6 Points to Remember While Buying Health Insurance

No one loves to get ill and spend a lot of money to get cured. In today's time medical expenses are very high and it is rising at 20% annually. A small operation can cost few Lakhs and which can surely impact one's finances. To protect our self from such sudden disasters we all must buy a Health Insurance.

There are many companies offering health insurance schemes. One can search the internet for the same but you will find every health insurance is different, you have to select the one suiting your requirement. Premium varies with the age bracket so figure out your premium and their claim settlement ratio.

One can remember the below six points before taking the health insurance:

a.) One should go with a health insurance which provides the life long renewal. This is an important feature of health insurance. Some insurance companies provide renewal till certain age but we all know that as we grow old, our medical expenses rise. My advice would go with opting an insurance policy which provides a life long renewal.

b.) One can consider the In-house processing in comparison to Third Party Administrators (TPAs).

c.) Some of the insurers might offer discounts for not having the TPA, but you may have to give up other features instead.

d.) If you are internet savvy and can buy insurance online then you can avail discounts offered by some insurers for buying online. By eliminating the agent you save money on premium.

e.) Be utmost serious about making complete disclosure about one self. Insurance companies look out for even the slightest discrepancy to deny the claim.

f.) Mediclaim also cover Pre and Post hospitalization expenses such as, doctors visit, diagnostic test etc.

By following the above points you can surely select the best health insurance which can help you at the time of emergency. I hope you would surely get one which suits you the best. As Buddha said, "Without health life is not life; it is only a state of languor and suffering - an image of death"

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4-Baby Steps Towards the Financial Plan

We earn salary every month which gets accumulated in our saving bank account after spending on household expenses and paying on our loan installments (if any). Sometimes we start keeping money in Fixed Deposit (FD) one after the other; according to many of us this is the best investment option which one should take, unmindful that our principal amount is losing money...A Big Thanks to Inflation!!

Usually during the period of January to March our focus shifts towards tax saving schemes and under guidance of our beloved friends, family member or an agent we buy some worthless life insurance without even evaluating the return which we will get in respect to inflation. And one day when we wake up we realize that our finances are in complete mess and We Start Worrying. But it should not be this way; we all can plan our finances in an efficient manner. Below are the four baby steps which one should take to improve his or her financial life:

a.) Online Term Plan: If you have dependents, you should buy one Term Plan. It will help your family in case you are no more with them. The term plan is far better than the normal life insurance policy which charges high premium with very low return and small amount of life insurance. On the other hand term plan will charge you very low premium and will give you a cover of high amount. It is recommended one should go for term plan with amount around 10 times of his or her salary.

b.) Saving and Investing: By nature, we all are fond of spending. We love spending our hard earned money on trivial items. We love to buy big car, big house, good clothets, good jewellery etc. Why we are not fond of saving and investing the same, life is not sprint its a marathon. We should at least save around 50% of our salary and invest it cleverly so we can earn better return and can multiply our money subsequently.

If one wants to calculate EGO; he should subtract his savings from income. Now your expense in term of percentage with your income is your ego.

c.) Find your own Tax-Bracket: If you are in the 20%+ tax bracket, saving on taxes is critical. Investing Rs. 1.5 lakh every year on Equity Linked Saving Scheme (ELSS) can give you really good returns. There are other tax saving option also available but I would like you to go with ELSS only.

d.) Health Insurance: Own a Health Insurance?? If yes, you did a great job but if you don't possess you should take one immediately. It will help you & your family financially and emotionally at the time of emergency.

The above 4 baby steps are very simple to follow but at least 80% of savers are still not doing this. Don't become one of them.

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Happy Investing!!

Investment Philosphy

Are you thinking of investing in Shares??

Do you know how share market behaves??

Perhaps you have the answers to the above questions; if not and you are starting the equity-investment just because your friends have made their fortune out of it then you should rethink about your decision of investing in equity. May be your friend is putting lot of time in reading, understanding and learning the fundamentals of the share market and then putting his money in. Probably you are not aware about his or her hard work into it. Many of my friends also have started investing after seeing me but I genuinely do not have any idea that how are they doing, what fundamentals are they following etc. I would like to make few points here as to what one should follow before starting investment:

a.)  Know Yourself: First step looks pretty simple but very complicated to implement. You have to ask yourself that what are you expecting from it and how will you achieve it. If you think share market is a gamble then I would certainly suggest don't bet, you will lose your hard earned money. If you are confident that you can earn money with your intelligence from share market then immediately start reading Good Books; they will help you in defining the way of thinking for shares and making you capable enough for understanding the Philosophy of Investment. It will provide you a foundation upon which  you will make your building of wealth.

b.) Work Hard without Emotions: There is no other way to build wealth than to put lot of hard work. As market is full of opportunities & threats as well. To make use of the opportunities you have to keep all the points learnt from section 'a'. If you become emotional with your investment and fall in love with some shares OR reluctant towards some of your shares, you can lose your wealth in either case. Hence you have to keep your eyes wide open to the company's fundamentals, events, news, analysis and market fluctuations too.

c.) Trading OR Investing: If you are thinking that you have to trade every day to make lot of money YOU are 100% wrong. For making the fortune you have to stick with your good investments and have to invest in + monitor them at regular interval. Trading keeps people awake in the night as they have to worry about the next morning therefore Philip A Fisher said, "Conservative Investor Sleep Well".

Lot of people enter into the share market and lose lot of money. Same happened with me initially but I learnt the basics of investing and have been following them only since then. Therefore I strongly suggest people to select a good company after reading their fundamentals and invest in it for at least 3-4 years. Never cross your portfolio above 10 shares. By keeping limited number of good company's help you focus on each of them.

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A book is a dream that you hold in your hand

We all have just landed in the New Year; carrying some of our old dreams which could not be met with and lot of new dreams, new goals & new expectations. We are filled with lot of new energy to accomplish our dreams. The best we can try is to move at least a single step every day towards the fulfillment of our dream. 

'Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light'

–Vera Nazarian

I have thought of taking the small step with opening a door of enlightenment for me with lot of good knowledge so I can implement it in my long term investment strategy and become a value investor. And, I believe this enlightenment can be brought upon by reading quality books. Below is a list of books which I am targeting to read this year:

1. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham (Re-read)

2. Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham

3. One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch

4. Common Stocks And Uncommon Profits by Philip Fisher (Re-read)

5. The Little Book That Builds Wealth by Pat Dorsey

6. Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein

7. Value Investing: From Graham To Buffett and Beyond by Bruce Greenwald

8. 100 To 1 In The Stock Markets by Thomas Phelps

9. Poor Charlie's Almanac by Peter Kaufman

10. Accounting For Value by Stephen Penman

11. How To Pick Stocks Like Warren Buffet by Timothy Vick

12. The Five Rules For Successful Stock Investing by Pat Dorsey

13. Conservative Investors Sleep Well by Philip Fisher

14. The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks

15. Thoughtful Investor by Basant Maheshwari

16. Stocks For The Long Run by Jeremy J. Siegel

17. The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America Lessons for Corporate America by Lawrence A. Cunningham

So, this is all about my list. Recommend every reader to find his/her interest area, their dreams and books in relation to that field. There is no friend as loyal as a book. A book is your best guide, friend, pathway or whatever you like to call it....but it never leaves your hand.

Someone has very rightly said:

'If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all'

–Oscar Wilde

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Happy Investing!!