IF Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker, in the popular HBO television series, Sex And The City), is your idol, this is just what you need to read.

Like her, you are young, footloose and fancy-free, making enough money to have a great life and thoroughly enjoying your independence. Perhaps you will think about helping your family later. But, right now, if you are doing any investing, it is only because of taxes.

You are not interested in building wealth and creating assets because you will probably do that once you settle down with the man of your dreams.

A piece of advice: don’t elope when you find him because it may not be as romantic as it sounds. All family support systems may be cut off besides a possible partial or total erosion of all savings, not to mention emotional stress after the short-lived excitement.

This is, no doubt, a financially lucrative phase made all the more enticing due to lack of commitments and complete freedom to spend your money the way you wish. But you cannot possibly spend it all because, remember, your financial resources are your strength. They will help you be independent.

So don’t swipe that card like a maniac, or you will feel your financial strength ebbing away.

What does a modern day woman do to handle her financial life? How do you invest your money? Here are a few tips:

i. Put 90 per cent of your earnings into wealth generating instruments such as shares and equity mutual funds. Since women are not traders by nature and have the patience to see the fruits of investments, they can make most of this avenue. But understand a bit about risk management first.

ii. Place about 10 per cent of your proposed savings into bank deposits or similar. Unlike single men, a woman should never be broke.

iii. Invest in life insurance prudently, and only if you have dependents on your income.

iv. Stay away from fixed investments such as Fixed Deposits, Public Provident Fund, National Savings Certificates, etc. Your goal is to build wealth, say, by the time you are married, which may be about three to 10 years away. These instruments will not serve your medium term purpose.

v. If you are looking to get married, do ask questions to gauge how your prospective partner manages money and, more important, how he saves.

vi. Women are born with a softer streak so excessive gifting/helping is second nature. But avoid going overboard here.

vii. Beware of women-oriented offers/products such as credit cards, insurance and the like. They may be expensive or regular products repackaged.

Doing the above will take you no more than a week. So stop that partying for a week. With your finances sorted out, the party will not stop for the rest of your life. With or without your husband.

Author: Kartik Jhaveri
Source: Wealth, MoneyControl

THERE is a game that can tell you what is on people’s minds.

You say a word (say, ‘woman’), and give the other person a second to respond to it with the first word that comes to his mind. Some would say ‘beautiful’. Some might say ‘painful’, and so on.

Now let’s say the word is ‘tax’. What comes to your mind? Ten to one, it would be ‘avoid at all cost’.

And it would be a good answer. If you avoid tax legally, that is. Here are some ways you can do it.

As an individual tax payer or a Hindu Undivided Family, if your net wealth is over Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million), you can avail of exemptions on your assets. You can reduce your wealth tax to zero.

The easiest way is through property. To get maximum benefits, ensure that every adult family member purchases one immovable property in his/her own name.

Here’s why

i. Let’s say you are planning to buy a bungalow for Rs 80 lakh (Rs 8 million). Your wealth tax liability would be zero since, as per provisions in the Wealth Tax Act, 1957, one property is fully exempt from the purview of wealth tax.

So it would make sense to buy one property per adult in a family to reap the best of this provision.

ii. All commercial properties are fully exempt from the purview of wealth tax. So if you are holding commercial property — let’s say a shop, an office space or a factory building — don’t worry. You can own as many commercial properties as you like in your own name without having to worry about paying wealth tax.

iii. The Wealth Tax Act also says that all residential properties given on rent for over 300 days a year are exempt from wealth tax.

iv. What’s more, Section 5 of the Wealth Tax Act says the exemption for house property extends to vacant land up to 500 square metres (about 5,381 square feet).

It is not difficult to avoid tax legally. This is a double benefit because real estate is a highly appreciable asset.

Now you know what you will say if someone says ‘tax’ to respond to: Profit!

Author: Subhash Lakhotia
Source: Wealth, MoneyControl

This rule, I believe is the cornerstone of a successful and contented life. If you suddenly find yourself flush with funds or your popularity within your friends has suddenly risen because you got photographed in the party section of the morning newspaper, don’t pop the bubbly too soon because nothing lasts forever.

And certainly not a bull run in the stock market! A sudden rise may have you smiling from ear to ear but you can be sure that the decline will soon follow. So here are six tips for a sliding market.

1. Hear no evil
First, forget about rationalising and explaining (or listening to other people explain) why stocks are falling. It’s a pointless exercise at best, and misleading at worst.

2. Remember the bad times
Second, file the painful experience away as a worthwhile reminder of the riskiness of stocks, and draw on that memory during the next market boom when optimistic market seers tell you that stocks are really not risky (Remember Sensex 25,000).

3. Don’t wait it out
If you believe, based on your preferred market measure, that stocks have over corrected, don’t wait for the correction to end. Investors who wait for final and complete confirmation that the market has turned around invariably miss the bulk of the turnaround. I was investing in 1997 through 2006 – it had nothing to do with the equity markets. It was a conviction that long-term monies should be in equities. So, if I have long-term money, it goes into equity, other wise it goes into a money market mutual fund.

4. Be contraian
Recognise that even if you are right about the market overcompensating for past mistakes, there will be months of pain before the gain. Being a contrarian is easy on paper but much tougher in practice.

5. Change of perspective
Markets will go up and go down – you cannot change that. You can change the way you look at it. When you have money you will invest, when you need money you will sell. There is no call to action based on ‘what the market will do’. So that does not matter.

6. Get real!
Finally, console yourself with the recognition that the professional portfolio managers and the market experts you see on television are staring into tele-prompters not crystal balls.

These six simple tip should keep you afloat even if things go from bad to worse. And when they do, here is another rule for you to remember : No Matter How Bad things are, remember they can always get worse! And on that happy note, I shall bid you goodbye.

Author: P. V. Subramanyam
Source: Wealth, MoneyControl

As the low man on the totem pole at one of the largest organisations on the planet (IBM ), I had the opportunity to work with great managers and I was able to watch less than perfect managers struggle through the process.

Today, I’m a co-founder of a small company, and I’m quickly learning that management is no easy task. It’s an art that probably takes years to master. Every manager, no matter how great, still runs into challenges that question what they think they know, every single day.

So, for your reference (and mine), here’s a list of nine management mistakes that new managers can hopefully avoid.

1. Doing too much work

Going from employee to manager is a promotion. It means more responsibility, and the responsibility is making sure everyone else gets their work done. Then you get yours done.

If you’re at the office (virtual or not) for 10 hours, a majority of that time should be devoted to talking with employees, figuring out how to improve your team — their assignments, their self-management skills, and your relationship with them.

The funny thing is that when you become a manager, and your personal task list shrinks, I guarantee your time at the office will grow. Since you’re not spending all day in front of a computer checking off your to-do list, you’ve got to get the actual work done somehow. And often, it will be early in the morning or late at night, when everyone else is still sleeping or celebrating the end of another work day.

Read: He’s mean. She’s a grump. They got promoted!

2. Failing to realise what ‘work’ is, now

In high school and college, work consists of papers, studying and calculus problems. When you graduate to the real world, typical entry-level work means sitting in a cubicle, staring at a computer and putting together PowerPoint Presentations or creating Excel documents.

Then, all of a sudden, you’re promoted to manager and everything changes. High school, college and entry level life are all about hands on, check off my to-do list type of work. Management work is completely different. It’s talking, it’s thinking, it’s planning, but it’s still work and it’s more vital to the bottom line.

If you don’t turn that corner and come to grips with the fact that when you’re just chatting with someone about their weekend, you’re actually doing work, then you will fail as a manager, because this means you think it’s about you, when in reality it’s about everyone else.

3. Delegating the grunt work

You have a lot of authority as a manager; you can delegate all of your work if you really want to. But be careful. Before you delegate anything, ask yourself this question, “Am I delegating this because it’s boring and tedious, or am I delegating this because it truly makes more sense for someone else to do it?”

Obviously, you have to delegate grunt work sometimes. But when you do, be sure to explain why you’re delegating, how it’s helping the company, and be sure to delegate some interesting work the next time around.

4. Failing to ask for advice

Ask for advice…all the time. There’s no secret to getting the most out of your employees. The best thing you can do is ask the people who have been there before. If you’re a first time manager, someone must be managing you as well. Pick one or two people who you believe are great managers and ask them what they would do in your position.

You don’t have to take their advice. But you should consider their advice seriously and decide if it applies to your situation. Even CEOs need mentors. I bet there isn’t a single CEO out there who doesn’t have a handful of mentors. So find your managing mentor and ask for advice.

5. Keeping an ‘eye’ on employees

You’re a manager. You’re not a supervisor. It’s not your job to keep an eye on your employees and to know what they are doing at every second of the day. Your job is to mentor, train and coach them so they can be successful in this job and the next.

We no longer work on an assembly line. The best you can do is trust that you work with good people and that they will get the work done when it needs to be done. It’s about results, and results can be independent of time.

Calculate: Should your spouse get a job?

6. Failing to prepare

Whether it’s a task, a project or a meeting, great managers are always prepared. What your employees produce is always a reflection on you as a manager. So, the best thing you can do is to prepare as much as you possibly can and give your team as much direction as they need.

Again, it’s all about results, and if you delegate a task to someone without clearly explaining what you are looking for, things will get lost in translation. Your employee may produce exactly what he thought you wanted, but it won’t be what you were looking for, and it WILL be your fault because you failed to properly prepare him for the project.

7. Being too Nice
Everyone is not going to love you. And if you want to be a manager you have to get beyond taking things personally. From my experience, this is and will be a big problem for Generation Y, especially when we find ourselves managing someone older.

We’ve been taught to be nice and respectful and courteous, but nice can be misconstrued as timid, and a timid manager is not someone who inspires trust and confidence.It’s ok to demand things from people. It’s okay to tell people to do something rather than ask. And it’s okay if everyone doesn’t think you’re the greatest.

There’s a fine line between being tough and being an a!@#$%^%&, but that’s what management is. It’s an art, and it’s that fine line that you must learn how to toe if you want to be a great one.

8. Pretending to have all the answers

Nobody has all the answers. So, there’s no need to pretend that you do. If someone asks a tough question and you don’t have a great response, just admit that you don’t know.

Snap decisions and answers feel great. They can make you appear cool and in control, but remember that a quick response to a seemingly innocent question can lead to someone wasting days or weeks working on something that you didn’t properly think through.

It’s OK to go back to your office, talk to the right people, figure out what the best approach is, and then answer the question.

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9. Taking a break

Unlike the tasks on your to-do list, management is never over. You may think you’re done for the day after you settle an issue, or after you meet with everyone on your team. But the truth is, it never ends. When you take a break from managing, that’s when things start to go south.

When you forget to go chat with your extroverted employees and you forget to check in with your newest hires to be sure they are okay, there’s a snowball effect .

Not only is your work as a manager not being done, but because you’re not managing, your employees are not doing their work, and it’s your fault, not theirs. So whatever you do, don’t slack off. It’s all on you now.

Author: Ryan Healy
Source: Wealth, Moneycontrol

Here are five mantras. Take a printout, write them down, whatever. But do not lose sight of them!

1. Set your financial goals

Planning for future studies, buying a car, laptop or a pool table, whatever your goals, identify them. Put a monetary value to them. You can achieve your goals only if you save for them systematically.

2. Buy an insurance policy

For those with dependents, insurance is a must. The sooner you get insured, the better. It will also work out cheaper because you have age on your side.

3. Spend less on credit cards

Plastic money is very convenient. Most of us prefer it to actual money, its sheer convenience forcing us to overspend.

Make sure you read the fine print before using your credit card, lest you be shocked with the bills later. Do not forget the basic rule: Don’t spend what you don’t have.

4. Think future

It is never too early to start preparing for your future. Plan for your retirement now.

You will see the power of compounding when you start investing small sums of money, but see it grow gradually to the target amount you set.

5. Invest regularly

There are various options to invest your money. One of the most popular and rewarding options is to invest in mutual funds.Choose from a variety of options (equity, balanced, debt), and a variety of fund houses. Besides, most fund houses have fairly easy procedures for Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs).

Systematic Investment Planning is a simple process of investing the same amount of money every month over an extended period of time, regardless of whether the market is up or down.

Let’s say you invest Rs 1,000 every month.

Invested amount

(All data as of July 2006)

This goes to show the virtues of starting early, investing regularly and staying invested.

It is a time to enjoy life and a time to plan your future, so that you can enjoy the rest of your life, too.

My money mantras

i. Set your goals.

ii. Do not spend what you do not have.

iii. Start saving for your goals; small but systematically.

iv. The future is not too far away. Don’t ignore it.

v. Postpone your expenses, not your investments.

Author: Lovaii Navlakhi
Source: Wealth, MoneyControl

The Sensex doubled from a level of 3000 on May 3, 2003, to 6000 in January 2004. When the Bharatiya Janata Party lost the elections in May 2004, the market plummeted to 4500 (a 25 per cent drop in just four to five months).

But within six months, the market recovered and again, the Sensex touched 6000 before the end of 2004. Thereafter it was almost a one-way journey right up to May 2006, when the market hit the 12,000 mark.

Later, the market saw a sharp correction when it dipped to 9000 level in June 2006. But pretty soon, it crossed the 21,000 mark by January 2008.

Since then, we have witnessed some pretty sharp falls. And the fact that it doesn’t seem to be bottoming out, is making investors a lot more nervous. Of course, volatility is not something new. But the sharp ups and downs are scaring even the old-timers who are in this business.

Read: Don’t look in the rear view and drive

What next?

First, cut out all the noise and clutter around you and get back to basics. This is because 90 per cent of the people around you are as clueless as you are. So, when you let the facts speak for themselves, you have a better chance of eliminating ambiguities. Let’s find out what these are.

Fact 1: The equity market is NOT a lottery ticket. Every share has a fundamental value and is based on the company’s performance.

Fact 2: It is possible for share prices to be widely different from their intrinsic value.

Fact 3: In the long run, share prices always move towards their true value depending on the profitability and growth potential of the company.

Fact 4: Irrespective of whether the United States goes into recession or the sub-prime problem generates more losses, India’s economic growth rate will still be comparatively high.

Fact 5: Unless we have some serious calamity, a political crisis or poor monetary or fiscal policy, we may continue to see over 7 to 7.5 per cent growth rates over the next 5 to10 years.

Fact 6: If the economy continues to grow at such a healthy rate, it has to reflect in the corporate performance as well. This will lead to appreciation of the share price sooner or later.

Keeping these facts in mind, the long-term outlook for India still remains quite positive.Read: The stock market made this nimbu paani owner rich!

Quick lessons!

1. Do not panic.

2. If you have invested in good companies and mutual funds, stick to these choices.

3. It’s a good time to invest in the market.

4. Be patient and disciplined. You will be rewarded!

Author: Sanjay Matai
Source: Wealth, MoneyControl