Buying a Ulip? Look beyond returns

• You should check your corpus, financial goal and risk appetite before investing in Ulips, as they are meant for long-term investment
• Assessing your own financial health becomes essential because insurers charge you for withdrawing your plan before the five year lock-in period

How to prepare for a financial emergency

• In case of a job loss or pay cut or any kind of unforeseen circumstances that affect your income, the emergency fund acts as a back up to your expenses
• Irrespective of the condition of the economy, and even before you start saving and investing, you need to have a health insurance policy

How to claim and track income tax refund

• The only way to get an income tax refund is to file your income tax returns (ITR)
• It is important to keep an eye on processing of ITR and refund claim status

FPIs' super rich tax relief applies to income from derivatives too

• The treatment of derivatives is different compared to how they are treated in the case of other investors, said finance ministry
• This additional relief for FPIs is part of government's efforts to boost investor sentiment

How to safeguard your finances in an economic slowdown

• Any form of economic slowdown has a direct and indirect impact on your personal finances too
• You cannot control the economic environment or your income flow, but you can control your expenses to a certain extent

Income tax changes to 'cheaper' home, auto loans explained in 10 points

• The government will withdraw enhanced surcharge on long-term/short-term capital gains arising from transfer of equity shares/units
• Banks have agreed to effect timely rate cuts to pass on the benefits of RBI's repo rate cuts to borrowers: Nirmala Sitharaman

SBI cuts fixed deposit rates for second time in a month. Latest FD rates here

• In latest revision, SBI lowered FD rates by 10 to 50 basis points across maturities
• SBI however kept interest rate on savings accounts unchanged

IDFC First Bank increases FD interest rates for select maturities

• The bank has revised FD rates on select buckets effective 21 August
• IDFC First Bank offers FDs ranging from 7 days to 10 years

New facility on debit cards, credit cards to make payments easier: 10 points

• The credit or debit cardholder can give a mandate to the card issuer for automated payments to a merchant
• The new e-mandate facility on credit, debit cards come into effect from September 1

RTGS money transfer timing changes from August 26: 5 things to know

• At present, RTGS system is available for customer transactions from 8 am to 6 pm
• RTGS transactions happen in real time

NPS allows you to invest through credit cards. How to do it

• Besides credit card, NPS subscribers can use debit cards and internet banking facilities to contribute online
• If they are making payments through credit cards, NPS subscribers have to, however, keep a note of the charges

Is it a wise idea to opt for repo-linked loan?

• RLLR-based home loan will ensure faster rate cut transmission
• In the past, there has been a lot of talk of banks not being able to effectively transmit rate cuts to customers

Bank FD rates compared: HDFC Bank vs Axis Bank vs Yes Bank

• Over-exposure to FDs is not good, and you need to assess your asset allocation and goals to decide how much money you should park in them
• Here is a list of banks that offer the highest FD rates for deposits up to 1 crore over various tenures

Opinion | The lure of maximizing returns can often become investor’s worst enemy

Investors sometimes may not be able to differentiate between good and bad advice

Take the lump sum route in ELSS if you need your money in three years

• Market-linked instruments such as equity mutual funds are volatile and require time to grow in value
• If you need your money in three years, you can only invest now (in a one-time fashion) and not as an SIP since ELSS investments are locked for 3 years since the date of investment

Shriram City Union Finance issues NCDs with interest rates up to 9.85%

• The NCD issue will open on 21st August and close on 19th September
• The rate offered by Shriram City Union Finance is relatively attractive

SBI says no plans to discontinue debit cards

• SBI is planning to establish nearly 10 lakh YONO Cash Points in the country over 18 months
• YONO is a digital banking platform of State Bank of India

IndusInd Bank revises interest rate on fixed deposits. Latest FD rates here

• IndusInd Bank also offers higher interest rates to senior citizens
• IndusInd Bank revised interest rates effective from 10 August

SBI claims new repo-linked home loan 'cheapest' at 8.05%: How it works

• In July, SBI was the first bank to introduce home loan rate linked to RBI's repo rate
• Under the new home loan product from SBI, the interest rate changes automatically from the next month of RBI's repo rate cut/increase

Five things that can make your retirement stress-free

• Not everyone is entitled to an employer-sponsored pension
• Longevity risk, or the risk of outliving the available corpus, is the biggest stress for senior citizens