Welcome to the world of future finances…..

About our blog and services: On this blog we have made a constant effort to update you about saving and investments and different types of investment options available in the market. We also make you realise your financial goals and help you achieve them on time.

On similar lines comes our Financial planning and Investment advisory services which help you plan for a safe and sound financial future. We do not represent any company hence our advice is unbiased. We aim at achieving clients financial well being and don’t work on achieving any targets or revenues. We access your current financial status, your risk profile and draw down a systematic and disciplined plan that helps you in achieving financial success.

There is always an Ideal situation but we are not always in ideal situation. We work towards it, thats what life is all about.

Almost all of us get atleast two to five solicitation calls each day. They might be for selling insurance, mutual funds, credit cards etc. Every company wants to increase their sales as sales generate revenue.

Some of us fall into this trap and purchase credit cards as we want credit, some of us purchase insurance as the agent was eager to complete his targets or because he was a family friend. We also wake up from our sleep in the month of January to March and invest in Ulip’s or tax savings schemes of mutual funds to save tax. Here we think that atleast we have saved something for our future. We do not plan our finances properly. Dont worry! We are here to help you out. So what are you waiting for.

Come, lets plan and Contact us at futurefinances@gmail.com

Also check out our New Articles

For Unhappy Investors
I come across a lot of my friends who are unhappy with their investment in mutual funds. Most of them have invested in mutual funds three years back and at present, they are sitting on unrealised losses on their portfolios. When they purchased these funds three years back, they had witnessed a sharp bull run in their NAV’s. They expected the bull market performance to carry on. Now they are ruining the fact that they did not book profits at that time.

The power of systematic investment plan (S.I.P)
The power of systematic investment plan (S.I.P)As explained in my article ‘Planning financial goals’, a goal can be any target that needs to be achieved in a stipulated period. I have also explained different types of financial goals like, buying a flat, children’s education, marriage or retirement living expenses. All of these are critical long term goals in your life. These goals need to be achieved in a disciplined and systematic manner. When I say systematic, I mean investing a fixed sum of money each week, month or year to achieve the targeted financial goal. In this article let me make you understand the different advantages of SIP investing. SIP as everyone knows is Systematic Investment Plan. Generally SIP relates to investing a fixed sum of money each month in mutual fund scheme. The rupee cost averaging and the power of compounding are two main advantages of SIP investments.

Get Your FInancial Financial Plan

Future finances educates you with different aspects of finances in context to Indian markets. Now, we are launching online financial planning services that would help you make informed decisions about your investments and also help you to achieve your financial goals.

Mutual Fund Entry Load Controversy
Till date retail investors are charged an entry load of 2.25% on their investments in equity mutual funds. In case the investors fill their forms and submit them directly to the fund house there is no entry load applicable to them as it is assumed that they do not require any advice from agents/ distributor’s. An entry load is a charge levied by the fund house on investors which is utilised for payment of agent/ distributor's commission.

Birla Sun Life Dream plan vs term plan.
Quite a few of us know for a fact that a term plan covers an individual for a stipulated period. If death occurs during the term the whole cover amount (sum assured) is paid out. If policyholder survives the term he gets nothing. The term of this policy generally is a maximum of 30 years and maximum cover provided by any company is till the age of 65.

Planning financial goals

When we talk about goals we talk about achieving a target. The target can be the crossing the finish line for an athlete or passing out with flying colours for a student or achieving the top medical college for an aspiring doctor. Every individual has a different approach to achieve these goals. All goals are different and all people have different goals. Today let us talk about a few financial goals.

Income Tax Planning

Most of us lack behind in the Tax planning. We always do it at the endof Feb or Mar, because of which we end up into wrong decisions. Here wewill help you to identify Tax saving investments as per yourrequirement.

Why retirement planning?

In today’s fast pace life everyone is busy working hard to earn a living for their family. With an enhanced lifestyle everyone wishes to own a flat, and live a secured and peaceful life ever after. But little do they realize that they need to plan for their future retirement.

Buying a Home

Selecting a Home – Buying a home is like a dream come true. So be careful while selecting it. The first few things you should look at are locality, age of building, area of flat, school, market, transportation, and neighborhood.

Asset Allocation

So what’s asset allocation?People generally feel uncomfortable discussing their personal investment portfolio with others. They fear that their investment portfolio will be discussed by one and all. Some feel that they are experts in the field of finance and they can manage their investments better than anyone else. Others want proper advice but don’t know where to go.

Ulip's

The expensive cover policy. A few decades back, only money back and endowment policies used to be sold by LIC agents. The enterance of new private insurers marked the regime of new unique policies that suited individual needs. Now-a-days, except for LIC all other companies are busy selling ULIP’s. Unit Linked Insurance plans as provide you with a cover along with the benefit of enhanced returns on the principal. Lets have a look at the features of this policy:-

Credit card – Blessing or curse

Credit Card – It is also known as Plastic money. The use of credit card has been increased immensely. It is very good invention but still people don’t know the proper use of it. Nothing comes free in the world. Many people while spending through credit card thinks that it is not going from their pocket and get shock while seeing credit card bill.

Housing Loan

Housing Loan is a very important factor in buying a home. We all get tensed if we have to go for housing loan. Here we will try to release some of your tension by telling you things which you need to keep in mind while going for a home loan.

The power of systematic investment plan (S.I.P)

The power of systematic investment plan (S.I.P)

As explained in my article ‘Planning financial goals’, a goal can be any target that needs to be achieved in a stipulated period. I have also explained different types of financial goals like, buying a flat, children’s education, marriage or retirement living expenses. All of these are critical long term goals in your life. These goals need to be achieved in a disciplined and systematic manner. When I say systematic, I mean investing a fixed sum of money each week, month or year to achieve the targeted financial goal. In this article let me make you understand the different advantages of SIP investing. SIP as everyone knows is Systematic Investment Plan. Generally SIP relates to investing a fixed sum of money each month in mutual fund scheme. The rupee cost averaging and the power of compounding are two main advantages of SIP investments.

Rupee Cost averaging: If you wanted to buy units of a mutual fund you end up purchasing more units when the net asset values of the units are down, and vice versa. Here, it is the average purchase price that matters and not the purchase price of one unit as you will keep on purchasing each month on a particular date. The returns are based on this average cost. This way you average the cost of your purchase and sell the units in future to achieve your financial goal. This helps in negating the volatility in the markets.

Power of compounding: It refers to returns earned on the principal as well as the interest amount unlike simple interest where you earn returns only on the principal amount. It also rewards investing at regular intervals and works best over long tenures. The larger the tenure of investment, more are the returns. Also, the earlier you start to invest, the more you benefit. For instance, if you begin investing at age 30 and invest Rs.10,000 a year for the next 10 years at 9 per cent per annum, and roll over the proceeds until you’re 60, you’ll end up accumulating Rs 9.28 lakh (your total investment only Rs 1 lakh). On the other hand, if you begin saving at age 40 and invest Rs 10,000 a year for 20 years at 9 per cent a year, you will end up accumulating Rs. 5.58 lakh (your total investment of Rs 2 lakh). This means that by keeping your money invested longer, you can get the benefit of compounding and can become richer by Rs 3.70 lakh (if you start investing from age 30), although your principal investment was just half of what you would invest by starting at age 40.
Take a lesson from the above example and start saving as soon as possible. Remember, you will have to fulfill many goals in future for which you will have to start investing systematically from now.

For Unhappy Investors

I come across a lot of my friends who are unhappy with their investment in mutual funds. Most of them have invested in mutual funds three years back and at present, they are sitting on unrealised losses on their portfolios. When they purchased these funds three years back, they had witnessed a sharp bull run in their NAV’s. They expected the bull market performance to carry on. Now they are ruining the fact that they did not book profits at that time. My friends should have known the risks associated with investing in mutual funds. You can even loose your capital invested. It is of utmost importance for investors to know about the risks associated with mutual fund investing. They were generally mis-informed by a few agents and distributors who only have the knowledge of filling up forms and submitting it to the respective companies and earn good commissions.

Markets outlook: It is for sure that even the best mutual funds have lost all their gains of the past three years but a few good mutual funds that are five years old are still in the green. Government is trying its level best to infuse capital into the markets to spur growth. Foreign investors are on the lookout for an opportunity to enter the market through FDI route. Even foreign institutional investors who have liquidated their portfolios last year will return back to emerging markets like India. Reforms and disinvestment are on the cards. India growth story is robust in the years to come.

Advice for investors: If you are in urgent need of cash, then only think of liquidating your investments at losses or else stay invested in the loss making mutual funds. You can switch between funds if your fund has performed worse then their category on benchmark returns. Moreover, try and invest for long term capital gains in the markets. You have quite a few good mutual funds that have revalued up to 60% from their highs and they will surely perform when the markets start performing. You should look at investing in small chunks at every market correction. Don’t stop your SIP investments as they purchase more units when the markets correct.

Remember Warren Buffet’s advice. "Be greedy when others are fearful and be fearful when others are greedy". Follow this principle and you will benefit the most from markets.

Get Your Financial Plan

Future finances educates you with different aspects of finances in context to Indian markets. Now, we are launching online financial planning services that would help you make informed decisions about your investments and also help you to achieve your financial goals.
We assure you, professional and unbiased financial advice, as we are not linked to any company or institution.

We would cover the following in our comprehensive financial plan.

Risk profile: Analyse of your current risk profile and recommending a suitable risk profile if required. Risk profile will be determined by referring your risk appetite, current annual income/expenses, number of dependants, saving’s and investment pattern, your investible surplus and tenure.

Cash flow analysis: This will analyse your current incomes and expenses on a monthly and a yearly basis.

Net worth analysis: Will help you to access your current investments (assets and liabilities) and calculate your networth.

Goal funding: Accessing your current and future financial goals, draw down a proper investment plan to achieve your goals on time.

Asset allocation: Based on your cash flow and networth we will determine a simplified asset allocation strategy.

Insurance planning: Will contain analysis of your insurance policies and suggesting an alteration/addition of plans if required.

Tax planning: A brief about different tax laws applicable to you and how you to make optimum utilization of tax benefits.

Retirement planning: Plan your retirement as you wish and we will help you achieve your unfulfilled dreams.



How it will Work (Just follow the below simple steps)

Step 1 – You will need to make payment through Pay Pal of $40 equivalent to Rs.2000/- only to buy your own Financial Plan. You can buy the same by just clicking the BUY button at top left corner or the below given button.

Step 2- You will get your payment reference after making the payment. You just need to email us your payment reference to futurefinances@gmail.com

Step 3- After we receive payment from your side, we will send you one form to fill up. In this form we will ask you all information required for your Financial Plan. Please note that your information is safe with us. We do not disclose the same to any outside party. We believe that business works on the basis of mutual trust.

Step 4- After we get all required information, we will prepare your plan and will send you the same on your email id. We will give you our analysis and suggestions.

Step 5- If you have any questions regarding your plan then you can contact us at futurefinances@gmail.com

Mutual Fund Entry Load Controversy

Till date retail investors are charged an entry load of 2.25% on their investments in equity mutual funds. In case the investors fill their forms and submit them directly to the fund house there is no entry load applicable to them as it is assumed that they do not require any advice from agents/ distributor’s. An entry load is a charge levied by the fund house on investors which is utilised for payment of agent/ distributor's commission.



There exist different regulators for different investment options available in the market like RBI, SEBI, IRDA, PFRDA etc. Here SEBI has tried to bring transparency in payment of commission to mutual fund distributors. It has decided that there will be no entry load for existing or new mutual fund schemes.

There would be a fixed fee that shall be paid by the investor to the distributor directly. Moreover, the distributors shall disclose the commission, trail or otherwise, received by them.

Now what makes this judgement debatable:-

1. For people who do not require any advice for mutual fund investment’s, they already have the option and would continue to invest directly as per the direct investment rule earlier stated by SEBI and won’t attract any load on their investments.

2. If SEBI has regulated no load for equity schemes, its high time IRDA should also look into ULIP’s charging 3 to 50% charges in the first year. The charges are much more then mutual funds even in the following years till maturity.

3. This move will indirectly pinch the distributors to sell more ULIP’s rather than earning petty income from advising mutual funds. This will not be in investor’s interest and will affect the growth of the mutual fund industry.

4. This move will also give rise to a few already established distribution companies in the market who can afford low commissions to work on achieving higher targets by completing more and more applications of a similar fund or company. They won’t consider investors interest but will consider which fund house provides them higher miscellaneous benefits for advising their funds.

5. It is also possible that distributors start charging commissions in cash and don’t disclose it as their fees, in consultation with the investors and also they ignore showing it as their income while filling returns. The income tax authorities will earn less as currently the commissions earned by distributors are paid after deduction of tax.

6. If direct investments for mutual funds are possible then even insurance products should be sold without any charges. If you have the requisite knowledge about insurance policies available in the market and don’t require any advice, why should you pay high charges on insurance products?

7. Let’s consider similar case for a stock broker. If you do not take advice from a stock broker about the shares you purchase or sell then why should I pay brokerage to them. Capital markets are also regulated by SEBI for instance.

8. If an investor wants to start a Systematic Investment Plan for 5 years and each month a certain amount gets debited directly from his bank account. In such a case you are expecting a distributor to go door to door and collect the requisite fees each month as an LIC agent used to go door to door collecting premiums decades ago. Does this sound logical in an era where everything is automated and does this assure that distributors will be paid monthly fees?

This judgement is a win-win situation for the investors to a certain extent but I regret that they would be mis-sold policies that are not in line to achieving their financial goals. My sincere advice for the investors is ‘BE CAUTIOUS’ in the days to come.

Birla Sun Life Dream plan vs term plan.

Quite a few of us know for a fact that a term plan covers an individual for a stipulated period. If death occurs during the term the whole cover amount (sum assured) is paid out. If policyholder survives the term he gets nothing. The term of this policy generally is a maximum of 30 years and maximum cover provided by any company is till the age of 65.

On the other hand Birla Sun Life Dream plan is a Unit Linked Insurance plan that provides the huge cover similar to that of a term plan. The minimum and maximum term of the policy is 5 and 25 years maximum age at entry is 50 years and a policyholder can be covered maximum till age 75.

Note: The premiums between both the plans for a similar cover and term are almost similar to each other

Comparisons between the two:-

Traditional term plan have no maturity value but BSL Dream plan returns the fund value less charges till date on maturity
Death benefit in term plan is the sum assured but in BSL Dream plan death benefit is Enhanced Sum Assured plus the fund value till date.
There are no charges levied on the term plan premium as the whole premium generally is considered as mortality premium or charge. For BSL Dream plan charges are levied for mortality, fund management, premium allocation etc and remaining premium is invested in the fund option as selected.
BSL Dream plan covers maximum till age 75 but only if you enter the policy at age 50 as the maximum age at entry is 50 and you can be insured for a maximum of 50 years only. A traditional term plan covers maximum for 35 years and till age 65 only.
As BSL Dream plan is a ULIP plan you get equity and debt exposure as per the fund selected. You have no such option in case of a term plan.

At the end it can be said that BSL Dream plan is good for people nearing their fifties and wanting to insure themselves for the next 25 years. The premium per annum would be as high as sixty thousand per annum but will provide you a cover of approximately fifty lakhs. Also, you application might not be considered on health grounds and you might have to also undergo a medical check-up.
A policyholder who is looking for returns on capital employed and also wants a cover can opt for BSL Dream plan, but one who is looking out for a cover for next 30 – 35 years and is okay with no returns on premium invested can lookout for a term plan.