Protect Your D'Mat Account

If you have a D'Mat Account, it is necessary to get your account statement periodically and check your purchase and sales details. You may fall in trouble if there is any discrepancy in your D'Mat account. 

In recent times there have been several cases also where gangs of cheats have duped investors by opening a fake bank account and fake address and get shares sold and encashed the money. Recently Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh has caught such gangs who had contacts with brokers, Mutual Funds officials or clerks, and members of NSDL and CDSL, duped lacs of shares of investors. The nexus between the gang and clerks and officials of brokers, and mutual funds officials played an important role in this episode. The whole operation of cheat was very simple. They simply get a photocopy of the initial account opening form of investors of Mutual Funds and D'Mat account holders and then get a forged bank account open in the same name and used to apply for a change of address in D'Mat and Mutual Fund and sell shares/ Units of Mutual Fund and subsequently withdraw money from a forged bank account. According to news Bank officials also helped the gang members by helping to open a forged bank account.

So I would suggest all investors of Mutual funds, and D'Mat account holders get their account statements periodically and crosscheck their details of investment and if there is any discrepancy found they should immediately contact the respective company and get it rectified. After all, it is your hard-earned money and if you are not careful then you may become a victim of such fraud.

Financial Planning For Financial Security

No one likes to imagine that illness or death could compromise their family’s financial security. But, tragically and all too often, these things devastate families and leave them in a vulnerable financial position just when they need the most security. Spending only a few hours preparing for such a scenario might save your family needless trouble. Once, only fathers needed to worry about this, but today with two-earner families comprising the majority of American families, both partners should actively participate in planning to ensure financial security for themselves and their children.

At the very least, each partner should have a simple will specifying who will receive assets and who will take guardianship of the children. Financial professionals advise naming one person to control the financial assets and another person to take physical custody of the children. You can prepare your own wills by purchasing a kit online or at an office supply store. Although this is a good short-term solution, you should consult a lawyer as soon as possible, particularly if you have a lot of assets or there is disagreement in your extended family about who should serve as guardians for your children.

Adequate life insurance is also essential to protecting your family. The majority of Americans do not carry enough life insurance to ensure that their family will enjoy the same quality of life after their death. Simple term insurance is adequate for most people’s needs. Whole life policies rarely provide the same level of returns as other investments, such as stocks. Many insurance companies have life insurance calculators on their websites which will help you determine exactly how much insurance you need. Be sure to take into account any insurance provided by your employer. If one spouse stays home with the children, they should also be insured since the surviving partner will need to pay for child care and household services.

Most Americans are unaware that it is not death, but disability that most frequently causes financial problems for a family. Check with your employer to see if they offer short and long-term disability insurance. If not, have your insurance agent quote you for this essential coverage that will protect you and your family if you can no longer work.

Finally, long-term care insurance will cover nursing homes or other types of ongoing residential care. Young people often overlook this coverage, thinking that it’s only for older people. However, head injuries, paralysis and other traumatic injuries often result in the need for long-term residential care.

Article source: ContentLog.com
Author : Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Finance, Business, and Education

What makes a good mutual fund

Mutual funds are popular. If you are not invested in one right now you are more than likely to be invested in one in the near future either directly or indirectly. Choosing a good mutual fund is important for maximizing your investment performance.
Like any other investment choosing a good mutual fund really depends on your needs. Also like any other investment mutual funds are a balance between risk and performance. The higher the risk you are willing to take the higher the potential profits. Investing in individual stocks is considered riskier than investing in mutual fund although the potential gains are higher. Mutual fund usually hedge individual stock risk by managing a large portfolio of stocks and other instruments. That balance also averages the gains.
There is no simple answer to what makes a mutual fund good as the question is fundamentally wrong. The right question is what makes a mutual fund good for you and the answer depends on what you are looking for. In order to choose a mutual fund you choose both know what your options are and also really know and understand what your needs are and how much risk you want to take.
One of the more common mutual funds that tend to perform well at a lower risk are index mutual funds. Like their name suggests index mutual funds value is attached to the performance of a specific index like the famous S&P 500. Index mutual funds are pretty simple to understand and to track and for the most part there is no big difference between different funds if they invest in the same index.
Other funds invest in stocks and other instruments. Most funds have a theme or a policy of how they invest. For example, a small cap fund invests in stocks of small cap companies and an technology fund invests in technology innovative companies. Themed mutual funds are managed by people who decide what to buy when to buy and when to sell each of the individual stocks. One of the most important things when choosing a mutual fund is to read about who manages its daily operations and who decides how the fund invests its money. Check how experienced the management is how long have they been with the fund and with other funds and how well have they done. Although a manager they did very well in the past can certainly fail in the future it is still statistically a better choice than an inexperienced manager or a manager who failed.
Since mutual funds have managers and other operation costs they have to charge some management fees. Usually, the management fee is expressed in a percentage that the fund takes for itself. If you are investing long term that fee is less important. If you are looking for short-term investments the fees can be significant and you should consider them when choosing the fund.
Education is your best tool when choosing a fund. Don’t be tempted to invest in a fund just because its headline says 25 per cent annual gain. Read about it read about the management read about its investment philosophy and maybe even look at its portfolio and randomly pick a few stocks it is invested in and judge for yourself if those were good buys or not.

Article Source: http://articlehideaway.com

Buy Gold and Silver Now - 7 Valid Reasons to Be Investing in Silver and Gold Bullion

By: Christina Goldman

It would appear, from the recent action in the financial markets, that all is well in the world once again. The price of crude oil has now plunged 20 per cent from its recent record high of $145 a barrel. Stocks are rallying. The dollar has firmed.

Experts are now saying that the real estate market has bottomed. The commodity bubble has burst. Oil is on its way down to $100 a barrel. And soon, the year-long credit crisis, housing slump and economic slowdown will be just an unpleasant memory. The future is so bright you have to wear shades, right?

Not so fast.

Before you rush out and trade your precious gold and silver for depreciating paper dollars, take off those rose-colored glasses and examine the real facts behind the hype. Here are seven valid reasons to be investing in silver and gold bullion:

1. The Weak Economy Is NOT Improving

Retail sales for the month of July were disappointing. Wal-Mart's 3% same-store sales growth came in below expectations. Yes, Costco's results were the one bright spot - up 10%. However, when you dig into the details, you'll discover that the reason for the strong growth was the increase in gasoline sales. Back those figures out and sales were up only 6%, less than consensus estimates!

Notably weak were the sales results of teen retailers. This doesn't bode well for back-to-school sales in August. Looks like a lot of kids will be returning to school, wearing last year's garb!

2. The Employment Picture Is BLEAK

Jobless Claims rose to 455,000. That's up from 448,000 the week before. Look for that figure to go up as job cuts by U.S. employers soared last month.

According to private placement firm, Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, Inc., layoff announcements are up 141% from a year ago. That's on top of the gloomy news unemployment figures reported by the Labor Department last week. The U.S. Economy has now lost jobs for seven straight months and the unemployment rate is at a four-year high.

3. Financial Markets Are STILL Unstable

Freddie and Fannie are seeing red. Both Freddie Mac and mortgage giant Fannie Mae missed earnings estimates by a wide margin, reported huge losses, and slashed their dividends.

If that wasn't bad enough, Freddie Mac now has a negative equity position. Translation: Shareholders would get absolutely nothing if Freddie were to pay down all of its debt and sell its assets. Fannie Mae's CEO predicts 'significant' losses in 2009 and will no longer purchase Alt-A mortgages, by year's end. These horrendous results increase the likelihood of a big government bailout.

4. The Housing Market Has NOT Bottomed

Mortgage delinquencies are getting worse. Mortgages that were issued during the 1st half of 2007 now have a delinquency rate of 0.91%. The delinquency rate for 2006 mortgages was 0.33%. These are prime mortgages, folks.

It has been estimated that 65% of sub-prime loans originated in 2007 will end up in default. This figure suggests that housing foreclosures will remain at record highs.

5. Inflation Is WORSE Than It Appears

The inflation monster is alive and well. The consumer price index (CPI) is up 5% through June. That is the biggest one-year increase since 1991. That statistic is even worse than it appears.

During the Reagan and Clinton terms, the way that rising inflation was measured was changed, in order to lower the official rate. If you calculate the CPI in the same manner that it was calculated in 1980, you would have to add 7% to whatever the published figure is. That would mean that the true rate of inflation is running at 12%. No wonder the average guy in the street is hurting!

Investors are betting that the drop in oil prices will tame the inflation monster. However, even with the recent correction oil prices are still up 61 per cent from where they were a year ago.

6. The Fed Will NOT Raise Interest Rates To Combat Inflation

The Federal Reserve is stuck between a rock and a hard place. As expected, the Federal Reserve held its fed funds target rate at 2%. The accompanying statement also reflected a rather dovish tone. The phrase 'diminished downside risks and increased inflation expectations' from the June 25th statement was nowhere to be found.

Fed funds futures are now pricing in just a 52% chance of a rate hike during the next to FOMC meetings. That's a fall from a prediction that was as high as 80 percent last week! Pimco's Managing Director Bill Gross said that rate hike talks are 'comical:'

"We're in a recession. When has the Fed ever raised rates in a recession?" he said. "Unemployment is headed toward 6 percent, mortgage rates on home buyers are at 7 percent, and these guys want to raise rates?"

7. Global Tensions are HIGH

Georgia's Offensive Move Is Risky. War broke out on Thursday in the strategically important area of Georgia, over control of South Ossetia. The price of oil seemed to take the situation in stride, doing absolutely nothing at all. At risk, however, is an international pipeline that runs close by, not to mention the possibility of the conflict setting off a wider war.

Gold and silver are now at their lowest level in six weeks, giving investors the perfect opportunity to buy. If you are still unconvinced that you should be investing in precious metals, just remember this:

History has provided us with many examples of paper money whose value has been destroyed. But, gold and silver have survived war, inflation, deflation, recession and depression. Silver and gold bullion are truly a safe haven for those smart enough to realize their true value.

Article Source: http://articlehideaway.com

Largest domestic institutional investors are life Insurance Companies

As Unit Link Plans are becoming popular day by day, the Insurance companies are regularly investing in domestic market and have emerged as the largest domestic institutional investors. Life Insurance Corporation alone has invested 13,000 crore and ICICI prudential Life Insurance invested 2,000 crore this fiscal year. LIC is expected to invest around 60,000 crore this year. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance will be investing 2000 crore. Max Newyork Life Insurance has invested 500 crore this year and will invest another 500 crore till December 2008.

Reliance Mutual Fund expects 80% growth.

Despite of so much volatility in stock market Reliance Mutual Fund is expecting 80% growth in his assets base and 100% growth in number of investors. Sandeep Sikka, Dy CEO of Reliance Asset Management Ltd told to news agencies that company’s compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for the last 2 years was 80% and is hopeful to maintain the same gowth rate this financial year also. Asset under management of RAMC for the year 2006-2007 was 26,000 crore, which grew to 92000 crore in 2007-2008. As on 31^st may 2008 total asset under management of Reliance Mutual Fund were 98,340 crores.

Mr. Sikka said that retail investors have now started investing for long term and they have remained invested even in present bad market condition, and have seen no fear and doubt in investors. He is hopeful to see 100% growth in number of investors.

It is worth mentioning that Reliance Asset Management Ltd had 35 lac total investors in 2006-2007 which grew to 67 lac in 2007-2008. The company has reach in 300 cities in India and is planning to increase its number to 500 this year.

NFO: Escort Leading Sectors Fund

Escort Asset Management Ltd has launched NFO 'Escort Leading Sectors Fund' started on 3rd July 2008 and closing on 1st August 2008.

It is an open-ended scheme with objective to provide capital appreciation or income distribution by investing in leading companies from leading sectors, depending on their growth prospects and sustainability of future earnings growth.

Investment options: Dividend and Growth

Fund Manager: Rajesh Sharma

Entry Load: 2.25% for investment below 5 crore

Exit Load: 1% if redeemed before 6 months. 2% for investments more than or equal to 5 crore.

Free Life Insurance Cover with Reliance SIP Insure

Reliance Mutual Fund has recently launched a new unique product "SIP Insure". SIP insure is a Mutual Fund feature of Life Insurance cover in which a person applying for mutual Fund scheme also get Insurance coverage to the extent of unpaid SIP installment due, without any extra cost. For example a person applies for an SIP in any applicable scheme for 10 years and opt for this feature, and he dies in between, the Reliance Life Insurance company will pay the remaining SIP amount to its nominee account. Nominee can either withdraw whole amount or can take partial withdrawal. In short this feature enables an SIP investor a guarantee of SIP installments even if he is no more.

This unique feature has been added in association with Reliance Life Insurance company under group insurance scheme. But there are some criteria to be fulfilled for getting this feature free of cost. First of all SIP monthly installment should be Rs. 2000/- or more. Applicant should not be less than 20 years and not more than 46 years of age. The minimum SIP tenure should be for 3 years and maximum SIP maturity age of 55 years. This Life insurance feature will definitely strike to the investors as they get free Insurance cover without any additional cost. This facility is possible because of group life insurance schemes. (Please read all details and terms and condition in the offer document of the schemes offered before investing).

HSBC Mutual Fund, Birla Sunlife Mutual fund, Kotak Mutual Fund has also launched schemes similar to this. HSBC "SIP Plus" is giving free critical illness cover in open ended equity schemes and Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund is giving Life insurance cover of 50 times of SIP amount in first year and 100 times of cover in second year onwards. These types of schemes will be a drawback for Life insurance agents selling insurance plans which charge for providing insurance cover.

List of Mutual Funds in India

Here is the latest list and links of Mutual Funds in India:

ABN Amro Mutual Fund
AIG Global Investment Group Mutual Fund
Benchmark Mutual Fund
Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund
BOB Mutual Fund
Canara Robeco Mutual Fund
DBS Chola Mutual Fund
Deutsche Mutual Fund
DSP Merill Lynch Mutual Fund
Edelweiss Mutual Fund
Escort Mutual Fund
Fidelity Mutual Fund
Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund
HDFC Mutual Fund
HSBC Mutual Fund
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund
IDFC Mutual Fund
ING Mutual Fund
JM Financial Mutual Fund
JP Morgan Mutual Fund
Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund
LIC Mutual Fund
Lotus India Mutual Fund
Mirae Asset Mutual Fund
Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund
Principal mutual Fund
Quantum Mutual Fund
Reliance Mutual Fund
Sahara Mutual Fund
SBI Mutual Fund
Sunderam BNP Paribas Mutual Fund
Tata Mutual Fund
Taurus Mutual Fund
UTI Mutual Fund

Mutual Fund waiting approval from SEBI:
Bharti AXA Mutual Fund

Become a Certified Mutual Fund Advisor

If you have experience in financial sector, Insurance, etc then there is also one area which can give you huge earning. Become a certified Mutual Fund advisor by appearing AMFI exam which is conducted by NCFM ( NSE's Certification in Financial Markets). Yes AMFI (Association of Mutual Funds in India) conducts certification programme of Mutual Fund basic and advisor module.There is great demand of financial planners in India. It is mandatory to pass Mutual Fund advisor module to canvass mutual fund business in India.

Any one can become Mutual Fund advisor who has passed 12th exam. There is no age ristriction to appear in exam. The examination fees is Rs. 1000/-
As per industry reports there are 15 lacs Insurance agents in India and only 60,000 Mutual Fund advisor's.

Once you clear AMFI Mutual Fund advisor exam you can register with AMFI. You will be given an unique code called ARN code (AMFI registration number) The registration fee is Rs. 500 for individuals. After that you can apply to various mutual funds to include you in their panel as a distributer. Now you are ready to canvass business for which mutual funds pay commision to distributors which is normally 2.25 %. For more details visit AMFI website. For test details visit nseindia website.
So all the best guy's! an exciting carreer is ahead... best of luck...

Types of Mutual Funds in India

There are variety of Mutual Funds schemes in India which cater to different needs of investors, like risk tolerance, financial position and expectation of returns etc. Basically mutual funds are collection of several stocks so investor can choose from hundreds of different mutual funds according to his need. Mutual funds can be understood by dividing them in two categories, by structure and by nature.

Mutual Funds by structure:

• Open- Ended schemes: Open-Ended mutual Fund schemes are such schemes which are always open for investors to buy or sell units as per the NAV (Net Asset Value) prices. The best feature of Open- Ended schemes are its liquidity.

• Close-Ended Schemes: Close-Ended schemes are such schemes which are open for subscription for specific period and redemption is available only after a stipulated period which generally ranges between 3 to 15 years. The public can invest in Close-Ended funds at the initial public issue and thereafter the investor can buy and sell units at the stock exchange where they are listed. Some close-ended schemes provide an option of periodic repurchase of units as per NAV related prices. As per SEBI (Stock Exchange Board of India) regulations, Close ended schemes must provide at least one of the two exit route to the investors.

• Interval Schemes: Interval schemes are such mutual funds schemes which have both the features of open-ended and close-ended schemes. These types of schemes are open for public to buy and sell either in stock exchange or may be redeemed by the mutual fund company at predetermined intervals.

Mutual Funds by nature:

• Equity Funds: Equity Funds which is also known as Growth fund has an objective of long term capital gain by investing in shares of individual companies. According to the objective of the fund the money may be invested in blue chip companies or other small or new business companies. Equity funds have high risk but have potential of higher returns also.
• Debt Funds: Debt funds are also known as Income funds. The objective of income funds is to provide steady and regular income to the investor. They are again classified as under:

1. Gilt Funds: Gilt funds are those funds which invest major portion of their corpus in government securities. These funds have zero risk as they are backed by government.
2. Income Funds: These are funds which invest mojorly in Debentures, Government securities and bonds.
3. MIP: Funds which invest their maximum corpus in debt instruments. They have very minimum investment in equities. MIP's ranks high on risk-return matrix.
4. Liquid Funds: Liquid funds are also known as money market funds. These fundds invest in short term money market like treasury bills, call money etc. These are considered safest among all types of mutual funds.
5. Short term plans (STP's): These funds are for investments for the period ranging 3 to six months. They invest in short term papers like Commercial papers and Certificate of deposit.

• Balanced Funds: Balanced funds are those funds which have both the characteristics of Equity funds as well as Debt funds. A portion invested in equities provide good returns and portion invested in Debts provide security and stability.
  

What is Mutual Fund?

A Mutual Fund is a pool of money collected from small investors having a fund manager who manages the fund with predetermined investment objective. The fund manager invest the pool of money in specific Securities (stocks and bonds). When a person invest in mutual fund he becomes a unit holder or share holder of the fund and units are alloted to him. When the fund generate profits it is passed to unit holders of the funds.

Investment in Mutual Funds are considered as one of the best investment option as it is very cost effective and it is also easy for investor to invest because a large fund has to pay a lower trading cost as compared to retail investor.

The best part of Mutual Fund is its diversification which minimizes the risk and maximize the returns.