GOLD MUST BE A PART OF YOUR PORTFOLIO

In India attachment to gold is sentimental and emotional. For many of us, this yellow metal is top on the shopping list in festivals. The physical gold bought by us is rarely sold in the market due to emotional attachment with it. But if you buy units in gold exchange traded fund listed on stock exchanges, it will be easier to sell them when prices rise.
It is important to allocate a meaningful Component of your investment portfolio to gold. This allocation helps in bringing down the portfolio risk by reducing their standard deviation of the portfolio.
Gold acts as insurance in […] Read more

Tackling Delayed Income Tax Refunds

The taxpayers who have filed their returns and sent their verification form in June or July, usually get the acknowledgment and refunds around this time of the year. But many taxpayers complain that they did not get the intimation of the receipt of their ITR-V on time. And some complain about delayed refunds. After filing the online income tax return, and ITR-V sent to income tax department, I-T department acknowledges the receipt of the ITR-V through SMS or email. Then the taxpayer is notified once the return is processed and after that refund process is initiated.

In many cases, taxpayers forgot […] Read more

Online Provident Fund Account Transfers- Now Possible

The filing of online provident fund account transfer claims on changing jobs for subscribers of the retirement fund body EPFO has now become possible. The facility has been made available as the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has launched its online transfer claim portal (OTCP) as per circular issued.

According to the circular, handling of transfer cases generates maximum bad publicity and it is expected that this issue shall be resolved after OTCP is made fully functional. After 31October, 2013, there shall be no physical movement of paper in transferring member accounts from one office to another.

The facility of online transfer […] Read more

Closing Credit Cards? Be Vigilant

One should be cautious in using credit card as already discussed in my previous blog.  But some things are also to be considered while closing your credit cards. Few things which need to be kept in mind while cancelling the credit card are:

The bank will not cancel your card unless you have paid all the dues. These dues include interest, fees and charges on the card along with the expenses incurred by you on card.
Many customers feel that some card charges are unfair and proceed to cancel the card without paying these. But the bank will not cancel the card unless […] Read more

Things to Know- Direct Equity and Equity Funds

Here are the few things that you must know about direct equity and equity funds:
1. Equity mutual funds allow you to invest in equity through a portfolio created and managed to a process by a specialist. So they offer the benefit of diversification with a small investment.
2. When a mutual fund buys and sells stocks, there is no tax impact on the scheme. In direct equity investors have to incur the capital gains tax and securities transaction tax every time they sell shares.
3. In direct equity, the cost of transacting shares in a portfolio has to be borne by the investor. The option […] Read more