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Written by Site Administrator
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009 11:19 |
Gold is a tradition form of investment in India. Investment in Gold in our country has a great amount of cultural value attached to it. Gold is bought in the form of jewellery for Events of importance in a family. It is not sold easily to make ready money, we have the custom of pawning gold rather than selling it. Buying and selling gold as a part of one’s investment portfolio is catching up slowly with Indians.
Is Gold a good investment option? This question is not easy to answer. However, Gold prices have appreciated reasonably over the past few years. Moreover, Gold is also available in the form of points in the stock market with select companies. This virtual holdings give a lot of convenience and flexibility to investors making buying and selling gold stocks very easy. If the recent trend in Gold prices is anything to go by, an investor can easily expect a return of upto 9% in long term.
Gold as an asset is quite independent of trends of currency fluctuation, inflationary ups and downs and also the global effects of economy on your stocks in the volatile market. This makes gold a better and a safer haven for investors.
Gold is definitely an asset that can help protect your hard-earned money. A portion of your investment portfolio must therefore have a component in the form of assets in Gold.
You can invest in Gold based on your needs.
1. Gold in physical form
If you are looking at the Gold being useful for your family needs, you could buy it in physical form – bars, biscuits, coins or even jewellery. Gold in all these forms can be used for future needs of your family in the form of jewellery that you can gift or use for ritualistic and ceremonial events such as weddings, etc.
Gold when bought in this form is not easy to sell back as many Gold vendors would not like to buy back at the current market price. The logic is that, they buy in bulk from their own suppliers and get it cheapers than when they are buying back for you. You can still sell it to Gold vendors, but you are unlikely to get the same value for it as the current market holds.
The next best option you have with physical gold is that you can pawn it and take a loan for your immediate needs. Many banks and Pawn brokers would give a loan on your Gold if you produce the right documentation (such as your purchase bills, etc).
To sum up, the resale value of Gold held in physical form is not always profitable. It is recommended that you buy gold in physical form only so much as you would need for the future needs of your family.
2. Gold in Dematerialized form
Gold is also available in the stock market in the form of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). As these are listed and traded on the stock market you can buy and sell them like any other stock with a lot of convenience. Gold stocks are traded in units of one. You will need a demat account and a share trading account with any broker who deals in Gold stocks.
ETFs of Gold fluctuate with the existing market prices of Gold. When trading in Gold, you will get close to this market value. You expenses on tanes and other brokerage related fees is unlikely to exceed more than 1% of the market value.
Advantages of holding Gold in Dematerialized form
With physical Gold you are always concerned about the purity, of having the hallmark or the KDM certification donw, of storing it safely, of security issues when you have to travel or leave your home for long, etc.
With gold in demat form, you will not have all these worries. You can rest assured about the purity as it is held only virtually. You can trade freely as if you are trading other stocks. You can buy when the prices are less and sell the stocks when the prices have appreciated considerably.
In the event that you need gold in physical form, you can sell the appropriate Gold ETFs and take the money to your nearest gold vendor to buy gold.
By doing this, you would have safeguarded yourself from rising price of gold.
To sum up, Gold is an asset where negative fluctuation is almost zero. You are never going to go wrong with your Gold investment portfolio if held in demat form.
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Written by Site Administrator
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Wednesday, 14 October 2009 10:43 |
Though there are several Insurance policies by Insurance Companies that costumers can buy online, there are very few takers for these policies.
A recent evaluation by Bajaj Alliance has revealed that of every hundred people who visit the website to read information about the Policy only one person actually buys it Online. Bajaj Alliance is in fact the first company to have started a Unit Linked Insurance Plan purely for Online purpose making it cheaper by 5%.
They say that the reason for less conversion ratio is the lack of adequate knowledge
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Written by Site Administrator
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Wednesday, 14 October 2009 09:51 |
A Chartered Accountant has recently pointed out that there are many problems with the tax system in India. The Common Man (Aam Aadmi) here pays much more than the 30% as projected by the rules.
If a person gets Rs. 6 lakhs as gratuity at the end of his working life, a tax of upto Rs. 2.5 lakhs out of this is deducted from this amount. Considering gratuity, which is the money earned over the entire career as capital receipts is such an anamoly.
People running businesses in India pay heavy penalty to the stock exchange for various lapses. They are not allowed to claim this amount in deduction. What is more, they also pay taxes on this amount ending up being charged double.
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Written by Site Administrator
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Friday, 09 October 2009 12:25 |
India Post today faces the challenge of keeping pace with the changing trends of its banking consumers. Conventional banks, particularly those in even the government sector are today able to provide up-to-date facilities to their consumers to increase and optimize convenience. Where does the problem lie with post offices in India?
First, maybe it is not a problem for them, as it is not at all their priority. However, if if is a matter of concern for them too, then there are a few way to improve the situation.
1. Centralize and integrate operations
Integrating all Post Offices in India is a need of the hour. For example, I have a deposit account in Mumbai, I must be able to close it at any post office in India as long as I carry the right documents with me. This is the most important factor that is crippling the banking services of the Post Offices. When once this facility becomes available to its consumers, Post Office banking services will be ready for the changing global trends of its consumers.
2. Partner with Banks and Finance firms
They can partner with Banks and finance firms to increase the convenience of consumers. They have already done this in some areas. For example, they are distributing mutual funds of all prominent banks and finance firms now through key post offices directly. Their Monthly income scheme can be linked to your bank accounts to deposit your interest directly into your bank account. However, there is the need to do more. They can integrate their databases with the banks and be able to provide Debit Cards and other allied services for savings accounts with Post Office, etc,.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 October 2009 18:41 |
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Written by Site Administrator
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Friday, 09 October 2009 11:27 |
First of all, this is a misleading and biased opinion. Post Office even today enjoys wide popularity among a large section of Indian population, particularly from rural areas. However, in cities and larger towns, people rely more on banks.
Post office has not been able to cater to consumers in the same way as the present day banks. There are several reasons behind this:
Lack of Automation
There is very less automation and process integration in Post Offices. As a result consumers have to process their transactions through a lot of paper work. Lack of automation also makes it mandatory for consumers to visit the post office every time they want to avail its banking services.
Inadequate Advertising
Though Post Office also has populist schemes, they are not advertised widely. Other than the occasional press releases and the banner that you see only inside the post offices.
The Primary Focus is not Banking
As is obvious, the primary focus of India Post is not Banking and Finance but activities related to Post & Telegraph. As a result enough priority is not given for technology upgrades, process improvement, etc,, in the field of Banking services.
So, even today, there is no need to think twice before investing in savings schemes offered by Post Offices in India. |
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 October 2009 18:42 |
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