Sunday, May 11, 2008

COST OF LIVING IN DELHI

How much does it cost to live in Delhi, India? Well this becomes an important question for all those people who are planning on shifting to Delhi for any reason. The top reason for shifting to delhi is usually Job related. Delhi being the capital of Delhi boosts of a good infrastructure as compared to the other cities in India. With the world class metro train running through Delhi, the Delhi Transport Corporation(DTC) adding new buses, New flyovers coming up everyday and wide roads, it is a good city to live in especially with Common Wealth games coming up in 2010. Except for the extreme temperature conditions(too hot in summer and too cold in winter) that plague the city through out the year its still worthwhile.

Todays Exchange rate is 1 $= INR 41.6

1. Renting an Apartment : Renting an apartment in Delhi is a difficult task in itself, but the costs for a 2 BHK can range between INR 5000 to INR 50000/- depending on the location. The NCR(National Capital Region places around delhi like Gurgaon, Noida etc.) seem to be the hotspots with a lot of developments in these areas and a lot of expats living here. South Delhi has some very Posh locations and a lot of companies have there offices in and around South Delhi and the cost of renting an apartment in South Delhi can range from 15000 INR to 25000 INR. Apart from the rent usually the landlords prefer to take a security deposit equivalent to 3 months of rent , which is returnable once you leave the apartment.

2. Groceries : The cost of groceries per month can be between INR 12000 to INR 16000 for a couple with a plenty of new retail stores opening up in Delhi everyday, its very convinent and fruits and vegetables availble in Delhi are usually fresh.

3. Eating Out : For a couple on an average the cost of eating out in a good restaurant can be between INR 1500 to INR 2000, and add another INR 1000 if you include drinks. Generally a beer in a restaurant can cost between INR 150 to INR 250. Food is generally on every Delhite's mind being a mainly Punjabi Populated, There are a plenty of good small restaurants available and the street food is also generally very good. The cost of eating out in a small restaurant or street side is about INR 250 to INR 500 for a couple.

4. Petrol Prices : As is the case around the world petrol prices are very volatile are bound to change soon but presently the prices of petrol are around INR 45 to 48 per litre.

5. Renting a cab/taxi : There are a plenty of call cabs/taxi services available and usually charge anywhere between INR 15 to INR 50 per kilometer of travel. You can also hire a cab for "4 hours and 80 km basis"which ever is first for INR 800 to INR 1500. With the Metro service available its getting very convinent to travel.

6. Communications : Mobile calls are maybe the cheapest in the world with a local calls can go as low as INR 0.50. There are two kinds of services available GSM and CDMA with multiple operators for both kinds of services. Handsets can start from INR 500 can go upto any amount. You have all kinds of value added services from mobile operators available like internet, GPS, text messaging, Multimedia Messaging etc.

7. Cost of Education for Kids : Some top end private schools charge anywhere between INR 25000 to INR 45000 as a quarterly fees. Good private schools charge between INR 12000 to INR 15000 quarterly fees. The schools during admission also charge some development charges which range from between INR 40000 to INR 150000.

8. Shopping : Shopping in Delhi is not generally a very costly affair unless and until you are targeting some top designer brands for which i think the cost would be the same everywhere else as well. Clothes and shoes are generally available across all Malls and shopping centers (Scores of them across Delhi). Branded and unbranded stuff is available. With a cost of unbranded jeans starting from INR 900 and shoes starting at INR 1500. A branded suit can be anywhere between the range of INR 5000 to INR 10000. You can also visit a retailers website with major stores in and around Delhi and all over INDIA here to get an idea of some prices of stuff.

I guess you can sum up your monthly budget from the information above. And maybe get a fair idea about cost of living in Delhi, INDIA.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Money Saving Tips

Some money saving tips you should really go through and follow....

1. Use Cash : Where ever possible avoid using credit cards.

2. Use Small Savings transfer : Get your online account to transfer a fixed sum every month to another account through which you can build a contingency fund.

3. Stay At Home : Dont go out much stop eating at restaurant's and stop your weekend trips to the mall instead stay at home and bond with the family. And also end up saving cash in turn.

4. 30 day list : If you have a sudden impulse to buy anything, put it in a 30 day wait period and after the 30 days are up if you still need it only then buy it.

5. Exercise : Exercise is the best way to keep your body fit and avoid costly medical bills later.

6. Talk to your Spouse : Its important that you and your spouse should be in the same line of thinking about saving cash.

7. Use a Spread sheet for tracking expenditures.

8. De clutter your home : The less stuff at home the less you spend on maintaining it and also it is said in VASTU it lets positive energy flow.

9. Pay Savings and debt first : Whenever you sit down to pay your bills you should first pay off you savings account then your debt account and then the bills.

10. Try To supplement your job Income : Let your income from you job not be the only income you earn, try getting a substitute.

Related Articles

Are you Financially Healthy

Talk About Money

Budgeting for you

Life's Goals

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Talk about money

Not Many Of us are comfortable talking about money with our loved ones. And to tell you the truth it really is worth it. Money is one of the main reasons of disputes between couples and it is always best to discuss this issue and keep everything transparent so no issues can come up later. This can help making decisions easier about money matters.

The same should also be true about children. Parents actually decide how children will deal with money. It can really help the children make better decisions. Regarding the children we should

1. Include the children while talking about family budgets and bills.
2. Show th children the bills and also how we are planning on paying the bills.
3. Open a savings account for the children and get them into a habit of saving.

Remember it is you who has to decide how to discuss about money and the more you talk about money in the family the better understanding your family will have about it and can help you making better decisions.

Related Articles

Are you Financially Healthy

Contingency Fund

Budgeting for you

Life's Goals


Sunday, April 27, 2008

What Is an Endowment Policy?

All of us have been sold an endowment policy by an insurance agent at one time or another and most of these we dont know anything about. Well let me try explaining here what and endowment policy actually is.

Well an endowment policy is actually a contract like any other insurance policy between an individual and the company that on payment of premiums as specified in the contract, the company will pay a fixed amount plus accumulated profits that are declared annually on a fixed date in the future (or the nominees if the individual dies prematurely).

These are assignable, allowing the assured person to pass the benefits of the policy to a third party. The premium payed by the individual partly helps to pay for the life cover and the major part goes into the companies investments for the period of the contract. The profits thus earned from these investments are distributed among the policies. These are called bonus.

Bonus issues by each company highly depend upon the companies investments performances.

Related Articles

What is P/E Ratio

Contingency Fund

Budgeting for you

Life's Goals

Monday, April 14, 2008

Are You Financially Healthy?

Well here are some questions listed below to check the health of your finances. You need to answer them in all honesty to exactly know how what is your financial health.

1. How much percentage of your income do you save monthly?
a. > then 10%
b. < then 10%
c. Nothing

2. How often do you adjust and review your retirement plan?
a. Atleast once a year
b. Only once in five years
c. You dont have any

3. If you were to review your ability to meet any future financial obligations, you would feel...
a. Relaxed
b. a bit concerned
c. very concerned

4. How many times in the last few months have you paid your bills late?
a. None
b. 1 to 5
c. 6 or more

5. How often do you make your credit card payment on time and completely?
a. Always
b. Only a few payments are delayed
c. There is always some carried forward balance.

6. Do you always budget your monthly spending and always plan it?
a. Always
b. Sometimes
c. Never

7. All high Cost or major purchases are always..
a. Planned in advance and money is set aside for them
b. Planned but no money is set aside for them in advance
c. Unplanned

8. If a sudden emergency were to arise and you would have to take out cash for it then you would use..
a. Cash already available
b. Money available in credit
c. No funds unless bank/someone approves a loan

9. If you lost your job or your source of income, how long would you be able to provide for your basic expenditure
a. Between 3 to 6 months
b. For only 1 month
c. Less then 1 month

10. I have insurance cover for the property, autos, etc...
a. Enough to cover replacement cost
b. less then enough for replacement
c. Dont have any Coverage

Give 5 points for every time you answered a, 3 points every time you answered b and 1 point every time you answered c. If you scored between 40 to 50 you are in excellent financial health and If you scored between 20 to 39 you have made a good start but you need to address a few issues. If you scored below 20, YOU NEED TO START READING THIS BLOG MORE OFTEN AND BOOK MARK IT AND MAKE IT YOUR BIBLE.
And regardless of what you do examine your financial health.

Related Articles

Contingency Fund

Surplus Money

Life's Goals

What if Something Bad Happens

Sunday, April 6, 2008

What Is a Mutual Fund ?

Well although i know most of us already know what is a mutual fund but i just thought for all those new to the investment scene who like to ask this question a lot, so maybe i can explain the basics of Mutual funds and who knows maybe all of you who have been investing in mutual funds may also learn a thing or two about them.

Mutual Fund is basically a company that brings together a group of investors(people like us), and invests their money in equity securities etc. Each person holds a share in the company which represents some part of the total corpus that has been invested.

How can we make money from Mutual Funds? Well there are three ways....

1. Dividends and interests : The dividend of the stocks held by the mutual fund or the interest that it earns from holding bonds is one way of earning money from a mutual fund.

2. Capital Gain : If the mutual fund sells of any part of the equity held by it, due to increase in price value of the equity, the money earned is divided among the investors, and is call capital gain.

3. Sell off : If you decide to sell of your share of the mutual fund after the price value of share has risen for a profit.

Why to invest in a Mutual Fund ?
Let me below list down some of the advantages of investing in a Mutual fund....

1. Your Money of managed by professionals and for a very low cost to the individual investor.

2. Your risk is more spread out, due to the fact that mutual funds will own a variety of shares instead of just you owning a single type of share, hence diversification can lower your chances of risk.

3. Lower cost of transaction to the investor due to the fact that a mutual fund may be doing bulk trading.

4. Your money is mostly liquid due to the fact that these funds allow you to exit any time and take your money.

5. Ease of buying a mutual fund, since its all about issuing a cheque and filling up a form which has been made more easier by online availibility.

Types of Mutual Funds

Although there are many types of mutual funds but some of the main genres are listed below :

1. Bond / Income Fund : The basic purpose of the income fund is to provide a steady income. These type of funds usually hold Government debt etc. Similarly Bond funds mainly depend on where they invest and carry a certain amount of risk.

2. Balanced Funds : The basic purpose of these kinds of funds is to provide safety, income and appreciation of the invested amount. They usually balance there incomes by investing some portion of there corpus in government securities and some in equity.

3. Equity Funds : The most common type of funds and invest in equity. The basic idea being to provide the investor with long time capital growth and income. There are many different types of equity funds depending on their ideology.

4. Global / International Funds : The kind of funds which invest in other countries aside from the home country.

5. Specialty Funds : These are the type of funds which don't diversify too much and only focus on a specific sector/ segment like telecoms, IT or maybe regional like say latin america, China etc...

6. Index funds : These type of funds focus on a specific index of the stock market. They basically replicate what is hapening in the particular type of index they are focusing on.

Related Articles

What is P/E Ratio

Contingency Fund

Budgeting for you

Life's Goals

Saturday, April 5, 2008

What if Something bad happens?

What if Something were to happen? Disaster were to strike. Are you prepared for the worst...
You still have to keep yourself and your loved ones happy. And the same can only be done if your finances are in order, so here are a few suggestions for disaster management...

1. Plan for your monthly spending : We should all create a budget and stick to it. And when you plan for your budget always keep a little money in it for extra spending or impulse buying.


2. Always set up a Contingency fund equivalent to atleast three months of living expenses : What if something were to happen, you may lose your job or maybe fall sick? Prepare for it and get a fund ready to handle these kinds of expenditures. I have already written about how to do this, you can read it here...

3. Create a trust / a will : This is one of the most important things you can do to take care of your loved ones needs in case of an emergency. A will usually avoids a lot of legal hassles.

4. Nomination in your Accounts : Don't forget to fill the nomination columns of the forms used to open your term deposits, bank accounts, PF accounts and Insurance. These are very important to take care of the needs of your loved ones.

5. Open Joint accounts : Keep some of your accounts in th e joint names of your spouse, this way in case of an emergency they can atleast operate your account.


Related Articles

Contingency Fund

Surplus Money

Life's Goals