How can budgeting make you grow your money and help become financially free? A lot of time I come across people who have big cars, apartments in big cities, luxury watches and all of the stuff which you might think can be afforded by only someone who earns at least a couple of hundred thousand dollars a month. But the sad reality is that they have taken debt for such things and fallen into the vicious debt cycle. Because in today's world you can get debt for anything. This debt not only takes away your sanity and peace of mind, but it also sucks away all your earning because eventually, you are paying off more money in form of interest for something which is not worth that much. This problem arises mainly due to not budgeting all your expenses and incomes and not being aware of where your money went. Today, I just want you to take away from this blog how you can manage your money in a well-designed manner and can achieve financial freedom in a matter of a few years. ...

What profession is pursued by the 10 richest people in the world? 1. Jeff Bezos: Jeff Bezos has a net worth of an astounding $131 billion. He is the founder and CEO of the e-commerce company Amazon (founded in 1994). He also owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin. Amazon made a net profit of $10 billion last year. His stake in Amazon is 16%. 2. Bill Gates: Bill Gates  has a net worth of $96.5 billion. He founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975. He is also the Chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable foundation. As of today, his stake in Microsoft is only 1%. He has donated $35.8 billion worth of Microsoft stock to the Gates Foundation. 3. Warren Buffett: Warren Buffett  has a net worth of $82.5 billion. He is one of the most successful investors of all time. He runs the Berkshire Hathaway, which owns more than 60 companies, including Geico, Duracell, and Dairy Queen. He bought a stock at age 11 and filed taxes at the age...

What are the factors to consider before getting out of debt? A majority of the population does not have basic amenities like a home and so people end up taking a loan after their job in order to provide for the same. It is very clear that a loan is taken only because of the inability to shell out all your money towards buying a home. One can't have a home and have nothing to eat. So yes, one ends up paying huge interest on the EMIs. As time passes by the disposable income of people increase and then arises a question. Should I repay the loan now and prevent myself from paying interest to the bank? However, this question is not that straight. A variety of factors play a role in deciding whether you should pay off your debt or not. Here is a list of factors for in-depth understanding: The interest rate on the loan: The typical interest rate on a home loan is around 9% to 11%, which is significantly higher than what you get on a fixed deposit or a savings account. On the ...

What are the different investment schemes that are provided by the government? Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana: This scheme was launched by the prime minister Narendra Modi for the betterment of women literacy rate. Girls should not be left behind and so a campaign "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao" started in 2015. An account can be opened anytime between 0 to 10 years of age in the name of the daughter. The account is operative until the girl reaches 21 years of age and the minimum and maximum investment in the policy are Rs.1000 and Rs.150000 respectively. National Pension Scheme: This is one of the most successful and famous schemes that was launched by the government. An account can be opened by anyone between the age of 18 to 60 and you also get a tax benefit for investing in this fund. For government employees this scheme is compulsory. The scheme aims to provide a financially stable retirement. The money is invested in bonds, government securities, and equities. Public Prov...

What is the time value of money and what is its significance? Time value of money tells us that the value of a dollar today is more than the value of a dollar tomorrow. In easy language, if you are given an option to take 1 lakh rupees today or after 1 year, then you should aim to take the money today itself. The reason is that the cost of commodities rises due to inflation and thereby you are able to buy less quantity of a certain good. Another reason is that you lose the ability to earn interest on the money for 1 year. For example, Rs.1,00,000 can be put in an FD which can give a return of 7% and therefore growing your money to 1,07,000. Time value of money is sometimes referred to as present discounted value.  Now, one might question how is this concept relevant and where can it be applied. The answer is that TVM allows you to calculate the present value of any future cash flows and therefore helps in analyzing which investment or an annuity would be a bett...

How much money do you need to retire? What do you think when you hear about "retirement"? Usually, we think about doing a 9 to 5 job for 30 years and then retiring when we get old. Retirement is mostly associated with old age. However, one can still choose to retire between 40-45 years of age or maybe even earlier if you have accumulated the right amount of money after considering future financial requirements. So let's take a hypothetical example: Ram is a 28-year-old man who is married to Rina and they both have 2 kids, a boy, and a girl. At the moment Ram is satisfied with his lifestyle arrangement and he is planning to retire by the age of 45. He also wants his children to pursue higher education in the future. Simultaneously he intends to save for his daughters' marriage as well. After completing all his responsibilities as a parent, he wants to have a happy and vibrant retirement where he is financially strong and can travel every...

What is the Superannuation Scheme and how much can an employee withdraw from the same?  We all have at least heard about Employee's Provident Fund, National Pension Scheme and Public Provident Fund. In this blog, you will get to know about the Superannuation Scheme which is now widely held by employers these days. What is the Superannuation Scheme: The Superannuation Scheme is also one of the retirement benefits which an employer may choose to opt for. This fund encourages the employees to stay in the company for a longer duration and also encourages the employer as this fund can be deducted as a business expense for the employer's company. One can make better investment decisions if he is aware of the superannuation corpus he has accumulated. Particulars about the Superannuation Scheme:  Max Limit: 15% of (Basic Salary + Dearness Allowance) is contributed by the employer. The employee also has an option to contribute towards this scheme but only in the case o...

What is passive income and what are a few ways to increase passive income? What is passive income? Passive income is that source of income that comes in your bank account even if  you have little or no  involvement in the source of that income  stream i.e. you might be chilling with your niggas at a  hill  station and your  bank account would still  keep getting credited each and every day without you being actively involved in the setup from where the income arrives.  What are a few ways to increase passive income? Real Estate Investment:  This is a two-way return model. The first is the capital appreciation of the property and the second is the rental income from that property. Another benefit of Investing in real estate is that the profit earned from the sale of a property comes under the purview of capital gains tax. The tax on capital gains is only 20% instead of the 30% on salaried income( earnings being grea...