Personal Finance Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Fee Only Investment Advisers

Weigh the risks of EB-5 citizenship route

Financial, International, Investments, Personal Finance, Press / By Team FeeOnly / November 20, 2023

Originating in Africa, Humans migrated to the remotest corners of the earth primarily to find food, avoid the threat of deadly predators or the danger from domination by other human species or due to dramatic changes in the climate. There is an intriguing scientific theory that unforced migration is motivated by simple curiosity and boredom, what is often called wanderlust. This is credited to a variation in the human DNA (DRD4-7R) now dubbed the “wanderlust gene”. Present in about 20% of the population, it impacts dopamine levels, increasing the person’s tolerance for risk taking including exploring new territories. Those willing for (or seeking) greener pastures in other countries have a larger capacity for risk taking. But can that innate larger risk taking ability justify staking your life savings in an “risky investment for citizenship” plan like US’s EB-5. Harsh’s article in Business Standard today. Your feedback most welcome.

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Savour the joys of delayed gratification

Personal Finance, Press / By Team FeeOnly / November 6, 2023

Its festival time and all of us are besieged with exhortations to Buy! Buy! Buy! with discounted deals and “Buy now Pay later” schemes making it easy on the pocket. Credit artificially expands the amount of money available and reduces the “pain of paying”. This pushes people to satisfy their innate desire for instant gratification which is beautifully explained in this short 90 second video from behavioural economist Dan Ariely of “Predictably Irrational” fame (https://vimeo.com/62116854 ) . My article in Business Standard on the Double AA framework for differentiating between Good loans and Bad loans and how you can use the “Pay now Buy later” strategy to savour the joys of delayed gratification. Read more..

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Put checks in place to curb overconfidence

Personal Finance, Press / By Team FeeOnly / August 28, 2023

The ability to deceive potential mates provided an initial evolutionary advantage to our ancestors. Then the advantage shifted to those who could detect the tell tale signs of lying leading to an arm race between detection and deception. Self deception evolved to mask deception better, hiding the truth from oneself to hide it better from others. Impact of Self deception (or over confidence) is not limited to mating partners however and it impacts all walks of life including personal finance. Harsh’s article in Business Standard today.

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Central agency needed to curb mis selling menace

Banking, Investments, Personal Finance, Press / By Team FeeOnly / July 17, 2023

Whilst newage investors require protection from unregulated finfluencers there is an urgent need for a centralised investor grievance redressal agency that will provide protection for older investors to whom financial products are mis-sold and their grievances fall through the regulatory gaps. First mooted by the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission ( FSLRC) the expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court (in the Hindenburg report matter) has reiterated the recommendation. Harsh’s article in the Business Standard.

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Investor education can´t be left to finfluencers

Financial, Personal Finance, Press, RIA / By Team FeeOnly / July 3, 2023

Finfluencers have a large influence on investors which can be used both for educating them but also for misdirecting them. given their larger than life impact on investor education some form of regulation is a must. Many learnings are available from the experiences of Pranjal Kamra a “Finfluencer” with very large fan following whose firm has a RIA License from SEBI. Harsh’s article in Business Standard on how relatively relaxed regulations coupled with a strict scrutiny of those with large number of investor complaints may be one possible route to bring the “finfluencers” within the regulatory ambit but retaining their ability to educate investors. Its a complex issue and Harsh is aware there is no magic bullet solution so this is a suggestion that can be considered along with many others that the regulators must surely be examining.

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An innovative approach to domestic staff loans

Banking, Financial, Personal Finance, Press / By Team FeeOnly / June 19, 2023

Middle class households are used to giving advances against salary to their domestic staff who do so much to make their day to day life easy.
spurred by a challenge thrown to Harsh by Harsh’s spouse Harsh proposing a solution that can transition these advances (and it’s repayment) to India’s formal credit system giving a big boost to availbility of formal credit to trustworthy low income domestic staff. Please assist in influencing the policy makers to consider the suggestion. It will convince his spouse that he can actually make sensible suggestions in household matters as well :). Harsh’s article in Business Standard today

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High pension recipients can get short-changed in bailouts

Financial, Governments, Personal Finance, Press / By Team FeeOnly / May 8, 2023

Do not transfer large sums of money from your tax free Employee Provident Fund to the Employee Pension Account in the hope of getting a large pension in the future. As per the EPFOs own calculations the deficit was Rs. 15,000 crores as on March 31, 2017. The deficit position for the years ended March 31, 2018 and 2019 has not been released by the government but is likely to be much higher. Even the calculation of the deficit figure has not been made for the last 4 years. A pension fund that has not even calculated its liability is a scary place to invest your hard earned tax free Employee Provident Fund money. Those people depending on government bailout should be aware of the precedents whenever governments have stepped in to protect pensioners – those entitled to larger pensions inevitably get shortchanged in the process”.

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Debt fund growth option: A smart choice for retirees

Investments, Personal Finance, Press / By Team FeeOnly / April 24, 2023

Growth scheme of a moderately low risk debt fund allows lower tax payment on the income earned as compared to a bank fixed deposit of like maturity even if the interest rates till maturity are similar. This is due to the inherent tax friendly structure. Besides, the Debt MF allows easier encashment and part encashment facilities with no prepayment penalties. Harsh’s article in Business Standard today provides an interesting analogy of a water tank to explain the inherent structural advantage of the growth scheme. look forward to your comments.

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Wealth creation is simple but not easy, requires discipline

Financial, Investments, Personal Finance, Press / By Team FeeOnly / April 10, 2023

“Sleep well, eat healthy and exercise regularly” are the “simple” rules that enable a healthy life. However it is not “easy” to follow these simple rules. Similarly wealth creation has simple rules which require discipline and patience. Most people prefer complex solutions in their search for faster results and it takes a dedicated coach to keep them on the path (pardon this bit of self promotion for our profession). Harsh’s article in Business Standard. Your comments welcome as always..

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