC) and the Public Provident Fund (PPF). The former is a six-year scheme with interest compounding every half-year, but the entire interest received on maturity is subject to tax, which drastically reduces its returns.

PPF, on the other hand has longer investment tenure — 15 years and the interest gets compounded only annually. However, since the maturity proceeds are absolutely tax-free, PPF gains an edge above most other products of its kind. Both NSC and PPF are eligible for tax deduction under section 80C.

As interest rates have begun to slide, returns on bank deposits have taken a backseat. While SBI currently offers 8.5% on its 5-year tax-saving fixed deposit, HDFC and ICICI currently offer 8% and 9% respectively on similar deposits and the interest is compounded quarterly. However, post-tax, the returns range from 5.96% to 6.77%, which makes them less attractive compared to PPF, NBNB and Jeevan Aastha.

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Other than the 20 posts linking to the literacy drive, he also links to his popular articles and the websites which provide such information. Maybe it’s all dry information, but you can do well to bookmark that post and keep coming back to it. It’s dry, but important for you. Why? Look at the following questions and then decide.

How much do you know about money? Have you learned about the power of compounding? Do you know how the stock market works? What is a bond? Can you tell the difference between an Income Statement, a Balance Sheet, and a Cash Flow Statement? Do you even know why you would want to?

Do you know how to keep a budget? Do you understand how your taxes are used and why we pay them? Do you know what it takes to purchase a house? How much insurance do you need?

Head on to this treasure trove. Even though some posts are US specific, the concepts are useful and important to learn.

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The blog is linked to a Personal Finance website

It also has a discussion forum where you can clear all your doubts.

And an Advisor’s Directory too. And we are planning a module for personal finance calculators too!!

That’s why I’m asking you to migrate to the new blog. And if you need the RSS feed, click here

Waa!! (that means thanks in sheep language; and I’m not a black sheep but a wheatish one!!)

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300 posts later, the dream of translating it into a website seems plausible. Just take a look at what I’ve created without knowing html code! (Well, I can figure out the a href link code, but just!!) Now you know why there’s no post here. I have exported these posts to my website blog

RSS readers are requested to take this feed please: http://feeds.feedburner.com/personalfinanceforeveryone

Personal Finance 2.01: It’s a one stop personal finance website and I urge you to take a test drive. Feedback will be of immense help.

Discussion Forum: It’s a forum where you can discuss all your doubts and questions about personal finance, planning and various products like insurance, stocks, mutual funds, etc.

PF 2.01 Blog: I have started a blog focussed on personal finance and I would invite you to share your thoughts. Let’s have a real conversation of PF going on here.

Weblinks: I am regularly out on the web. When I find a great site I list it here for you to enjoy. From the list choose one of my weblink topics, then select a URL to visit.

NewsFeeds: We have some great news feeds to take a look at. Suggestions are welcome.

Financial Advisors Directory: We invite professional and net savvy advisors to register and provide the information needs. This one is a first in India to the best of my knowledge.

The design stage will take another two months after which I’ll be ready to go live. The real action begins only after then. Wish me luck.

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But I had the bath of my life. It was invigorating and real fun! I came back and thanked the old man who had tricked me into that chilled out experience.

What’s that experience to do with Finance, you’ll say. Well, I’m an old man by some standards. (This should also mean that I’m young by other standards:). And I want you to have fun with Finance.

Let’s take a look at what Finance means and I’m sure you will find it Fun, Interesting, Nasty, gives an Advantage, Not Precise, Creative and Exciting.

Finance itself has a very wide meaning and it encompasses Business Finance, Personal Finance and Government Finance in general. Here we will focus on Personal Finance only.

Your questions in personal finance would revolve around the following:

How much money will be needed by you at various points in the future?
Where will this money come from (e.g. savings or borrowing)?
How can you protect yourself against unforeseen events in your lives, and risk in financial markets?
How can family assets be best transferred across generations (bequests and inheritance)?
How do taxes (tax subsidies or penalties) affect personal financial decisions?
Your Personal financial decisions will involve paying for education, financing durable goods such as real estate and cars, buying insurance, e.g. health and property insurance, investing and saving for retirement. Personal financial decisions may also involve paying for a loan.

Phew! Are you prepared to wade into the”warm’ waters of Personal Finance? Welcome

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I have taken the following case:
Case 1: You start now with a yearly investment of Rs 1000 and stay invested for 40 years.

Case 2: You start after 20 years from now but invest Rs 2000 instead for 20 years.

In both the case, the amount invested is Rs 40,000. Assuming a common growth rate of 10% in both the cases, in case 1 , the accrued balance works out to Rs 442,593 . The accrued balance in case 2 is Rs 114,550.

Why don’t you work it yourself and take away your learnings.

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Other than the 20 posts linking to the literacy drive, he also links to his popular articles and the websites which provide such information. Maybe it’s all dry information, but you can do well to bookmark that post and keep coming back to it. It’s dry, but important for you. Why? Look at the following questions and then decide.

How much do you know about money? Have you learned about the power of compounding? Do you know how the stock market works? What is a bond? Can you tell the difference between an Income Statement, a Balance Sheet, and a Cash Flow Statement? Do you even know why you would want to?

Do you know how to keep a budget? Do you understand how your taxes are used and why we pay them? Do you know what it takes to purchase a house? How much insurance do you need?

Head on to this treasure trove. Even though some posts are US specific, the concepts are useful and important to learn.

Recommended Links