In a major exercise to boost its profitability, the Department of Posts (DoP) plans to introduce core banking solution besides setting up India Post ATMs and debit cards for its customers.

Post offices to offer core banking solution by 2012

Press Trust of India

Go for equity in the initial years, move to debt and other safer instruments later.

Invest in your child's future

Business Standard

Recently, we bought a car on loan. The dealer gave us complimentary third-party motor insurance for the first year. However, we are also interested in taking some add-on covers.

General Insurance: Bhargav Dasgupta

In a high inflation and low returns scenario, it makes sense to play safe.

Avoid risks, cut expenses

A sharp decline in the number of equity new fund offers (NFOs) is good news for retail investors. Fund houses have launched just nine schemes since January, shows data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi).

Fewer schemes, less confusion 

When Ashish Patkar wanted to buy an accidental death-benefit policy, he had the option to do so from a life insurer or a general one.

To go for a rider or a cover?

Investing in plots can be lucrative as well as cheap. But, Sandeep Bagchi, recently offered a plot of land at Rs 5 lakh on the outskirts of Mumbai, is not sure whether to go for the deal.

Invest in land, but don't forget the fencing

The policy, as the name suggests, provides term insurance to senior citizens.The minimum and the maximum entry age are 50 and 85, respectively. Though the product offers a whole life cover, it does not ask buyers to undergo medical tests.

High sum assured may not give enough cover

Retail investors are particularly wary right now as stocks are generally beaten down; it&rsquo;s time to use common sense and wait out the bad times.

Trading is injurious to investors' wealth

ECS is an electronic mode of funds transfer from one bank account to another. It can be used by institutions for making payments such as distribution of dividend interest, salary, pension, among others. It can also be used to pay bills and other charges such as telephone, electricity, water or for making equated monthly installments payments on loans as well as SIP investments. ECS can be used for both credit and debit purposes.

What is Electronic Clearing Service (ECS)?

I am 35. Currently, I am holding four insurance policies. I also contribute Rs 2,000 towards my Public Provident Fund account monthly (current balance is Rs 80,000). I also invested about Rs 15,000 in mutual funds via systematic investment plan (SIP) in eight funds. My goal is to have Rs 50 lakh for my child&rsquo;s education in 10 years, Rs 50 lakh for my child&rsquo;s marriage in 20 years and Rs 1 crore for retirement in 25 years. For policies, I am paying more than Rs 50,000 annually, which I feel is very expensive. I plan to close all of them.

Financial Planning: Malhar Majumder

The most commonly asked question among investors has to be about returns. To many, investing is to seek an opportunity and earn a high rate of return. Several would also like to think there is little point trying to invest money if it did not provide a spectacular return. Such thinking translates into high, and mostly unrealistic expectations from investments. Most investors also tend to chase &lsquo;good&rsquo; investments, only if the rate of return is high enough to draw attention.

Know how your money earns the promised high returns 

State Bank of India (SBI) &mdash;the country&rsquo;s largest lender&mdash;on Thursday joined other banks in raising rates, announcing an increase in lending rates from the new quarter.

State Bank joins the club, raises base rate by 25 bps 

Taking the advantage of both is a tricky affair.

Juggling HRA, loan benefits 

If your employer defaults on TDS payment.

If your employer defaults on TDS payment

Watch out for spams, scams and advertisers targeting you through mobile phones.

Alert: Don't fall prey to sms fraud

Last fortnight, the mantra to investing was &ldquo;starting early&rdquo;. This time it is &ldquo;investing regularly&rdquo;. We go on yatras to holy places for meeting spiritual goals. Many of these are remote places located in mountains. In the older days, it took a lot of planning and suffering to reach there. Yatris focused on reaching the top and took the journey&rsquo;s ups and downs with the same enthusiasm. They adjusted their speed according to the terrain. While they walked on a flat surface, on an incline, they trudged along. However, nobody gave up the yatra because of the difficulties faced. A lot of things are common between the yatra to attain spiritual goals and that for attaining the financial ones.

Discipline is key to investing

I have invested Rs 8-10 lakh in the equity market. As I will retire in six years, I plan to move my money to debt instruments, may be from the next year.

Investing: Paras Adenwala

Credit rating agencies (CRAs) assign ratings to mutual fund (MF) schemes which invest entirely, or mostly, in debt. The ratings are based on the overall exposure to default risk, with regard to timely receipt of payments from the investments the scheme has made. CRAs such as Crisil, Icra and CARE have been rating long-term as well as short-term debt mutual fund schemes. So far, the ratings have been based on in-house parameters. Crisil rates MF schemes on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 considered the best. Icra uses the grades AAA, AA, BBB and C, among others, to rate the same schemes.

What are mutual fund scheme ratings?

In a scenario of rising interest rates, having the option to choose between floating and fixed rates is bound to go down well with home loan borrowers. LIC Housing Finance&rsquo;s (LICHF) latest housing loan scheme, Freedom, allows customers to make this shift within a year of loan disbursal.

Mapping interest rate movement

HDFC Bank, India&rsquo;s second-largest private sector lender, on Monday raised its base rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 9.5 per cent and the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) to 18 per cent, according a source privy to the development.

HDFC Bank, Axis Bank raise base rate by 25 bps

Personal Finance: Read about the smart strategies for Personal Finance Planning, Investing, Insurance, banking, budgeting, loans Tax Planning, retirement and insurance. Browse Business Standard to learn more on Personal Finance.

Personal Finance: Investing, Planning, Retirement, Loans, & Insurance | Business Standard

Read about the smart strategies for Personal Finance Planning, Investing, Insurance, banking, budgeting, loans Tax Planning, retirement and insurance. Browse Business Standard to learn more on Personal Finance.

Page 897 - Personal Finance