Skip to primary content
Skip to secondary content

Monika Halan's blog

Hand's-free money management

Monika Halan's blog

Main menu

  • Home
  • About
    • About
  • TV Shows

Monthly Archives: January 2012

What to expect when investing in MFs

Posted on January 25, 2012 by monikahalan
Reply

Expense Account, Mint

What do you expect your mutual fund to do? It is worth asking and answering this question as we carry out Mint Money’s biannual exercise of examining Mint50—the portfolio of investment-worthy funds that the Mint Money team curates. A quick word on why we do this. Indian households have a high savings rate but most of this lies in inflation-unfriendly deposits and traditional insurance plans. A gradual move up the risk scale would benefit the investors but that has not happened and fewer than 15% of Indians expose their money to equity, either directly or through funds. Similar looking products promising to do the same thing—long-term corpus building that come from three different regulators—seem to be confusing investors.

Read more

Share this:

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Print
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...
Posted in Expense Account | Tagged adviser regulation, mutual funds, Personal Finance, planning, rbi wealth management, savings, Smart Money | Leave a reply

Do own-brand products leave you worse off?

Posted on January 18, 2012 by monikahalan
Reply

Expense Account, Mint

In the market for a TV, I checked out all the vendors nearby. In the Sony and Samsung showrooms I got the Sony and Samsung TVs. In Croma, I got a variety of brands. On one TV it said Croma. That was the in-house brand which was cheaper than the other branded TVs. I find the same practice when I go to Shoppers Stop or Big Bazaar—own-brand retail is usually cheaper and is labelled clearly on the package. I know that it is cheaper because a quick check on the price tag tells me that. I can look at the picture quality, the specs of the TV or the style and cut of the clothes to compare with the other brands in the store. Can we say the same about buying financial products? Do consumers of financial products fully understand the impact of buying an own-brand product or do they allow themselves to be “advised” by their seller towards the product they end up buying?

Read more

Share this:

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Print
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...
Posted in Expense Account | Tagged #investing, agents, Expense Account, Mint, money box, rbi wealth management | Leave a reply

In defence of trail commissions

Posted on January 11, 2012 by monikahalan
Reply

Expense Account, Mint

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has taken a welcome step to bring in a set of adviser regulations. It has released a concept paper on the regulation of investment advisers. India needs a new set of regulations to bring order to a marketplace that moves money between households and fund managers. Investors stay in inflation-unfriendly deposits and negative-real-return endowment insurance policies because they are unable to trust the intermediary who talks about putting their money in markets through mutual funds and pension products. The unit-linked insurance plan (Ulip) fiasco where investors were looted systematically by insurance companies, banks and distributors has not helped foster trust. The Ulip debacle was a case of misaligned incentives and for trust to be built we need to align the incentives of the investor with that of the intermediary, keeping in mind the fact that the bulk of the market finds it difficult to pay for services. There is still time before we come to a stage where there is a well-recognized designation such as MBBS or LLB that qualifies the person giving financial health advice to charge for services as an accepted part of the practice.

Read more

Share this:

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Print
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...
Posted in Expense Account | Tagged #investing, adviser regulation, agents, banks, financial planning, money box, monika, Smart Money, trail commission | Leave a reply

What to do when doomsayers predict a rough global 2012

Posted on January 4, 2012 by monikahalan
Reply

Expense Account, Mint

If 2012 is the year in which the world will end, 2011 was the year in which the world prepared to end. We heard that the euro zone break up may take Europe back to the fall of the Roman empire. That the sins of bowing to Wall Street will make the US implode. That the Chinese ghost cities will haunt the world. That the loonies will take over from pro-democracy Arab Spring leaders. And India will be stalling rather than rising. It’s different this time, we heard. At no other time have odds looked so stacked against the world. It’s different this time.

Read more

Share this:

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Print
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...
Posted in Expense Account | Tagged #investing, 2012, financial planning, mutual funds, Personal Finance, planning, savings | Leave a reply

Archives

  • August 2022
  • May 2022
  • January 2022
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • July 201

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
Blog at WordPress.com.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Monika Halan's blog
    • Join 399 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Monika Halan's blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: