Save Money

While UK residents tend to have a straightforward pension plan going with the state and workplace pension, ex-pats don’t have it quite as easy. Ex-pats may have a state pension ready from their years contributing to the National Investment while at the same time contributing to the state pension fund of the country where they are currently based. What you may not know is that this leads to you receiving a lower pension than you expect to receive and being challenged by volatile exchange rates and bank delays.

If you want to know how you can secure a more stable pension, here are a few tips we have for you.

1. Determine how much you’ll need

When you plan for your retirement, one of the first things you should ask is, how much do you need to live a comfortable life? Try to be generous with the figures to account for inflation by the time you’re 50. If, for example, you estimate that you’ll be needing £30,000 a year to get by, inclusive of other costs like hospitalizations or medication, then you’ll know that relying on the state pension won’t be enough. The maximum pay-out only gets you less than £8,640 a year, so you need to look into other options to boost your pension plan.

2. Save money

One of the most obvious ways you can guarantee money in your retirement is by saving a portion of your income while you’re still young. Even just a 20% annual savings is a great habit.

Another way you can add to your pension funds is by extending your work life. The longer you work, the more money you can have set aside. There are occupations available to people even when they’re above 50. These are jobs that don’t entail strenuous activities while still paying a good salary, such as research, academe, and executive corporate positions.

3. Diversify your investments

Relying solely on property investments or stocks could land you in trouble when the economy crashes. This is why you should diversify your assets so you can have multiple backup plans in place. This can be hard to do when you have no experience with finance or investing. Working with experts from TailorMade Pensions can help you understand various investment options and decide on ones that are suitable for your income and goals.

4. Consolidate your pensions

If you’ve worked under different employers and countries your whole life, you may have different pension pots at your disposal. By consolidating your pensions, you can manage your savings easily and you can save money from moving from a high-cost scheme to a low-cost one. For ex-pats, a popular option is to consolidate your pension into a QROPS. This offers many benefits, including being able to access your funds at 55, a whole decade earlier than the UK state pension.

You should have a solid retirement plan ready so you don’t burden your loved ones with taking care of you when you’re old. Expand your financial literacy and work with experts so you don’t have to spend the last years of your life worrying about money.

Long-term investment planning plays a vital part in ensuring your financial stability. However, it can be quite challenging. Many people are often confused between two investment avenues, Unit-Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs) and mutual funds. If you find it hard to decide which choice is better for your future, read on.

What is a ULIP?

ULIPs combine investment and life insurance cover to offer comprehensive monetary security. If an unfortunate event leads to your absence, the insurance provider uses the life cover to provide your nominees with the death benefits. On the other hand, investment funds create wealth, which you receive either when the policy matures or your nominees get it along with the death benefit. Now that you know the ULIP meaning, read on to understand what mutual funds are.

What is a mutual fund?

Mutual funds use investments collected from multiple institutions and individuals and put the money in bonds and stocks. Professional fund managers administrate mutual funds to ensure high returns while mitigating the risk. While mutual funds are popular as investment instruments, they do not offer any life cover like ULIPs. You can compare the possible mutual fund and ULIP returns in 10 years or a longer period to determine which will benefit you more. However, you also need to check certain other aspects.

Here is a list of factors to help you determine which investment option is more suitable.

1. What they offer

ULIPs use your premium to invest in equity, debt, or a mixture of both types of funds as per your risk-taking ability. With ULIPs, you enjoy the dual benefits of the death benefit and wealth creation.

Mutual funds use your investment to create wealth by putting the money in broader financial markets. For example, an equity index mutual fund invests the money in different stocks under a particular index. The return from that mutual fund depends on how the stocks perform.

2. Tax benefits

Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 allows you a tax deduction of up to INR 1.5 lakh on your investment towards all ULIPs. Additionally, Section 10(10D) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 makes the maturity benefit from ULIPs tax-free.

Conversely, only Equity-Linked Savings Schemes (ELSS) mutual funds offer the same benefit. However, here, you need to pay 10% Long-Term Captial Gains (LTCG) tax if your ELSS returns exceed INR 1 lakh in a year.

3. Charges

You have to pay specific charges for both ULIPs and mutual funds. For the latter, you pay fees for administration and fund management, but ULIPs require additional fees such as mortality charges and premium allocation charges, among other costs. You can use a ULIP return calculator to compare your total cost and the potential return to determine if it is more profitable for you.

Keep in mind that even though ULIPs may cost more than mutual funds, they offer the additional benefit of a life insurance policy.

4. Financial goals

Your financial objectives determine which product you should purchase. If you want to invest in a short or medium-term instrument, a mutual fund will benefit you more, as ULIPs have a five-year lock-in period. For long-term investment goals, ULIPs will serve you better. With ULIP returns in 10 years or longer, you can accomplish important life goals.

5. Risk tenacity

Your risk appetite is the amount of risk you are willing to take with your investments. Both ULIPs and mutual funds allow you to choose the funds, such as equity or debt, for investments. However, only ULIPs will enable you to switch between the funds if your risk-taking capability changes, ensuring more security.

Your financial aspirations determine if you should invest in mutual funds or ULIPs. However, with the additional benefits of long-term investment and life insurance cover, a ULIP might be a smarter investment choice. You can use a ULIP return calculator to compare among different policies and find a suitable one.

 

 

If you are someone who is very active in the stock market, you probably wonder what makes a stock price so volatile during the trading session. A lot of times it is a natural behavior of buyers and sellers deciding it’s the right time to get in and out of stock. But many times, the short term volatility can be explained by a lot of the content that is being put out by certain news outlets regarding a company, and how investors choose to react to it.

The reality is that a lot of these companies are under constant scrutiny in the media world, and those who can create news for themselves will be subject to a lot of press. With that coverage, investors are free to react any way they choose while others may sit and wonder why a news piece could make them change their mind. 

Either way, this volatility can be a blessing for some and a curse for others. What one investor sees as bad may afford another investor an opportunity to buy stock in a company at a perceived discount.

Sometimes news comes out that is not necessarily about a specific company, but rather an entire industry, which can send stocks within the entire sector up or down depending on the news. 

Take a company such as Northern Oil and Gas, ticker symbol NYSEAMERICAN: NOG. This is a company whose fundamentals are pretty sound. But even if it is considered a good value trade, you will find that this stock’s price fluctuation is generally in line with how other oil and gas companies have been trading. 

Whenever there was word of a possible gas shortage, the price went down. But when other oil and gas companies started reporting positive earnings, this company went up even before it reported its earnings.

Sometimes stock may move not necessarily on company news, but rather a news outlet’s pick based on their reputation. Anyone who is an avid follower of a news outlet’s stock picks may be ready to jump on a stock based on recommendations. It may not always be a guarantee that these publications can result in a positive move in the market, but they usually don’t go unnoticed and play at least a minimal role in the decision-making of the value of the stock for that trading day.

It’s important that if you trade stocks on your own as a retail investor you keep a good eye on your investments. While putting money into a mutual fund means you don’t need to worry as much about individual stocks, it is the responsibility of the fund manager to keep an active eye on news and price volatility, and be willing to make a decision based on some of those outcomes. Some view a price drop as a justifiable reason to sell, while others may see a price drop as an opportunity to buy into weakness and own more shares of a company as a discount, with the belief that the performance shall continue.

Therefore, it’s important that if you decide to manage your own portfolio that you wisely do the same. There are plenty of ways to monitor this. The easiest way is to log into your brokerage account and keep your portfolio up to see how the price fluctuates. 

If you like to set limit orders, you can set up prices to buy and lock in if there is a belief the stock may approach that price tag. Alternatively, if you like market orders, you wait for an opportune time to buy the stock at potentially the lowest price. It is recommended sometimes to buy market orders during the end of a trading day when there is less volatility and a smaller queue of trades.

If you don’t want to be logged into your brokerage account or won’t have access to a computer, you can also create your own watchlist through a source that tracks stock price. You can use Google Finance or Yahoo Finance. To create your own personal watchlist of all your holdings. That way if you can’t access a computer, you could at least have it tracked on your phone.

Term insurance policies have become quite popular over the last few years. The current pandemic has once again proven that life is uncertain, and an untoward incident can occur without a warning. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to ensure your family’s financial security.

If you are the sole earning family member, have you considered how your sudden absence would affect your loved ones? Apart from going through emotional distress, they will end up facing economic difficulties due to no planning.

Life insurance is an excellent way to secure the financial well-being of your dear ones. Traditional plans come at a higher premium; so, investing in a term plan is a more affordable option.

A term insurance plan is a pure life cover that pays the benefits to your nominees if an unfortunate event occurs during the policy duration. As term insurance provides no survival benefits, the premium is lower, and you can procure a higher sum assured (SA).

Often, people think that they require life insurance only when they are older. You have graduated from college and have started working. You have just got your first salary. You may have endless plans to enjoy your financial independence, and investing in a term insurance plan may seem a little unusual. However, here are three reasons why you should buy term insurance with your first remuneration:

• Monetary stability

If you are married, you have the responsibility of your spouse and children. When unmarried, you may still have dependent parents. In the unforeseen event of your absence, a term insurance policy pays the SA, ensuring your parents’ economic security. Your family members can sustain their current lifestyle and meet future financial goals without any liquidity crisis. They can also repay any outstanding liabilities like a home loan or car loan using the money received from the term insurance policy. You can use an online term plan premium calculator to determine the approximate amount based on your age, lifestyle, income, policy tenure, and the SA. This ensures you do not have any problem in paying the renewal premium on time.

• Financial discipline

The sooner you learn financial discipline, the better it is. Using your first salary to buy term insurance online marks the start of your investment journey. Additionally, when you are younger and healthier, you pay a lower premium and avail of the policy for a longer duration. One major advantage of buying early is that the premium is constant during the entire policy duration, which can save a significant amount in the long term.

Another benefit when you buy term policies online is cost-efficiency. Insurers save agent commissions as well as administrative and overhead expenses by selling policies online. These cost-savings result in lower premiums for you.

• Tax deductions

Once you earn an income, you will have to pay tax as per the prevailing guidelines. A premium of up to INR 1.5 lakh per year is tax-exempt under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. You can invest these savings in other financial products to earn returns and build wealth in the long run. Additionally, policy benefits paid to your nominees are tax-free under Section 10 (10D) of the Act.

Investing your very first income will give you peace of mind and ensure your family’s financial stability in the future if you are not there to take care of them.

Term insurance is not the first thing that comes to mind when you get your first salary. However, having seen the plus points of investing in a term insurance plan during an early phase of life should encourage you. Use an online term plan premium calculator to know how much you can afford and invest in insurance for your loved ones.

 

There has been a surge in online casinos and it has helped the gambling sites to reach the masses. Whether you are an expert or not, you can fancy your chances at winning if the basics are clear. The gaming rules might be the same, but chances of winning are more dependent on the player than on the online slot machine.

Some players learn the tricks faster and start winning big, but others take longer to become competent. It requires a commitment to learning the winning tricks and any player can master them. Below are some of the expert tips to help you win big.

Play games with low deposits

You must maximize your chances of winning by playing more slots. The best way to achieve this is to choose games that require a low deposit. If your budget is $100 for playing casino games online and you choose slots that require a $50 deposit, you will only have two chances to play. If you choose slots with a $2 deposit, you will have 50 chances to play, meaning you have more chances to win more money.

Know the game developer

When shopping for a product, you always find out the brand and other related details because quality differs with different manufacturers. Same way, the quality of online casino games differs from one developer to another. If the software is poorly developed, you may have fewer chances of winning so you lose more money. You can improve your savings plan by choosing to play games from credible developers and increase your chances to win.

Be wise and learn from free games 

People who have been playing online casinos understand the rules and tricks of the game well, but if you are new to the game, you might want to first learn a few tricks. There are many free online casino games and you can register with a few and begin practicing without having to lose money learning. It will not take long before you learn the basics, after which you can engage in real money slots.

Take advantage of bonuses

Free money is good and helps increase your chances of winning. The gambling sites give bonuses to attract more people into their games. They give bonuses such as sign-up, deposit, referral and loyalty bonuses. You cannot withdraw the free money, but you can use it to play as many games as you can and through luck, you can win big and enjoy your money in your unique style.

Alcohol is your winning enemy 

If you drink when playing real money online casino games, you can lose focus and judge wrongly when choosing numbers. Drunkenness can also tempt you to go for big money slots, which will lower your chances of winning. Stay sober if you want to win online casino games.

 

 

You work hard to provide a comfortable life for your family and ensure their financial stability. However, life is uncertain and an unfortunate event may leave your loved ones in a difficult situation.

Importance of term insurance

If you are the only earning member, your sudden absence may pose financial distress for your family members. A term plan is a pure life cover that pays the benefits to your nominees if an untoward incident occurs during the policy term. It is an affordable way to avail higher coverage, as the premium is lower when compared to regular life insurance plans like money back or endowment policies.

In addition to the monetary security of your family, a term plan offers tax benefits. As per Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 a term insurance tax benefit of up to INR 1.5 lakh per year is available on the premium paid. Additionally, as per Section 10(10D) of the Act, the death benefit that your nominees receive in your absence is tax-free, ensuring they receive the entire sum assured (SA), which they can use as per their requirements.

You can further enhance the term insurance coverage by adding riders. Some of these include waiver of premium, accidental disability or death, critical illness, and more. These riders are available at an extra premium; therefore, consider your requirements before making your choice.

Different payout options

Until recently, insurers paid term insurance benefits as a lump sum to the nominees after the policyholder’s death. However, as the insurance industry has evolved, several insurers now offer the flexibility in paying the death benefits to the nominees. One such option is the monthly payout of the policy benefits. Under this alternative, your nominees will receive the death benefit in monthly installments for a certain period if any unforeseen circumstance arises.

Advantages of monthly payouts

Here are a few plus points of a monthly income payout:

• Enables your family to meet their regular expenses

A monthly payout ensures your family has adequate money to meet their daily costs like household expenses, school fees, and other similar expenditures. This enables them to sustain their lifestyle without any financial difficulties.

• Provides benefits for individuals who are not financially savvy

Your nominees may be unable to make the right investments if they receive the term insurance benefits as a lump sum. They may incur heavy losses due to incorrect investment decisions, which may leave them in a financially difficult position. A monthly payout eliminates the hassle of understanding different investment products to earn higher returns while minimizing the risks.

• Offers customized payout options

Many insurers allow you to personalize the monthly payout option to suit your family’s requirements. One way is where your nominees receive a certain amount of the total policy benefits as a lump sum. Here, the insurer will pay the balance in monthly installments for a specific period. Another option is where the monthly payout slowly increases over a period, which ensures that your family can meet their expenses as the cost of living increases due to inflation.

A term insurance policy helps prevent financial difficulty for your family if an unexpected event results in your untimely absence. While choosing the most appropriate payout option, keep your family’s financial needs and situation in mind to ensure they get the maximum benefits.

Today, term plan offers have transformed as compared to the time when they were first available. Therefore, it is important that you understand what is term insurance, the inclusions and exclusions, and other terms and conditions before you make a decision. Research the different policies offered by insurers and then make a wise choice.

 

If you are a new investor who wants to achieve future financial goals, like building a corpus for retirement, sponsoring children’s education, buying a house, and generating abundant wealth, Unit-Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) is an ideal investment alternative. Many people ask – “What is ULIP?”, as they are not sure about the various features and the benefits offered by this scheme.

ULIP is an insurance policy that provides the dual advantages of insurance and wealth generation in a single plan. You can invest your hard-earned money in equity or debt funds as per your financial aspirations and risk-bearing appetite. The performance of the equity market determines the value of your investment in equity funds.

While purchasing a ULIP policy, you have to decide whether to opt for a single premium plan or a regular premium plan. When compared to the single premium ULIP, regular premium plans, like a monthly payment policy, provide more benefits. One of the significant benefits of opting for monthly ULIPs is that it reduces the exposure of your investment to market inconsistencies.

Why should you make monthly investments in ULIPs?

Here are five reasons to invest in a ULIP monthly: 

• Power of compounding 

Compounding is one of the formidable features that can help you to grow your wealth. In this concept, the amount you have earned from your initial investment in equity or debt funds is re-invested to accumulate surplus wealth. To make the most of the power of compounding, it is advisable to invest in the right funds and start as early as you can to build a large corpus. Consider a monthly premium payment plan, as it is intended for the long term, letting your wealth compound and grow over time.

• Benefit of rupee cost averaging 

When you opt for a monthly premium payment rather than the single premium ULIP, you can reap the advantage of rupee cost averaging. This concept offers you a chance to average the amount of investment. Here, you can purchase additional units when the market is bearish and lesser units when the market is bullish. Therefore, it allows you to spread the risk of your investment. You can make the most of your ULIP investment if you regularly invest, irrespective of the market’s performance.

• Convenience 

ULIP enables you to choose the frequency of the premium payment. You can pay premiums in monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly installments. When you opt for a monthly fee, it reduces your financial burden to a great extent.

• Possibility to switch from one fund to another 

One of the main advantages of investing in a ULIP policy is that you can shift your money from one fund to another based on the market’s performance. So, you have the liberty to switch your investment from equity to debt funds or debt to equity funds based on the market fluctuations. So, you can maximize your returns on investment. When you opt for a monthly premium payment plan, it becomes easier for you to monitor your ULIP investment performance. Therefore, you can transfer your investments from one fund to another if and when required.

• Achieving life goals

With the regular premium payment plan, you can build enough corpus to lead a financially stress-free life in the future. The amount you receive on maturity can help you accomplish your financial objectives, for which you had made this investment.

The month-to-month systematic ULIP investment can help you increase your wealth within a specific time frame. With the help of the various benefits like fund switching, power of compounding, tax savings, and wise investments, you can earn higher returns on investment and achieve your future monetary goals.

 

Saving money can be hard. But especially during times of economic and personal uncertainty, it’s often the money that you’ve saved that allows you to have a safety net in the event that things get a little unstable for you. However, getting money into your savings account isn’t always what people wish they could do with their money.

Because of this, it’s wise to try to make savings as easy as possible for you. To help you see how this can be done, here are three ways to simplify your savings plan.

Know What You’re Spending

Before you can really start putting money toward savings, you first have to know how much money you’re spending out of the funds that you’re able to bring home each month.

For some, creating a good, old-fashioned budget that they can keep track of manually is the best way to accomplish the tracking of their spending. However, for people who may want to streamline this process, Courtney Jespersen, a contributor to NerdWallet.com, suggests that you find a budgeting app that can take care of this for you. With many of these apps, you can link your bank accounts to the app and have everything tracked for you automatically and in real time. With this information, you can see where your money is going and then find ways to get more savings from areas that you can afford to be spending less.

Make Savings Automatic

When you’re saving money, it can be hard to see money from your paycheck move into an account that you’re essentially not using while another portion of your money is set aside for bills or other spending.

Because manually moving this money into savings can be difficult for many people to remember or to stomach, Joshua Kennon, a contributor to The Balance, suggests that you make your savings automatic rather than doing it yourself every month. By having a certain amount withdrawn into your savings account on its own, you can set it and forget it without really realizing that that money is moved.

Work Toward Investing

Having your money just sit in a savings account is a step in the right direction, but the money you’re committing to save can grow even more if you invest it so that it makes dividends or interest.

To do this simply, Melanie Weir, a contributor to Business Insider, recommends that you find an investing app that will help you take small amounts of money that you’re willing to set aside and then invest that money into a vehicle that will grow it for you. Even if it’s just a small amount, it will all start to add up soon.

If you’re looking to find ways to make saving easier for you, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you achieve this goal.

 

With the increasing prices of automobiles, the surge in health issues, and mortality rates, insurance plans’ cost is also increasing throughout the country. Unfortunately, the insurance premium is not going to reduce anytime soon. It is expected to continue growing in the future. However, there are a few ways that will help lessen the financial burden. This article will share some essential tips to reduce the cost of an insurance plan with you.

Multiple health plans

A health insurance plan for a single person is needed due to frequent health issues faced. But many of the medical conditions are not insured under one single plan. So it is always better to have top-up or multiple health insurance plans. This is a good way to reduce the sting to some extent.

Install Safety Features

Auto insurance companies charge less premium to those owners who have installed safety features in their car. This is because the possibility of stealing, or theft, is less in such cars.

So, by installing anti-theft devices such as steering lock, anti-theft alarm, and gear lock features in your vehicle, you can reduce the overall yearly premium by five percent. If you are associated with agencies such as WIAA, then you are entitled to get special discounts.

Increase the deductible amount

Another way to reduce insurance premium costs is to increase the deductible amount. It is the amount that the policyholder pays from his side at the time of making a claim. It is important to decide the deductible amount based on your financial condition. Ideally, this amount is less than the “No-Claim Bonus amount” that the policyholder is authorized in the next year.

Transfer No Claim Bonus

You can reduce the auto premium cost of the new car by transferring NCB to the new car. A policyholder can do it like auto insurance is associated with the person who holds the policy and not the vehicle.

This is the ideal strategy when you are selling your old car and buying the new one. You need to hold the insurance of the old vehicle even after selling it and ask the insurer to transfer an NCB certificate. This will lower the auto insurance premium cost of the new auto insurance policy bought for the new vehicle.

Buy insurance online

To get better insurance deals, a lot of people are opting for the online mode to buy a general insurance plan. The digital platform allows them to compare the premium cost and features in just a few minutes. Also, the process is hassle-free and quick.

Avoid making small claims.

You are eligible for a no-claim bonus for every claim-free year. When you renew the insurance policy, the NCB amount gets deducted from the premium cost and lowers the premium’s cost. Skip claiming for the repair of small issues not to lose your NCB amount.

Conclusion

Buying insurance is a wise decision. It saves you any unforeseen financial risks associated with your vehicle, health, and life. However, if an insurance plan’s price stops you from buying it and then implementing these strategies. These tips will surely help you lower the insurance premium.

 

Mutual funds are an ideal choice for several investors. They are simple to use, and there are many benefits of mutual funds. But, what is a mutual fund? A mutual fund is a financial instrument, set up to manage the money pooled from investors at large professionally. By pooling the capital together in a mutual fund, individuals can enjoy economies of scale. Mutual funds are managed by Asset Management Companies (AMC). Each AMC operates several schemes suited to different types of investment needs.Instead of investors fretting about which scheme to invest in, professional fund managers do the job.

Several investors do not have the time and resources to study and research the market. Mutual fund investments serve to be one of the best investment options for these investors. This is because the investors can reap the benefits of different types of investments with minimum effort and at a lower cost.

Types of mutual funds

There are different types of mutual funds with a wide range of profit potential, risk levels, and kind of fund management. Equity funds have the potential to provide higher returns, but they come with a higher risk. On the other hand,some funds invest in short-term bonds that have the potential to fetch relatively lower returns than equity mutual funds but at a much lesser risk. There are several intermediate funds availale to investors as well that offer varying degrees of risk vs returns. For instance, hybrid funds, also known as balanced funds, are a mix of equity funds and debt funds.These mutual funds combine the characteristics of equity and debt. Then there are international funds that invest in foreign securities without individualsneeding to contribute to foreign currency.There are also gold funds that are a way of investing in gold without having to purchase physical gold. They allot mutual fund units that hold physical gold as the underlying security. These funds fetch returns similar to that of physical gold but without the hassles of purity checks, storage, liquidity risk, etc.There are also index funds that track the performance of the underlying index, such as the BSE or the NSE. These funds try to replicate their underlying index and produce similar returns.

Investors should keep an eye on the track-record of individual funds and their fund managersto make the right decision.

Mutual funds offer the convenience, diversification, tax efficiency as well as many other benefits. There are various types of mutual funds available for a wide variety of investing needs. If you are new to the world of investing, you might invest in mutual funds to get the best of the equity markets. Before you invest in mutual funds online, just make sure they align with your personal goals, investment horizon and risk profile. Happy investing!