Marine Drive

We all know about the Marine Drive in Mumbai.
Almost everyone who lives in Mumbai must have visited it at some point of time in their lives.
Dreams have been inspired and ambitions have been forged at this timeless place.

However, what if you want to buy a flat here?
6 Cr for a 1 BHK!

Now have you checked out the other Marine Drive in India?
It is in God's own country.
Ernakulam in Kerala.

Price of a flat here?

1.5 Cr for a 3 BHK!

What if I screw up?

Life is unpredictable

And one often screws up.

Getting screwed up is bad. But losing money in the ordeal is worse.

So what could those scenarios be:

a) Divorce: Most men in bad marriages stay married to their wives as they don't wish to lose money. As simple as that.

b) Stock market: As the bull market will come to close and the dreaded bear will raise its spectre, there will be stories abound about people losing huge sums by having invested in dodgy penny stocks.

c) Pledging house for a loan: You are a businessman. Last few years have been good. You wish to scale up with the help of a bank loan. You pledge your residence as collateral. A black swan event causes your biggest orders to get cancelled. You turn homeless

d) Health hazard: Your treatment was taken care by health insurance. But what about subsistence? You are the only working member of your family.

An emergency fund is a good idea.
But what about wealth creation?
Will it get stalled because of this?

How about an SIP which will keep going irrespective of any eventuality that can befall you.
According to the calculator, a SIP of Rs 2000 achieving 15% CAGR can be worth Rs 1.4 crores after 30 years.
This is worth Rs 18 lakhs as of today.

It may just give you a second chance in life.

Do you check the price of your house every day?

Markets are volatile

So you won't invest in equities or mutual funds.

Great!

But you are willing to invest in property.

Because property prices are not volatile.

Ok.

Ever wondered what would you do if your property's price was showed up on a ticker every day. Just like how share prices are shown.

Today the price of your property might be up.

Tomorrow it would be down.

Would you still hold on to it patiently?

What if you had the same attitude towards stocks?

Think about it.

Start up. At 60?

Life comes with several responsibilities.
Initially towards parents, then spouse and then children.
And middle age is usually spend fulfilling responsibilities towards all the three.
Yes, there are a few whose families are supportive towards starting up at 30,35 or even 45.
However, ever given a thought at starting up at 60?
Don't feel bemused.

In fact there are quite a few companies which were started off by seniors.

Captain CP Krishnan Nair founded Leela Hotels in 1987. He was 65 then. He passed away at the ripe old age of 92 in 2014. Between 65 and 92 he was sprightly enough to not only launch chains of The Leela all across the country but also took it public.

Does Colonel Sanders ring a bell? It doesn't? Well here you go:

Col Sanders became a professional chef at the age of 40, acquired the franchise of KFC at 62 and sold it for $ 2 million in 1965 at the age of 75.

What about Charles Flint? Well what about him?
He started the company which we now know as IBM. At the age of 61

Have a housing loan? It should most likely be from HDFC - which was started by Hasmukhbhai Parekh when he was 68.

So you must be saving and investing to get your children educated, take your family for holidays, retirement, buying a holiday home and for unforeseen circumstances.
But did you have a dream to start up? And reading about all those young rockstars who have made it big makes you feel you could do better! Or just start up! After all, it is this life that counts.
Why not create a start up fund? Start investing Rs 10,000 per month in a credible mutual fund. Even when you are 45, you have another 15 years to go. Do you know how much will it be worth when you are 60?

Assuming growth of a conservative 15% per annum, you are likely to land up with Rs 67.6 lakhs when you are 60. Even if you take inflation into account it is worth close to Rs 25 lakhs as on today.

Not a bad figure to use as start up capital eh?

How much do you need for retirement?

So you are 40.

And your monthly expense is (exlcuding EMIs) close to Rs 80,000 per month.

You wish to maintain the same lifestyle when you are 60.

Considering inflation of 7.2%, your outgoing would be close to Rs 3,20,000/month when you are 60!

Does this number offer a reality check?

It must and it should!

Unless inflation rate is kinder or you are comfortable asking your children to pay you a monthly amount or you cut down on your expenses be prepared to be spending this kind of money.

And it is only going to go up.

Wish to know how to predict how much you need to live a comfortable life?

Introducing the rule of 72!

The rule of 72 helps you to calculate the approximate number of years which are required to double your money if the interest rate is known.

Example: Suppose you have invested 1 lakh in a financial instrument which grows year on year by 18%. Then the value of the same will be Rs 2 lakhs in 4 years.

This principle can also be applied to understand how inflation will impact your finances.

Example: If your monthly expenses are Rs 80,000 and inflation is 8% per year, then you will find yourself spending Rs 1,60,000 after 9 years. (72/8 = 9)

Sounds simple enough?

Become a millionaire by 31

Are you 21?
Receiving your first salary?
Rs 18,000 per month?

Wish to become a rupee millionaire by 31?

Care to invest 20% of it?
Rs 3,600 per month through SIPs

According to the calculator you would make 10.03 lakhs!
Taking inflation into account (around 7.2%), it would be worth 5 lakhs as on today.

Now if you don't touch this corpus and let it continue, you would have ....

..a mind boggling Rs 11.3 crores by the time you are 61.
(However taking inflation into account (around 7.2%) , it would be worth Rs 1.5 crore as on today)

Bottom of Pyramid

Today I hosted a delivery boy at my place

He had come to collect few documents.

This was his first job.

All of 19 years old.

Has completed S.S.C.

Earns Rs 9,000 per month in Mumbai

Supports a family of 5 including himself.

AND HE WAS KEEN TO INVEST IN MUTUAL FUNDS!

Isn't this a huge opportunity?

Agreed that he may begin with a miniscule amount.

But there are so many like him.

We need a Financial Planner who can reach out to him and his ilk.

India's next big investment story

Who is going to script India's next big investment story?

The flamboyant Rocky:

The elusive Professor?:

The confident Porinju?:

Well it is going to be:

The common man (and family of course!)

Investments in equities and debentures has gone up by 72% Year on Year according to the RBI.

In absolute terms it has increased by more than 38,000 crores.

However one needs to wait and watch to see whether this is a temporary phenomenon driven by the buoyant performance of the stock markets or have the Indian households starting understanding the value of investing in equity.

Useful Apps for those visiting India

Planning a trip to India?

The following apps will make life easy for you:


OLA/UBER:

Download either Ola or Uber (in case you don't already have it) once you reach India.
Ola is an Indian version of Uber.
Don't know what Uber is?
Well...

The international airport has Wi-Fi
But I would recommend you to download both.
It would be a breeze to travel from the airport to your hotel or Air BnB accomodation.
You also don't need to argue about the fares with local taxi drivers.

Flipkart/Amazon

Both sell almost everything
Right from underwear to mobile phone.
Oh wait...
Flipkart doesn't sell Kindle :P

Myntra/ABOF

In the mood to buy fashionable clothes?
Here are two websites which will help you out

Pepperfry/Urbanladder/Furlenco

Staying in India for longer?
Rented a house?
Buy furniture from Pepperfry or Urbanladder
Or better still, rent it from Furlenco!

Bigbasket

You can order groceries and other household essentials

OLX/Quikr

Indian version of Craiglist.
Online classifieds websites.
Better still, they can even offer you free courier service

Makemytrip/Cleartrip

Will help you book hotels and airline tickets

99acres/Magicbricks

Feel free to either rent or buy a house.
Apart from these two websites which will be helpful to buy a house, you can also check out Housing.com.

The power of Rs 500

Spending Rs 500 (About $8) per month isn't a big deal for most people reading this post.

Once a month, you can do the following with it:

a) Eat at a fast food place

b) Shop for a book or a tshirt on Amazon

c) Go for a couple of movies

d) Get about 4 pints of Heineken

Yeah sure, all of them make you happy.

Satiate your craving.

Over ten years, you may have end up spending 500x12x10 = Rs 60,000 (Not counting inflation)

At the end of the day, will you take all this money to your grave?

Now let us see what happens when you invest this amount through SIP in a mutual fund:

a) At 12% over ten years, your corpus would be worth - Rs 1.16 lakhs

b) At 15% over ten years, your corpus would be worth Rs 1.39 lakhs

c) At 20% over ten years, your corpus would be worth Rs 1.9 lakhs

d) At 25% over ten years, your corpus would be worth Rs 2.66 lakhs

At the end of the day, will you take all this money to your grave?

So would you trade that moment of happiness to sacrifice for the future?

You can also check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDvdy7bKjEc

Useful tips for sales newbies

A salesperson is the lifeline of any business.
Some of these behavioral traits take years of experience to learn and more importantly - practice.

However the sooner they are implemented, the faster is your progress.

Here are some tips:

a) Be on time Or Inform the your prospect/client that you will be late -

Ahh yes.. Germans, North Americans, Japanese and individuals of most other nationalities are always on time. However most of us Indians are yet to adopt this way of life wholeheartedly. And what if you are a resident of Mumbai? You are almost, always late! Even though you may be rushing all the time.

Well coming back to title - try as much as possible to be on time. Prioritize your work, set your watch half an hour in advance and do not procrastinate. If all these fail, inform the other party that you will be late and therefore are giving them an option of rescheduling the meeting. There are two benefits - You will avoid stress and your prospect's time would not be wasted.

b) Always share minutes of the meeting with all the appropriate participants -

'The faintest ink lasts longer than the sharpest memory'
Got the point?

Apart from ensuring none of the points are missed there is another advantage.
Imagine that the decision maker is absent in the meeting and you are meeting his minions.
Either because of Chinese whispers or unscrupulous behavior, your message is not delivered in its original form to their master.
Your entire case would be defeated!

DON'T LET THE SNEAKY MINION WIN-

Document everything and let everyone know what happened!




c)  Don't put all your eggs in one basket

Hahahaha..

I know. It is inappropriate. But couldn't help it!

Okay, here is the one:

Most important message for a salesperson.

Even if you know the CEO/Founder/Director/Decision maker of the company, you must try to know more people. This has the following benefits:

• People move. If they like you, they will remember you. They will call you. They might give you business. Result - You create a strong network.
• You would get different perspectives. Suppose ten different people in the same company refuse to buy your product. And each gives a different reason. This is nothing but market research gold mine. If the feedback is genuine you would get great insights on your product, competitors and real needs.
• Read the last few words of the image? ..said basket has a hole. What if the person you are talking to has integrity issues? Is being bribed by a competitor. Hence keeps saying no to you..

So what are you waiting for?