How To Harvest Taxes Without Large Cash Reserves

One of the lesser-known tactics to increase equity returns is regular tax harvesting. You can use both gains as well as losses on your investments to reduce the tax outgo, increasing post-tax returns. While tax harvesting does result in guaranteed …

Say No to Fixed Deposits

My wife and I do not have a single rupee parked in Fixed Deposits (FDs). This may seem radical but we do not think it is the right product for our needs. I will argue that whatever be your investment needs too, several issues make FDs a poor …

What is a Mutual Fund?

Despite “mutual funds” being a common term these days, most people do not understand what they are. Given the critical role they can play in building your wealth, let’s try to understand them. Consider a group of three friends, A, B …

Your Life Insurance Policy Isn't Enough

If you are the breadwinner of the family, you take care of their financial needs and provide them with all the comfort in life. You manage money with the utmost care. You also have a life insurance policy so that your loved ones are taken care of in …

Bulls and Bears on Dalal Street

If you read the news, you would have come across seemingly cryptic headlines such as “Bulls overpower Bears on Dalal Street”, “Bears rampage the markets”, “Jhunjhunwala bullish on Titan”. If you do not fully comprehend these or wonder why only these …

Using Indexation to Lower Your Taxes

You might have heard of the term indexation in the context of investments and taxes but may not be fully aware of what it is, why it matters or how to utilise it. Given how much money this lack of understanding may be costing you, let’s try fixing …

To ESPP or Not

If you work for a public company listed in the US such as Microsoft, Intuit, Adobe, Zynga etc, you often have the option to enrol in a program named Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). ESPP allows an employee to purchase the company stock at a …