Author: Valueraj

Unlike in the past, it is mandatory now to declare all your bank accounts in Income Tax Return Forms. Also, as per Income Tax Laws, you have to maintain account statements of the past 7 years for any verification by the Income Tax Officers. To be able to comply with these rules easily, you should keep only as few a bank accounts as necessary. This will not only help you track your bank transactions better but also be aware of all service charges deducted by bank from time to time. After all, there are always some hidden charges and it is up to you to trace them!

As India is still a developing country, it is natural for our government to spend much more money than what it collects by means of taxes, duties etc. This excess spending results in annual budget deficit which is met by loans (called national debt) borrowed from bond market. As such, budget deficits are not bad if the excess spending is more towards investments for the growth of economy. On the contrary, if the excess spending is more towards consumption in the government, then budget deficits will backfire on us with higher inflation and more taxes in future. So, be aware of our government’s budget deficit and whether that deficit is invested or wasted!

As years pass by, you are growing old and inching year by year closer to retirement. When it comes to retired life, only government employees are provided with guaranteed pension to lead a decent life then. All others have no choice but to plan on their own and invest for a retirement corpus. This corpus should be large enough to derive enough income to meet all your living costs then. Only then, on the day of retirement, you will feel how great your future will be rather than how great your past was!

Old year is out and New year is in. As years pass by, you are growing old and healthcare becomes as much important as wealthcare. Health and wealth should always complement each other for good quality of life. In fact, when it comes to keeping good health, Time is Money. Either you spend Time on fitness now or Money on healthcare later. If you choose the latter, do invest and create a corpus for healthcare only!

Year in and year out, prices of goods and services keep rising due to inflation in the economy. Inflation means permanent and compounded rise in prices from year to year to year. So, unless your investments beat inflation in terms of returns, you will find goods and services more expensive in future. In fact, only when your investments beat inflation by a wide margin, additional wealth gets created for you and thus enables you to enjoy more/better goods and services then!