When I was young (in 1970s) we used to face the question of where to invest to save Income Tax. In those days my seniors were having Life Insurance Policies from the only one insurance company available in the country i.e. Life Insurance Corporation of India popular as LIC but I was against LIC Policy as investment since what my father got after maturity of his policy after 15 years was sum of Premiums plus a little bonus. In our Family Males generally crossed 70 years of age so statistically I was destined to live long unless I chose improper lifestyle.
I had chosen National Savings Certificates issued by Post Office as my favorite investment to save tax in those days.
Later on I came to know about Public Provident Fund (PPF) account. Initially I thought 15 years for Maturity as Long Time but discovered that you could withdraw 50% of Balance etc and it became my favorite for a long time. I also opened two more PPF accounts besides my own in my wife and daughter's name.
I hardly spent anything on my (only) daughter's education and when the question of her marriage came I had sufficient funds in my Matured PPF Account since we Maharashtrians spend peanuts on marriage compared to other communities in India.
Meanwhile I had a Flat in the Capital City Delhi totally financed from House Building Advance from my employers.
During start of 21st Century I was fed up with my job in a Factory in Faridabad and I resigned from service and called my daughter who informed me the good news of her campus placement for a job in Gurgaon. I had completely paid my HBA and asked the Company to adjust the Book Value of my Company Car in Superannuation Fund for service of 4 years with them since having a Car was a necessity in Delhi due to poor state of Public Transport.
Now I had entered risky zone of my life but married my daughter with PPF Funds and started living on interest on Bank Fixed Deposits which used to be very high in good old days. I received 15% per annum compounded quarterly from Times Bank (which was merged in HDFC Bank later on) and 14.5% from Stanchart. I had also opened account with ICICI Bank which had just launched a Branch in Preet Vihar Delhi which is close to our home.
After daughter's marriage I got a job with ALSTOM since they hoped that I could help them successfully commission 4 Units of 50 MW Steam Turbines at Korba East after refurbishment. After the work was over I resigned once again after two years only because I did not like the idea of being a Warranty Manager. This job provided some more Cash but I could not think beyond Bank Fixed Deposits as investment.
I withdrew money from PF since it was not going to pay interest on the funds of people who were not subscribing and invested in Bank FD.
We soon faced survival problem and when thinking about renting our house in Delhi and living on rent at some other place and manage on difference of rent and quarterly interest payment from Bank FDs I got a new Job in Steag.
Steag had secured O&M Contract of 4x600 MW Units at Jharsuguda and I was the best available person for Steam Turbines. The entry of Private Sector had brought good salaries in the Market and although Steag did not pay immediately what I asked but they raised it to my expectation after one year in which we hardly had any work since only one unit was commissioned six months after my joining them.
After working with steag for 5 years I thought that I had sufficient money to survive long life with my wife.
But the falling Bank Interest rates worried us and I invested in SCSS Accounts in my name and wife's name which give us 9.38% quarterly and LIC Varishtha Pension Bima Yojna which also pays around the same rate.
I also shifted Bank FDs to new private Bank which pays 8.75% to senior citizens.
During good days in 1990s I had invested some money is Stocks and kept the certificates somewhere.
I decided that we open Trading and Demat accounts and enter the Market which is the best option for surplus money and meet the inflation in future.
During the job in staeg I had taken couple of insurance policies for self and wife and found that the expense on mortality charges was too high for our age and we no longer need any Life Insurance. I surrendered two policies which were taken 5 years ago to have corpus for investment and my tryst with investments has begun now about which I am going to write in subsequent posts.
I had chosen National Savings Certificates issued by Post Office as my favorite investment to save tax in those days.
Later on I came to know about Public Provident Fund (PPF) account. Initially I thought 15 years for Maturity as Long Time but discovered that you could withdraw 50% of Balance etc and it became my favorite for a long time. I also opened two more PPF accounts besides my own in my wife and daughter's name.
I hardly spent anything on my (only) daughter's education and when the question of her marriage came I had sufficient funds in my Matured PPF Account since we Maharashtrians spend peanuts on marriage compared to other communities in India.
Meanwhile I had a Flat in the Capital City Delhi totally financed from House Building Advance from my employers.
During start of 21st Century I was fed up with my job in a Factory in Faridabad and I resigned from service and called my daughter who informed me the good news of her campus placement for a job in Gurgaon. I had completely paid my HBA and asked the Company to adjust the Book Value of my Company Car in Superannuation Fund for service of 4 years with them since having a Car was a necessity in Delhi due to poor state of Public Transport.
Now I had entered risky zone of my life but married my daughter with PPF Funds and started living on interest on Bank Fixed Deposits which used to be very high in good old days. I received 15% per annum compounded quarterly from Times Bank (which was merged in HDFC Bank later on) and 14.5% from Stanchart. I had also opened account with ICICI Bank which had just launched a Branch in Preet Vihar Delhi which is close to our home.
After daughter's marriage I got a job with ALSTOM since they hoped that I could help them successfully commission 4 Units of 50 MW Steam Turbines at Korba East after refurbishment. After the work was over I resigned once again after two years only because I did not like the idea of being a Warranty Manager. This job provided some more Cash but I could not think beyond Bank Fixed Deposits as investment.
I withdrew money from PF since it was not going to pay interest on the funds of people who were not subscribing and invested in Bank FD.
We soon faced survival problem and when thinking about renting our house in Delhi and living on rent at some other place and manage on difference of rent and quarterly interest payment from Bank FDs I got a new Job in Steag.
Steag had secured O&M Contract of 4x600 MW Units at Jharsuguda and I was the best available person for Steam Turbines. The entry of Private Sector had brought good salaries in the Market and although Steag did not pay immediately what I asked but they raised it to my expectation after one year in which we hardly had any work since only one unit was commissioned six months after my joining them.
After working with steag for 5 years I thought that I had sufficient money to survive long life with my wife.
But the falling Bank Interest rates worried us and I invested in SCSS Accounts in my name and wife's name which give us 9.38% quarterly and LIC Varishtha Pension Bima Yojna which also pays around the same rate.
I also shifted Bank FDs to new private Bank which pays 8.75% to senior citizens.
During good days in 1990s I had invested some money is Stocks and kept the certificates somewhere.
I decided that we open Trading and Demat accounts and enter the Market which is the best option for surplus money and meet the inflation in future.
During the job in staeg I had taken couple of insurance policies for self and wife and found that the expense on mortality charges was too high for our age and we no longer need any Life Insurance. I surrendered two policies which were taken 5 years ago to have corpus for investment and my tryst with investments has begun now about which I am going to write in subsequent posts.
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