Available Tax Saver option in Section 80C

When we talk about tax planning, most common term flash in mind is Section 80C. The Section 80C offers various options to fulfill people’s different need. In Jan-March quarter most of the person rush for tax saving instrument and often make wrong decision in hurry. They don’t even realize that they have invested their money in those products which is really not suited them. The right time to make tax plan is the beginning of fiscal year (April-May).Today I am throwing some light on those products which are available in under section 80C.

Provident Fund: It is the very common and popular in service class people. As employer deduct the some portion of money for contribution in provident fund from employee’s salary. PF gives 8.5% per annum and is very secure in terms of safety. Employee can liquidate it at the time of retirement. However, partial withdrawal is also permitted with some condition. 

Public Provident Fund or PPF: It is very good option available with low risk and offer tax free return after maturity. It offer return market linked for current year it is 8.8%.The lock-in period is 15 year but partial withdrawal is possible after fifth year.

Bank Fix Deposit: The 5 year bank fix deposit is also available. Various bank offer return 8-9% this year (See earlier blog). The return is taxable as per one’s tax slab. The lock in period is 5 year. It is low risk product but keep in mind the post tax return also before investing in fix deposit.

National Saving Certificates or NSCs: It offer 8.5% return and is very safe investment. The lock in period of these instruments are 5 and 10 years. The person can choose any maturity 5 or 10 year based on their need.

Senior Citizen’s Saving Scheme: It offer 9.3 % return and added in taxable income. It is the most suitable option for senior citizens (above age 60 year) as it gives regular interest income in each quarter. It has no risk and very safe investment option. The lock-in period is 5 year.

Insurance Policies: It is long term product and lock in period depend on plan’s maturity. It has highest degree of safety but its average return around 6-7% only.

ULIP or Unit Linked Insurance Plan: The return is market linked as no fix return offer. Partial withdrawals possible. It is in the form of bundle which offer insurance, tax exemption and return also. The cost and charges is high compare with other products. The risk is depend on which option you have chosen.

ELSS or Equity Linked Saving Scheme: It is market linked product. There is no fix return. The lock in period for this product is 3 year. It has shortest lock-in period among all Section 80C options. It is high risky investment product.

NPS or National Pension Scheme: It is retirement goal oriented product. No withdrawal allowed before retirement. The return is market linked and it has very low expense ratio means low cost product.

Besides the above mentioned investment products which are in under section 80C, there are some expenses also eligible in under this section.

Home loan repayment: Principal portion of EMI is eligible for deduction till Rs 1,00,000 limit.

School Fees: Tuition fees of up to two children in a recognized educational institute for eligible for Section 80C

Home Purchase: During the purchase of home whatever stamp fee and registration fee you pay is also deductible from taxable income.

There is also other option available for tax deduction other than Section 80C which we will discuss later. If you want more clearity on these products pleas ask through email

Regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com

Tax Saving Bank Fix Deposit : Good option at present

With the beginning of the new year now most of the people has started tax planning.  It is widely expected that RBI (Reserve Bank of India) are going to rate cut in its January Monetary Policy Review. The 5 year tax saving fixed deposit is also a good option for people who want to save using the 80C section as the interest rate is already at high. Under this tax saving fix deposit there is 5 year lock in period. Banks are offering 0.50% more to senior citizen. The list of bank which is offering high interest rate on its tax saving fix deposit among other peer. Before investing in this fix deposit keep in mind the interest you earn is taxable.

Sr	Bank Name	Interest Rate
1	City Union Bank	9.50%
2	Bank of Baroda	9.0%
3	IDBI Bank	9.0%
4	Indian Overseas Bank	9.0%
5	State Bank of Travancore	9.0%
6	Vijaya Bank	9.0%
7	Bank of Maharashtra	8.75%
8	HDFC Bank	8.75%
9	Karur Vaisya Bank	8.75%
10	State Bank of India	8.75%
11	South Indian Bank	8.75%
12	Allahabad Bank	8.5%
13	Canara Bank	8.5%
14	Central Bank of India	8.5%
15	J&K Bank	8.5%
16	Punjab National Bank	8.5%
17	ICICI Bank	8.5%
18	Kotak Bank	8.5%
19	Axis Bank	8.0%

There are many more bank offering such type of fix deposit. Please check it at your end also. If you have any other query about investment and financial planning feel free to ask.

Regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com

Basic rules for investing

New Year, New Hopes and revisit some basic investment rules

First of all Very Happy and prosperous year 2013 to all of you. New year has already begun with new hope and optimisim in equity market. Yesterday, Nifty and Sensex were closed at 2 year high and now the market sentiments appear quiet positive in near term. Today I will not write lengthy article. At the beginning  of year, it is important to make some financial resolution and don’t repeat past mistakes.

There are few basic investment rules of investing and I am sure many of those rules you already know. I am attempting here to those rule revisit in very compact manner.

1)   Before make any investment decision, first know your networth.

2)   Be clear about your financial goal and honestly asses your needsand income

3)   Don’t investment in hurry and never investment in those products which you don’t understand

4)   If you have not properly insured then calculate your actually needed insurance cover and purchase term insurance online if possible

5)   Purchase mediclaim policy and personal accident policy also as it is very important

6)   Understand your risk appetite. If you cannot see 25% value erosion of your portfolio then stock market is not right place for you.

7)   If you are near about retirement please keep away from ULIP and insurance like product and reduce your equity investment and increase debt portfolio.

8)   Track your portfolio time to time and change your asset allocation according to time frame of your goal and market condition.

9)   Always pay your credit card bill on time as it has very high interest charges.

10)                If you feel any problem to understand or you have not enough time to take care of your investment find one financial planner and discuss with him about your financial planning and doubt.

There are much more basic rules and we will discuss about them this entire year in detail. Once again I wish for all of you a very happy, Healthy and prosperous year.

Regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com

Amazing Return from Equity Mutual Fund

Spectacular Return of Reliance Growth Fund

A few days back I have got one mail from Etica Wealth Management Pvt Ltd about one of reliance mutual fund scheme. I am share that same mail with all of you for your knowledge point of view.

Did you know that Rs 1,00,000 invested in Oct 1995 in Reliance Growth Fund has grown to Rs 50,11,800 in Dec 2012. This works out to a whopping 50 times growth in 17 years i.e an annualized return of 25.61% p.a. Doesn't it sound incredible? Which other investment avenue has given such fabulous return consistently over such a long period and that too completely tax-free. Investors generally talk about Real Estate and Gold as the best form of investment but if you look at the past data, equity as an asset class has outperformed both these popular form of investments quite comfortably. Few days back, we saw an article in ET of a flat being sold in Samudra Mahal (one of Mumbai's most iconic residential apartment in Worli at a price of around Rs 1,10,000 per sq ft which sounded almost unbelievable. But if you dig little deeper, you would know that this only works out to a return of around 12-13% p.a over the last 30 years. On the other hand, the BSE Sensex has given an average return of 17% p.a in the similar period which goes completely unnoticed.

But the sad part is, though the fund has generated such meteoric returns, investor never makes such kind of money. Peter Lynch, one of the greatest fund managers of all-time has once said "My fund has made money, but my investors hasn't". He was referring to the performance of Fidelity Magellan fund which has generated a return of 22% p.a since 1963 till the time he was the fund manager, while the investors have hardly made any returns depending on when they entered and exited. Can't believe it? The reason is simple. When the investor makes quick returns in the fund, he withdraws the money too soon thinking that he will put it back when the market comes down which somehow never happens. While in Real Estate / Gold, people just buy and forget it and naturally in the long term, the asset value grows. Whereas, the moment an investor buys a stock or invest in a mutual fund, he will start tracking the value from the next second even though he promises to be a long term investor. And this is the reason, he exits too early. This is called the "ticker effect" i.e he continuously starts tracking the price on CNBC (the moving line which displays stock prices). But in Real Estate because there are no minute by minute price updates, he has no choice but to hold it.

Finally, it is easy to create wealth in the long term, provided we have the patience. Just like Rome was not built in a day, wealth creation will not happen overnight. Stay through the course and you will also be proud of your financial life some day.

Regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com

More detail about (RGESS) Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme

After a long waiting for which instruments would be made available for investing in the (RGESS) Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Schemes, SEBI finally has come with norms and clarified it through a recent circular, which securities will be eligible scheme. It is clarified that the following securities would be considered eligible for RGESS. The following investment product would be eligible for this scheme:

(A) Close-ended mutual funds (which are traded and listed on stock exchanges)

           (B) Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) except Gold ETF

          (C) Equity shares of BSE-100 , CNX-100, Maharatna, Navaratna and  Miniratna Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs)  including their Follow-on Public Offers (FPOs) and only those IPOs of PSUs with Government stake not less than 51%, having revenue of Rs 4,000 crore in the last three years                                   

RGESS scheme provides a 50% tax rebate to new retail investors or first time investors who invest upto Rs 50,000 in the aforesaid eligible securities and whose annual income is below Rs 10 lakh. RGESS has an overall lock-in period of 3 years, but investors are allowed to sell / pledge / hypothecate their securities after the expiry of the mandatory lock-in period 1 year. The period after the end of the mandatory lock-in period, which is called as the flexible lock-in period can be used to trade in the eligible securities provided you as a new retail investor ensure that the demat account under the said scheme is compliant for a cumulative period of a minimum of 270 days during each of the two years of the flexible lock-in period. If investments done in instalments then 1 year mandatory lock-in and 2 years flexible lock-in period would be consider from last investment date.

The Government in its notification has permitted  grace period of three trading days from the end of the financial year so that the eligible securities purchased on the last trading day of the financial year also get credited in the investor’s demat account and such securities shall be deemed to have been purchased in the financial year itself. However, the deduction claimed will be withdrawn if the lock-in period requirements of the investment are not complied with or any other condition of the scheme is violated.

Now the question, who is eligible for this scheme as a new or a first time investor. It would be certified by the depositories to that an investor is a new investor or first timer. They have the power to seek information from exchanges on investor transactions through their RGESS designated demat account. After the expiry of the period of holding of the investment of RGESS,the demat account automatically converted into ordinary demat account.

By this scheme government has attemped to increase retail participation in capital market and helped them to create wealth creation through long term investment.

If you have any query regarding investment please feel free to ask.

Regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com

Mantra for wealth creating in long term

When you have read the above heading before read the entire article it seems very exciting. Most of the person may think that there would be a unique formula for wealth creation in this article but I would share some important guideline and principle which seem very simple but I am sure implementing this is not so simple. For implementing these mantras of growing wealth, one need to understand the logic and the concept of wealth creating from root level. So now I am going to share with you some principal to become successful investor.

(A) Find a good financial planner and discuss with him about your near and future financial goal, your current asset and liabilities and other vital information asked by the planner. A financial planner will definitely help you to educate about basic money management, to know your risk profile, make financial plan, informed  investment decision and goal based financial plan.

(B) Make regular investment through SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) and get benefit of rupee cost averaging. Recommended SIP by your financial planner will help you to create wealth in long term. Patience is the key to successful investing. Stay invested through entire market cycle whether bull or bear. Never try to time the market, invest in both bull and bear market and reap the benefit of wealth creation.

(C) Be in touch with your planner and discuss about the market environment. If need then rebalance your portfolio according to market phase after discussing with your planner. 

(D) Stay away from complex product like ULIP. Keep simple approach towards investment, not indulge with these product which you don’t understand properly. Invest in those products which are transparent and you understand better.

(E) Never mix your insurance and investment need. There is not a single product in the market which fulfill your insurance and investment need both.

(F)  Choose your financial planner very carefully because it is like your family doctor. Ask educational and professional qualification and assess the knowledge of your planner.

(G) Start investment as early as possible. If you delay one year your investment you will loose as much as you cannot imagine. For understand it better discuss it with your planner.

(H) Don’t invest not only for tax deduction purpose, understand risk, return and your need also. Make your tax plan at the beginning of financial year and avoid march month tax saving race.

The above mentioned few mantras are essential for every successful investor. For understanding it in detail contact any qualified financial planner. Keep it in your mind and think about this before you going for any investment.

If you have any query regarding investment please feel free to ask.

Regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com

REC Tax Free Bonds

REC Tax Free Bond : Is it right tax saving instrument for every tax payer ?

Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) is the first company to start offering tax free bonds in this financial year 2012 – 13 and their issue opens on December 3rd 2012 and ends on December 10 2012. Such type of issues may come sure in next 3 months. Now the common question among investors whether they should invest or not in this tax free bond issue.

Why you should invest ?

First of all it is ideal instrument for 30% or 20% tax bracket investors only. There is not much difference in different companies tax free bond. More or less almost all companies offer same return and for the security issue of your investment amount, these all issues are secured by government’s support. If you invest in bank fix deposit, the money insured up to Rs 1 lakh only. So for security of your investment amount these bonds have more score than bank fix deposit.
Interest income on these bonds being tax-free, the returns are higher than the after-tax returns on bank fixed deposits for investors in the 30 per cent tax bracket. The maximum highest interest rate available on bank deposits is 9.5 per cent compounded quarterly after tax adjusted return it gives 6.8% to 30 percent tax slab investor. So it is much lower than the REC tax free bond offer. It is the best option for 30% tax bracket investors. For 20 % tax bracket investor it is not much attractive for return wise but at the safety point of view they also can consider it. The interest rate on tax free bonds is also capped to the average G-Sec yield of the same maturity so there’s not much you can expect in terms of a better rate.

Features of REC Tax Free Bond Issue

There are two series of bonds, one with a 10 year maturity and another with a 15 year maturity and then there are 4 categories of investors that can invest in them. Retail investors are under category IV an get 7.72 % for 10 year and 7.88% for 15 years tenure.
It is available in both physical and dematerialized form. It means that no demat account is necessary to buy these bonds. Bonds will be listed within 15 days of closing of issue on both NSE and BSE. This bonds are exempt under Section 10 (15)(iv)(h) of the Income Tax Act 1961.
There are four categories of investors for these bonds and the last category of investors which is the retail category get a higher interest rate (half a percent). A retail investor is someone who invests less than Rs. 10 lakhs in these bonds.
It has got excellent rating from rating agencies. They have been rated CRISIL AAA/Stable by CRISIL, CARE AAA by CARE, IND AAA by IRRPL and ICRA AAA by ICRA. The interest on the REC tax free bonds will be paid once a year on December 1st.
If you purchase it from secondary market then you will get lower rate from primary market (directly from company) and this difference is half percent.
In the last I would like to say that it is good investment avenue for 30 % and 20% tax bracket investor. But keep in mind first plan your sec 80(c) tax deduction benefit and after that you should plan such types of bonds.

Regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com