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Advice
The Retirement Risk Most Plans Miss
A few of us from college went to meet our batchmate Ashok, who had been through a serious illness. We gathered around his bed and, as old friends do, spoke of hostel canteens, professors and ridiculous nicknames until the illness briefly disappeared from the room. Then someone remembered a story from Ashok’s younger days. “Arre, what happened to that bottle of wine you bought on your first trip to France?” Ashok had brought back an expensive bottle from France in the 1980s and said he would open it only on a truly special occasion. He smiled wryly: he still had ...
Advice
EGRs Can Unlock Household Gold at Lower Cost to Taxpayers
In 2001, our client Mangal bought one kilogram (kg) of gold coins for ₹ 4 lakh savings held in a form she trusted. By 2015, they were worth ₹ 27 lakh, sitting in a locker, earning nothing. She asked us what she should do with them. Mangals story is not unusual. For Indian families, gold is security, tradition, emergency money, and peace of mind. But what makes sense for a family like hers hurts the nation. Almost all new gold bought in India is imported, using foreign exchange and locking savings into an asset that protects families but builds nothing ...
Advice
This time is no different, if you have a plan and discipline
Rajpal, a client, reached out to me saying, “I am reading many articles on my social media feeds warning that dark days are coming for the Indian economy.” He was also worried by the Prime Minister’s call for austerity. Rajpal’s basic question was: should investors treat this crisis as different? I told Rajpal that nobody can predict the future, and recoveries from past crises do not guarantee a similar outcome this time. That is why the familiar regulatory warning says that “Past performance is no guarantee of future results”. But history remains a useful input, especially when combined with a ...
Advice
Insurance tax break for savers must not subsidise sellers
Anusuya is a widow raising her only child on a junior accountant’s salary. Her Rs. 5 lakh fixed deposit was meant for her child’s education. When she went to renew it, a bank employee persuaded her to move the money into a “special deposit scheme” with higher tax-free returns. She agreed. A year later, she received a notice demanding another Rs. 5 lakhs. Shocked, she discovered she had been sold a life insurance policy and this was the next year’s premium. If she did not pay, she was told, she would lose the money invested. The bank said she had ...