Expense AccountPersonal FinanceDecember 31, 2013by Monika Halan0In 2014, work towards making the God of Small Things smile
Don't get trapped by the hot stocks in 2014 headline. Stay safe. Stay boring. And make money for the long term.
Expense AccountSeptember 11, 2013by Monika Halan0What slowing growth has to do with why we’re feeling so low
Expense Account, Mint Have you been feeling low lately? Generally pessimistic and grumpy? I met a colleague in the lift bay and swapped stories. A fund manager drops by to meet me and we discuss how everybody feels much older than before. That the last 10 years feel like 20. Many conversations over the past...
Expense AccountSeptember 4, 2013by Monika Halan04.5% growth can’t sustain 9% growth pegged lifestyles
Expense Account, Mint The looming clouds of disaster are now overhead as economic data quarter after quarter show how serious the downturn is and expose the government lies, doublespeak and market talk-up over the last three years. As veteran employees, we learn to decode the signals of a slowdown fairly quickly. At the beginning of...
Expense Account, Min How would you react if you are told that you will go on a tight health plan that builds in one hour of tough physical exercise every day and cuts out most of the things you love to eat and drink? You may do it if you were facing a health crisis...
Expense Account, Mint Until recently, bank branches were known anecdotally for trapping people into toxic insurance products. In a strange twist, employees at some bank outlets have themselves got trapped in the process of doing more than selling such products. If the expose by online magazine Cobrapost.com, which showed people it claimed were officials in...
Expense Account, Mint Growing up in the 70s and 80s in urban middle India was to know what shortages are. The state strangled enterprise and everything from a scooter to a phone to butter, milk and grain was scarce. The civics and history textbooks stank of double standards as they spoke about an India that...
Expense AccountFebruary 20, 2013by Monika Halan0The problems of long-run data results and medium-term living
Expense Account, Mint I like to talk about the efficacy of having equity in the portfolio because that is an asset class, I have been led to believe, which gives an inflation-plus return. But equity’s image as a super asset class beating the stuffing out of inflation has been under attack for a long time,...
Expense Account, Mint I’m between meetings and while away time at a Barista near IIT. The book I have open is less interesting than the conversation I shamelessly eavesdrop on. Didn’t have to try very hard as the two men who sat less than two feet away are locked up in a world of their...
Expense AccountFebruary 22, 2012by Monika Halan0Front-loaders get front-loaded
Expense Account, Mint If you hear of a company selling a stake in itself, and then giving money to the buyer to buy that stake, what would you think? There’s something wrong with the deal. That’s the story in the bancassurance market right now and the rush of life insurance companies to tie up with...
Expense AccountJanuary 11, 2012by Monika Halan0In defence of trail commissions
Expense Account, Mint The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has taken a welcome step to bring in a set of adviser regulations. It has released a concept paper on the regulation of investment advisers. India needs a new set of regulations to bring order to a marketplace that moves money between households and...