Sunday 16 June 2013

10 reasons for filing your Tax Returns on time

Tax as a part of retirement and financial planning is an important aspect of life, as the saying goes that only thing that is certain in one's life is death and taxes.
 
  • As we may be occupied and overwhelmed by other priorities,  tax planning activity is in the back seat and we wait till last minute.
  • In this rush of hours, we lose sight of effective tax planning.
     
  • Approaching Expert advisor or chartered account in the last minute,  limits the scope of effective tax planning and creates unnecessary  tension.
  • To be successful in getting timely tax refunds, it is necessary to present all the data on various incomes, expenditures and investments  and file your Income-Tax (I-T) returns on time.
     
  • Filing I-T returns is  both legal and moral responsibility and offers dignity of consciously contributing to the development of the nation. 
  • I-T returns substantiate your credit worthiness in order to access many financial benefits such as bank credits etc.from financial institutions.

Thursday 6 June 2013

Choosing the Best Financial Advisor and Planner

Financial and retirement planning sites have one article on "how to chose a financial advisor?" or "what are the qualities that your planner should have?".  Here I  deal with the question in reverse "whom should you avoid as an advisor?".

A financial consultant, planner or adviser should be your friend, philosopher and guide. Choosing a planner or finance advisor is no different from selecting a friend, but you should avoid the people with the certain qualities as  a friend or an adviser. 

I have come across a motivational book titled "the day the eagle took off" by David Goh in which he lists the avoidable friends with the following characteristics.

  • Negative
    • Pessimism will be contagious and it will throw wet blanket on good goals or projects.
  • Picky
    • Ready to pick up qurrel and create a storm in tea cup.
  • Gossip
    • They talk on others from the back and no consideration.
  • Unfair:
    • Paranoid and they present every thing from weather to recent enactment as unfair.
  • Hostile and Vengeful
    • They believe in getting even at every stage
  • Jealous:
    • Always jealous on other persons' progress.
  • Proud
    • They get along whith false pride and may get hurt easily
  • Egoistic:  
    • They are self oriented and   and every action lead only to boost their ego
  • Disrespectful of authority (law)
    • It is like waging a losing war always.
  • Inconsiderate:
    • They may trample upon those who come in their way.
It is better to avoid people of these qualities in general  and select an  amiable person as friend or an advisor.

Monday 3 June 2013

SIP Calculators

Financial and retirement planning involves listing of life goals as financial targets and fixing a plan for achieving the same through easy and attainable steps.   Just as escalators take you high, systematic investment plan or SIP through mutual fund investments are ladders for target achievement. 

Simple calculators may also help you estimate savings needed every month to achieve any target.  Calculators online and offline for common life goals such child's education, child's marriage and retirement etc are provided in the Financial and Retirement Planning Calculators Blog.