Factors you should remember to lead a tension free & financially fit life.

Let us think of a situation where, for example a person has taken a loan, spent it and failed to repay it on time. After 1 year the person again applied for a loan for a trip to France with his beloved wife. But this time the bank refused to sanction the loan. This situation can easily shatter a person’s dream and similar situations are happening everyday in various parts of the world. But people often overlook few factors which are very important in deciding one’s future. Whenever we get a sum of money we spend it in an unplanned way. But the fact is wealth comes when money works for us and to make it work we must take care of some basic factors which will really help in judging where we stand and what we should do, to lead a tension free and hassle free financial life

Credit Report

It is one of the most important factors one should take into account before a fresh loan application. As per the federal law one can get a free credit report every 12 months form each of the three national credit reporting companies. This report is a snapshot about one’s creditworthiness and it will tell how much a person is eligible to get a loan .Online facility is also there and annualcreditreport.com is such an authentic online source.

Timely payment of Bills

This factor must be always taken care of as failure in paying the bills timely can easily hamper or lower a person’s credit score. If a person cannot pay the bills timely due to work pressure or lack of time it is advisable to go for automatic payment modes available in almost all the Banks. But there must be enough amounts in the account to avoid overdraft fees.

Factors which determine your credit score

Timely payment of bills: Late payment always will lower down your score. so it must be always avoided

Outstanding debt: If the amount of debt is close to the credit limit then it is regarded as a negating factor and your score will come down. So such a situation must be avoided to improve your credit score.

Duration of credit history: A short credit history is always a negative factor in deciding a credit score, but it can be balanced through timely payment.

Number of new credit application: If you have applied for too many accounts within a short period of time, it will act negatively in deciding your credit score.

Types of credit accounts: The credit scoring models often consider the number & type of accounts in deciding the score. If your account is a mix of installment loan and credit card account then it can improve your score.

You can yourself improve your credit report:

It is a dynamic system introduced by the federal Trade commission through which a person can himself/herself improve his/her credit report by correcting the errors. You can directly go to their website (www.ftc.gov) to do the same.

Terrorism: adding fuel to the fire of global financial crisis

India, despite of many internal problems is rising as a major power. Financially the potential of India has gone considerably high. But the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, not only shook the whole world, but also gave this rising economy a major blow. The series of deadly attacks in Mumbai on Thursday, which continued for around three days, forced the National Stock Exchange and the Commodity exchange to close down. So it is just pouring fuel in the fire. The whole world is already traumatized due to the global financial crisis and this event literally accelerated the situation in India making it even more worse. The Reserve Bank has already closed the bond and foreign exchange market. The Indian market is a paradise for the foreign sellers of Indian assets. But this situation has resulted in steep fall in rupee and gave a massive blow to the market confidence. The risk premium of the major lender bank, The State Bank of India rose considerably. Mr. Joseph Tan, the chief Asian economist in the credit Suisse, Singapore has stated that in this present global situation, the recent attacks in Mumbai created negativity in the minds of the foreign investors. This is quite obvious as people from all over the world suffered and many key personnel from US, Germany, UK, and France etc have witnessed the incident and many more died. Its also being predicted that when the stock market will open in India, it will open considerably down as compared to other Asian stock markets. The rupee closed Wednesday's trading at 49.48 per dollar. Now it figures among the weakest currencies in Asia along with the Indonesian currency and Korean currency, which have dropped by 20% against the dollar. The foreign investors have already withdrawn dollar 13.5 billion dollar from the Indian stock market compared with a withdrawal of 34 billion dollar from the South Korean market and 22 billion dollar from the Japanese market. Similar situation with a much higher intensity was earlier faced by USA following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. If we look into the pattern of attacks we will find that the terrorists always attacks major points which is directly connected with the trade ,commerce & finance of a country, in order to cripple a country financially. Tourism in India attracts huge revenue and throughout the year flocks of foreigners come to India. Thus these attacks in major international luxury hotels gave a massive blow to the tourism industry in India.

It is a fact that when someone is trying to develop himself/herself, others will try to destroy him/her. This is the situation which most of the major powers in the world are facing. This situation will definitely cool down and everything will become normal and we will forget everything. Nowadays most of the discussion revolves around the global financial crisis. Banks and financial institutions are blaming the governments, the government is blaming them for their faulty policy, and we are blaming each other and everyday finding new theories to solve the crisis. But terrorism is another major factor and if this factor comes to the forefront, then no theories will work, no financial analysts and economists can solve it. But inspite of all these we are overlooking this major problem which is preparing itself hard to come to the top of the list. As a result the root problem is remaining same, preparing itself for a next attack. So its enough. Enough we have tolerated the evil intensions. So lets come together and fight this evil because next time it can happen anywhere and we are not safe at all and if it happens again then the crisis which the whole world is facing, will never come to an end.

You can still make money in this crisis period.

The current global financial crisis has become a part of our lives. Most of the people around the world are reacting fearfully to the situation as the role model of the world economy; the US economy is facing the main problem resulting in global downsizing programme, inflation rates going high almost touching the sky. This as a whole is affecting other countries of the world some way or the other. People have stopped thinking about the improvement in the present situation as they are finding no ways to escape. The most frustrated are those people who had invested huge money in the equity market and now the value of their portfolio have become half or less than half. Now taking care of this, think of a situation where an investment professional from any Bank or any Insurance company comes to you to show any investment plan. What will be your reaction? I think you will not even give any appointment to him as every investment plan will seem to be of no use to you. But have you ever thought that 1 year earlier you were jumping thinking that you would become a millionaire. I think if you handle this situation smartly you can still make profit. The only thing which is in your purview is Positive mentality and in this situation only positive moves can pull you back from the financial quick sand.

From my experience in investment banking I can only say that this is the best time to invest. This is just like a chance God has given us to accumulate as much as we can. Have you ever thought that this situation will arrive and take away your smile? This is because no one can accurately predict the future. Similarly after 3 months if you find out that the market is recovering and within next 8-9 months it has again performed tremendously then the pain will be much higher. Smart people will always try to en cash upon this situation. Besides its better to go for long term investment plan. People often do the mistake by playing on a short-term basis and setting short term goals. But in many matters time is a big factor. Warren Buffet has invested time to become what he is today

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I have seen people investing in open ended mutual funds as they don’t think about the future. I think those people are the foulest though they think themselves very smart. This has resulted in a situation where only 20-30% Mutual funds actually mature giving full appreciation. It is suggestible that in this situation one should go for Unit Linked Insurance Plans as there will be capital protection as well as life protection. Besides in most ULIPs one has the flexibility to switch fund. So in this situation if someone keeps 30 % of his/her funds in equity portfolio and 70% in the debt instruments then he/she can be in a no profit no gain keeping a large portion of his/her investment safe just like a traditional deposit fund. So when the market will recover one can easily change the portfolio in a vice versa manner. If someone is a pure equity market player and invests mainly in pure equities through online trading accounts, it is suggestible to buy good stocks and play with them in delivery. Don’t go for derivatives or intra-day in this situation. It might had happened to you that you wanted top buy a stock but the price was too high for you to purchase . But now buying your dream shares has become very easy. Earlier a share which used to cost say around $100 has come down to around $30 -40. So think of the situation where you buy 1000 those shares and one fine morning you hear that the market is expected to recover and go back to its previous situation .Thus the time has come to stop crying & blaming others and act smartly to fulfill your dream which can be best realized in the present situation

VPI Pet Insurance: the best gift for your pets.

For ages pets are considered to be human's best friend. Petting is an idea which is not new and from the ancient period this practice is in wide use. The pet lovers will agree the fact that , animals posses an unique power to make the humans happy, help them during emergency and create a positive environment altogether. Often the parents of a single child prefer to keep a pet so that his/her child can play with it. Besides the psychologists are of the opinion that the selfish and self centered habits doesn't develop in a child if from childhood they learn to love Pets and play with them. Gradually over the period of time it has been understood that animals(both pets and wild) are very useful resource to the nature. Besides various non profit animal rights organizations have also showed us the value of pets and other animals. But what we are doing for their well being and security?

The answer to this is VPI or Veterinary Pet Insurance. Whenever the question of money matters or finance arises , it revolves around the humans. But its time to think for your pets. VPI is America's number1 pet insurance recommended by 94 % of the vets and it is the most important tool to protect your beloved and cute pet from serious diseases, lab tests, surgeries. Besides in the police and firefighting , dogs play an important role and their protection and health must be strongly taken care of and VPI is the most authentic option for it. 86 percent of veterinarians are of the opinion that they would like to see wider use of pet health insurance among the pet owners, agreeing it gives their clients peace of mind. Nearly half a million of pet owners of America enrolled with a Vet Insurance Policy which proves the credibility and authenticity of the policy. A survey tells that out of every 10 Vets ,9 recommends to buy a VPI.

So if you are a true pet lover and planning to do something for your pet apart from your own financial planning,then the best option would a Veterinary Pet Insurance as Pets are the prized posessions who will always love you selflessly.

Investing huge capital cannot just make you rich. It is just a matter of acting Smartly

In this fast paced world one dream is common to all, & that is “making money”, to become the richest person in the world. We all love to dream and especially when we are sitting idle many revolutionary ideas come to our mind & we think that we can really bring a change, create something unique .Everyone likes to think of the ideal state. But the next day if some investment banker calls us up and asks for an appointment to show us a really good investment plan, we turn him down because to most of the people investment is just a dream and they are not ready to accept that a systematic investment can really make them rich. We think that if we do not invest huge amount, we cannot gain high returns. Now here lies the purpose of the article to show you and motivate you about the fact that only attitude and smart thinking can really make a difference to your life. If for this purpose an example is to be set , then I think the biggest motivating example is a Living legend, known as Mr. Warren Edward Buffet. In this article you will get to know about his historical timeline, which will be enough to motivate you and pinch you to start right now.

Warren Buffett is an American, businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the world's most smartest yet simple life leading investors and the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is declared as the richest man in the world by Forbes with an estimated net worth of $62.0 billion.

His Historical Timeline

1943

At the age of 13 Warren filed his first income tax return, his bicycle and watch as a work expense for $35 for his work as newspaper delivery boy.

1945

At the age of 15 warren and one of his friends purchase a used pinball machine by just spending $25, which they placed in a barber shop. Within months, they owned three machines in different locations.

1950

At the age of 20 Warren applied for admission to Harvard Business School but was turned down. Buffett got admission in the Columbia Business School after learning that Benjamin Graham and David Dodd two well-known securities analysts, taught there.

1951

At 21 years of age Warren was graduated from Columbia and wanted to work on Wall Street, but his father and Ben Graham didn’t want him to do so. He purchased a Sinclair Texaco gas station as a side investment, but that venture did not work out as well .In the meanwhile he worked as a stockbroker.

1952

At the age of 22 Buffett married Susan Thompson.

1954

When Warren was 24 years old Benjamin Graham offered Buffett a job at his partnership with a starting salary of $12,000 a year. Here, he worked closely with Walter Schloss.

1956

When Warren was 26, Benjamin Graham decided to retire and close his partnership. But by then Warren’s personal savings has reached to $140,000. Buffett returned home to Omaha and created Buffett Partnership Ltd., an investment partnership

1957

At 27 Warren already built three partnerships operating the entire year.Buffett purchased a five-bedroom stucco house in Omaha for $31,500, in which he still lives,.

1959

At 29 Warren had six partnerships operating the entire year.

1960

At 30 Warren Buffet had seven partnerships operating the entire year.The partnerships were: Buffett Associates, Buffett Fund, Dacee, Emdee, Glenoff, Mo-Buff, and Underwood.

1962

At 32 Warren became a millionaire because his partnerships, in January 1962, had in excess of $7,178,500 of which over $1,025,000 belonged to him. He merged all partnerships into one partnership. He discovered a textile manufacturing firm, Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett's partnerships began purchasing shares at $7.60 per share.

1965

When Warren was 35 years of age, his partnerships aggressively began purchasing Berkshire; by paying $14.86 per share while the company had working capital (current assets minus current liabilities) of $19 per share. He took entire control of Berkshire Hathaway at the board meeting and named a new president, Ken Chace, to run the company.

1967

At the age of 37 Warren’s Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents.

1969

The age of 39 and the year proved to be very much successful; whenWarren liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners. Among the assets paid out were shares of Berkshire Hathaway.

1970

At 40 Warren as the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, began writing his now-famous annual letters to shareholders.

1973

Berkshire began to acquire stock in the Washington Post Company. Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper, and became a member of its board of directors.

1977

At 47 years of age, Warren indirectly purchased the Buffalo Evening News for $32.5 million. Antitrust charges started.

1979

When warren was 49 years,Berkshire began to acquire stock in ABC. With the stock trading at $290 per share, Warren’s net worth neared $140 million. However, he lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year.Berkshire began the year trading at $775 per share, and ended at $1,310. Warren’s net worth reached $620 million, placing him on the Forbes 400 for the first time.

1987

Berkshire Hathaway purchased 12% stake in Salomon Inc., making it the largest shareholder and Warren Buffet the director.

1988

At 58 years, Warren Buffett began buying stock in Coca-Cola Company, eventually purchasing up to 7 percent of the company for $1.02 billion. It would turn out to be one of Berkshire's most lucrative investments, and one which it still holds.

1999

Warren was declared the top money manager of the twentieth century in a survey by the Carson Group.

2006

At the age of 75,Warren declared in June that he would give away 85% of Berkshire’s holdings to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

2007

In a letter to shareholders, Warren announced that he was looking for a younger successor, to look after his investment business. Buffet had previously selected Lou Simpson, who runs investments at Geico, to take up the responsibility. But, Simpson was only six years younger than Buffett.

2008

At the age of 77, Warren Buffet id declared as the richest person in the world, worth $62 billion, by Forbes, breaking the record of Bill Gates who was on the number 1 position for 15 consequent years.

After reading this you will be enough motivated to give up just thinking and will start doing. Smart moves can really make you rich.

Downsizing: a sedetive to kill the Financial pain.

In response to the present global financial crisis and the crisis faced by the US economy in over 80 years, CITI Group, a New york based financial giant has decided to cut 52000 jobs and it has been clearly and formally announced by the authorities on Monday.The main reason behind this drive is to recover the net loss of $20 billion, which the bank has incurred over the past few years. Another logic given by Mr Vikram Pandit,CEO,CITI Group is that the group is planning to implement a new restructuring policy followed by the job cut. It has also been seen by the authorities that the present job cut of around 52000 employees will reduce the cost upto 20%. According to sources, as of end of 2007 the CITI group had 375000 employees and as of september 30, it has 352000 employees. So the latest job cut will bring the total headcount to 300000. Earlier in April CITI Group decided to cut 17,000 jobs, shift 9,500 jobs to low cost locations, under pressure from the investors. The recent descision will affect the Europeon employees the most as CITI Group has its Europe headquarter in London with a total workforce of more than 10000 employees.The CITI Group Executives are under tremendous pressure from the investors to improve performance. The executives are of the opinion that this move will not really save the cost but will slow down the growth process. But it will still unknown that whether CITI Group will cut the jobs of top executives. Thus we can say that Win Bischoff, Chairman, CITI Group , will be spared. The worldwide situation is also same where countries like UK ,France,Japan, Hongkong,India are also facing the same problem as recession is crippling all of them. In a totality all the major Banking giants worldwide has already downsized jobs by 100000. Financial Organizations like Goldman Sachs has also started its downsizing programme by cutting 3200 jobs followed by Morgan Stanley who will cut jobs by 10%,Royal Bank of Scotland deciding to slash 3000 jobs. In Hong Kong ,HSBC has also slashed 450 jobs.The present Financial pain has engulfed the global market & corporates in such a way that the only option available to them is "Downsizing". No financial theories are working well on the situations,even experts have lost the direction to predict the positives.The only option available to deal with this situation is to just wait & watch with patience as only the upward movement of the global financial curve can improve the situation.

Want to make your child a Rocket Scientist?:You can really make your dream come true.

Every parents want their children to become the most successful, most powerful figure in the world. This dream is common to almost all the parents in the world. But dreams are easy to see and challenging to fulfill. The world has become a global village and nowadays the local corporate affairs have really become global, making this world a much more competitive & challenging place to survive. Everyone is running after their dreams but less than half is fulfilled. All the companies are running after profit, people are running after them to fetch a good earning to sustain, and the rising tide of inflation rate is running after people to make them even more miserable. I think the present scenario is affecting the people so much that parents are giving up dreaming as they have become confused and unpredictable about the future of this present situation. But its time for a GOOD NEWS. We all know the saying that "where there is a will, there is a way" and the US government has showed the "WILL" by introducing the idea of a PLUS loan(PARENT LOAN FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS) which is sponsored federally for the undergraduate and dependent students. With the help of this , a parent can now dream of making his child a "Rocket Scientist" or a "Doctor" as they have got the best funding options to support their child's education.

Criteria for getting the Loan and basic features.
Parents can apply for the loan if they are doing it for the education of their undergraduate or dependent children.Parents of dependent students are eligible to get the loan. Besides the incumbent must be a US citizen. Before application a Credit check is also need to be done. One can take a loan equal to the full cost of his/her child's education. After a new law being enforced by the federal government on 1st July 2006, the interest rate of the loan taken on or after the mentioned date is fixed at 8.5%. The repayment starts after 60days of disbursement of the loan. But a parent can postpone the repayment if his/her child remains enrolled in the course or drops out or continue with the course. But a prior intimation through an written application furnishing the reason must be produced.