What is the difference between the snowball and avalanche method of debt repayment? Today majority of people buy electronic devices, cars, homes and pay higher studies expenses through borrowing loans from financial institutions and this has contributed to the global debt to be in trillions of dollars. Debt has become a major money eater for a lot of households and many people want to get rid of this money eater. Today, I will be giving you guys with two best strategies that people use to become debt free. The two methods are: 1.Snowball method: The snowball method of debt repayment involves paying off those debts first which are smaller in value. The reason why people follow this method is that it gives the person a sense of momentum and progress in his aim to eliminate debt. So for example, let us say you have the below mentioned portfolio of debt.  Debt Type Amount  Credit Card 18% $500  Car Loan 9% $3900  Student Loan14% $20000  Home Loan 7% $120000  I...

Have you been thinking of starting a business, but you get bogged down by the process, then you have landed to the right article. Listed below are the top 30 things to keep in mind when trying to plan and start your dream company: Product/Service: The first and foremost thing is to decide on what you plan to sell or provide to your clients. Basically, it is the idea that you want to implement. The way successful entrepreneurs approach this aspect is to solve a mass real life problem or a mass real life convenience that people didn't know they needed. Since business is something that you plan to do for a long period of time, choose a product or service that you are passionate about. This way your work doesn't feel like work but its fun to see things coming together. Sourcing of product/service: There are two options that you can either make your own product or ask a supplier for the same, but even if you are going to make your own product, in most cases you will have to get ra...

When does a card get hotlisted? Recently, I was purchasing some google domains through my debit card. Alright, so what? What happened is that just after the amount got debited from my account, I received a message that your debit card has been blocked. I didn't quite understand that what had happened and why am I receiving this message. To make sure I logged onto the net-banking platform to check the status of my debit card. To my surprise, I saw that the status has changed from "active" to "hotlisted". Yes, even I got confused. After some research I understood what was going on. So what happens is there is a fraud identification department in the banks, which keep a track on the transactions that you incur from your debit card. If they feel that any suspicious transaction has been done, then they block your card by making it hotlisted. Sometimes your card can even get hotlisted by organisations like VISA or MasterCard in the same case of suspicious transactions...

What factors to consider when taking a health insurance? The following are the factors that need to be considered when taking a mediclaim or health insurance. Pre and post expenses:  The policies usually have a time frame under which the expenses are covered. You should see for how many days prior to diagnosis of illness and for how many days post diagnosis the expenses are covered. A good policy will cover 30 days pre-illness to around 90 days post illness expenses for a claim. Premium: There are many companies that offer these insurance policies, however you will notice that the premiums for the same sum assured will vary from company to company. Therefore, you should do a prior research about the premiums and then look for where you can save money. Bed or per day room charges: There are policies that will mention that we cover the hospitalisation expenses only if you use the general ward, however, better services are provided to people with private rooms. So, read the documents ...

What is one of the most important skill for an entrepreneur? There are plenty of inventors in the world, one of the prominent one's being Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. Did you know that other than the incandescent light bulb, some of his other contributions to the world were the phonograph, the kinetoscope (motion picture device), the electric pen ( for duplicating hand-written documents in offices), the vitascope (a film projector), the tasimeter (a device to measure infrared radiation), and the electric power distribution system (to carry power from transmission system to individual consumers). Nikola Tesla, who is another amazing inventor of the alternative current supply system, was the mind behind inventions such as the remote control (which you use to control things wirelessly), the violet ray (a therapeutic medical device), the induction motor (yes the very same which Raju Rastogi in 3 idiots talked about), the neon lamp, the wireless telegraphy ( transmissi...

What are candlestick patterns and how to use them to trade stocks? - part 4 This is the last part of the series and we will be learning today the applications of candlestick patterns using the T.A.E. framework as used by the exceptional trader Rayner Teo.  What is the T.A.E. framework? The T.A.E. framework includes 3 aspects: The trend: First of all, it is important to know how the market is moving, which can be tracked by 200MA (a usual standard). 200MA is nothing but a 200 days moving average of the price of the particular stock. It is very easy to understand with the help of moving average whether there is an uptrend or a downtrend. If the price is above the 200 days moving average, you will have a long bias. A long bias means that you aim to purchase the stock in expectation of prices to rise and sell at the higher price. In similar fashion, if the price is below 200 days moving average, then you will have a short bias i.e. you will be selling the stock prior with the expectat...

What are candlestick patterns and how to use them to trade stocks? - part 3  In the previous part we talked about combining candlesticks to understand the market better, to identify whether the buyer is in control or the seller is in control. We also discussed about taking into consideration different time frames for candlesticks, so as to get a clear picture of the trend and predict the future price movement. Let's talk about few other important candlestick patterns. Dragonfly and Gravestone Doji: If you observe the above candlestick, you will see that it lacks the body and only has the wick. Even though the opening price and closing price for the session is the same, the market is not indecisive. Taking into consideration the Dragonfly Doji, it represents a sign of strength by the buyers. The reason being the sellers were in control and reduced the price but the buyers came back in and again influenced the price, now equivalent to the opening price. This is an indication of rejec...

What are candlestick patterns and how to use them to trade stocks? In the previous post we learned about how to read candle stick. A candlestick will show you who is in control of the market, the buyer or the sellers. What you need to do is look at the body and the wick and the body relative to the wick. Now, I am gonna discuss about candlestick timeframes: Candlestick time frames: In the above picture you will see a lot of green and red bars. Each bar represents the movement of stock price in a particular time frame. The time frame can be one hour or one day, depending on which timeframe chart you see. Suppose you are seeing a 60 min candlestick chart, it means, one bar will give you information about the opening price at the start of that hour, the highest or lowest price of that hour and the closing price at the end of the hour. However, when you see these charts, many times it doesn't make sense as to what is happening in the market and therefore, you might need ...

What are candlestick patterns and how to use them to trade stocks? Candlestick pattern, in simple words, is a method of technical analysis wherein the candlestick chart shows the stock price movement in the form of a graph and this pattern can be used to predict the future price movement in stocks. Now, this series is going to be for all the beginner traders as well and therefore, I will be starting off from the very basics. There are 4 main parts to see in a candlestick: Open: This is the price at which the trading session opens. High: This is the highest price that the stock touches during the session. Low: This is the lowest price that the stock touches in the session. Close: This is the price that the stock reaches when the trading session ends. Note: Session can change depending on the graph you are seeing, it can be an hour or a day etc. You will usually find two colours in candlestick: Green: A green bar is called a bullish bar and represents that the pr...

Which businesses can you start in this pandemic? A lot of us think about being an entrepreneur and the objective of an entrepreneur is to solve problems. What are you waiting for now? You have one of the biggest problems to address globally. This is the right time to start something that will really impact the lives of people. Below are a list of industries that are booming due to the coronavirus and you can start your business in any one of them. Cleaning industry: Today, the requirement for a clean work space or a clean locality has increased a lot and people want the areas where they visit to be sanitised. Sanitisation of places is a burning issue to be addressed and there is a requirement of professionals who can clean office spaces, commercial shops, hospitals, local communities and residential areas which are under the containment zones. E-learning industry: The e-learning industry is taking a new toll. With students and professionals caught up in their homes, either...

How much mortgage payment can a person afford for his house? It is indeed a dream for everyone to buy a house with all those super luxe amenities but there is always a question that will come in your mind. How much worth of house can I afford? This is apparently the most searched question about finance on google. So let's look at it. A typical household or an individual has all sorts of mortgages like house loan, car loan, student loan, credit card etc. So how can you really know what is the optimum price of the house that you can afford or in other way what is the maximum monthly EMI you should be targeting to pay. The 28/36 rule is what banks or lending institutions follow, and is also taken as a global standard. But what is this 28/36 rule. Let me break it down for you: The 28: It says that a household or an individual must spend a maximum of 28% of their gross monthly income on housing expenses. Housing expenses will involve your monthly payment towards principal a...

What are real estate investment trusts (REITs) and how do they work? Real estate investment trusts (REITs) were created by congress in 1960s to give all Americans an opportunity to benefit from income producing real estates. Today, nearly 40 countries have REITs and is getting more popular day by day in different countries. If I talk about India, the first listed REIT was of the Embassy Office Park in 2019. What are REITs and who can invest? A common perception that people hold is that, investing in real estate is a costly affair and it is very difficult for most people due to the liquidity constraints. REITs is the one stop solution for this. They are a good alternative to owning real estate directly. Just like anyone can invest in shares, people can also invest in REITs to earn majorly two kinds of income i.e. rental income and interest income. You might wonder where the interest came from. More often, REITs are classified into 2 categories, equity REITs and mortgage RE...