Beginner Investing Ideas

Here is an article for beginner investor to understand best investing instruments. the information on this article on various investment avenues for beginner investor to select and allocate a right proportion to his portfolio to make it well diversified. This will help you to define various investment forms of each instruments, how to buy those and benifit of investing in each. Read further...

1. Equities or Stock

What is Equity? Equities are securities which represent ownership of a part of a company. Stocks/shares of the company, equity mutual funds all are in the same class.

How to buy? A. You can receive equities of a company through Initial Public Offers (IPO), B. Buy from stock exchange i.e. secondary market using a trading account, C. Through company stock option plan, D Subscribing equity mutual funds from mutual fund houses

What is the benefit? Equity performance is generally volatile in nature. Equities are the best asset class to yield the best returns on longer term horizons. Equities are not idea for short term investors. An investor required to timely monitor the stocks performance to get desired result.

2. Fixed Income Securities or Debt instruments

What is Fixed Income Securities or Debt Instruments? Securities that generate fixed set of returns in a period of time will come under this group. This can be in the form of interest, dividend income etc. government and company bonds, bank or company fixed deposits, other government securities all are in this asset class.

How to buy? Can be invested through corporate bonds, debt mutual funds, bank fixed deposits and post office schemes

What is the benefit? This is considered the safe mode of investment. This is the best instrument for a defensive investor who doesn’t have risk taking capacity. Debt instruments are also good for investors to shield there stock portfolio. Yields can vary depending on the prevailing interest rates and general economic conditions.

3. Real Estate

What is Real Estate? Represent ownership of land, houses or commercial property.

How to buy? Real estate generally acquired through inheritance, or from open market by purchasing house, land or commercial properties. Investment in real estate also can be done through Real Estate funds which known as REIT (Real Estate Investment Trusts). Read about real estate investment and REIT .

What is the benefit? A prudent investment in real estate can yield super returns. With the capacity of beating inflation, real estate investment allocation in each portfolio with long term focus, is highly recommended.

4. Gold

What is Gold? Gold is the most wanted precious metal. Gold can traditionally brought as jewelry. It can also buy in the form of coins, bars, biscuits for investment purpose.

How to buy? Gold can be purchased from jewelleries and from banks. Once can purchase gold through investing in commodities, through Exchange Traded Funds or known as Gold ETF’s and from gold mutual funds.

What is the benefit? Gold has capacity to beat inflation like real estate investments. Its value will not affected by stock market fluctuations or currency fluctuations. Generally, intelligent investors allocate gold in the investment portfolio as a best tool to hedge against huge market volatility. Long term investment in gold is best to yield huge returns. Read about the investments that can beat inflation.

5. Commodities

What is Commodities? Generally any tangible thing that can be bought and sold, considered as commodities. Some of the commodities are agro products, precious metals, base metals, ferrous metals, energy products, trading through a commodity exchange.

How to buy? Commodities can be bought and sold through a commodity exchange in the country.

What is the benefit? Commodity trading is an upcoming phenomena. Commodities are in the high risk class. Any one dealing with commodities required to acquire enough knowledge and support to add commodities in the investment portfolio.

As a beginner investor, the above mentioned instruments are best to build a safe but high profitable investment portfolio.

Remember, a portfolio doesn’t mean any one of the above investment but, it should have proper allocation of various investment instrument in the right proportion. Designing a portfolio required well understanding on your investment goal, age and risk taking capacity.

As a new investor, it is always advisable to seek proper advise from approved and certified financial planners who has years of successful financial planning experience. Here is an article on top 10 qualities required by a good financial advisor

Best wishes to those who plan to build and maintain a good portfolio for there life.

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Blog carnival edition 1

Welcome to the October 29, 2008 edition of 123 of investing and financial planning. This edition has good response from members and I have visited each article that submitted to this. Most of the article are worth read and very informative for investors. My sincere thanks to all contributors. Find the true and fantastic list below:

michael bennett presents Expand Your Ebay Presence Globally posted at ebay notebook for selling online, saying, "Expanding your Ebay presence to include global markets is a sure way to increase demand and possibly increase your return on investment."

KCLau presents The Malaysian Insurance Planning Guide by Meshio.com [REVIEW] posted at KCLau's Money Tips, saying, "A review about an ebook on insurance planning. The book is specially written to guide Malaysians on their next insurance purchase."

KCLau presents Are you part of the NEET Generation? posted at KCLau's Money Tips, saying, "About NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Learning), the NEET generation and why there is NEET."

Tony Huynh presents Bet on the US, I am posted at LimitlessUnits.com, saying, "Be greedy when others are fearful" Excellent Read

Michael Snyder presents Christmas Was Not Originally A Christian Holiday posted at The Moral Collapse Of America.

Investing

Praveen presents Taking out the DOG... posted at My Simple Trading System.

Peter Crump presents Can YOU Be Confident In Your Retirement? posted at Win-Win Real Estate Investments. Classic article

Adam Freedman presents Lessons from the Dot-com Bubble posted at The Investor's Journal.

MoneyNing presents How Your Portfolio Performance Compared With the Averages Determine the Risk You Are Taking posted at Investing School, saying, "Manage your risk at all times!" Good read

Denis Dobrochasov presents Taken for a Ride posted at Chasov Blog - Your World Insight, saying, "Chasov Blog publishes professional and quality content discussing a wide variety of subjects and providing contrasting points of view on different subject matters. Some topics of interest include business creation, network marketing, life events, relationships, money, banking, news, television, movies, travel, education, biking, gardening, fitness and a variety of others."

Dennis Scheffler presents Logo Design Ideas for Your Company posted at Logo Design Blog, saying, "A logo for your company will be the corner stone of your marketing efforts, so you need to come up with some logo design ideas that will really pop and get noticed."

Leon Gettler presents Hedge fund implosion posted at Sox First, saying, "That sound you hear, with the Dow Jones suffering its biggest drop since 1987, is hedge funds going down the drain. Way too much leverage and the whole thing has the whiff of forced selling."

Zach Scheidt presents Is the VIX signaling an inflection point? posted at ZachStocks, saying, "The VIX reached record levels and then reversed lower. This could be a significant sign for those expecting a market bottom."

Ryan Suenaga presents The Market Puts on the Big Hurt, but Some Folks Hurt Themselves More posted at Uncommon Cents.

Lisa Spinelli presents The Legendary Stocks to Watch Worksheet Revisited | Greener Pastures: Personal Finance posted at Greener Pastures: Personal Finance, saying, "Time for me to break out my Legendary Stocks to Watch Worksheet. The market’s incredibly low, and there’s still many sound companies out there. Time to get in while the gettin’s good."

Big Cajun Man presents Canadian Personal Finance Blog » Blog Archive » Top 5 Investing Regrets In My Life posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, "These clunkers are nothing to be very proud of..."

Raag Vamdatt presents Goal Based Investing :: RaagVamdatt.com :: Financial Planning demystified posted at RaagVamdatt.com.

Raymond presents How To Become A Millionaire and Get Rich In 10 Steps posted at Money Blue Book.

Master Your Card presents The New Insurance Rules | Master Your Card posted at Master Your Card, saying, "Best of luck with the Carnie this week!"

Ripe Trade presents 401k strategy Best seasonal period posted at Ripe Trade, saying, "I have noticed a couple of longer term signals that I believe are indicative of an important longer term buy signal. The 1st is the bullish seasonal I will describe here. And 2nd Is identifying bear market bottoms explained in the post below."

Jared Schneider presents 5 Best Dividend Stocks posted at InvestorPitStop.com, saying, "With a bear market like this, investors can still make money in the stock market. With these dividend stocks, you can make gains and a constant stream of income while others are losing."

Money Management

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Best Places For Your Money When The Stock Market Tanks posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "thank you!"

PabloPabla presents A Federal Debt Relief Grant Can Be Yours…If You Just Ask posted at The Credit Card Debt Relief Site, saying, "How does one manage a balloning debt?"

Joshua Seth presents 5 Steps To Prosper In Hard Economic Times posted at Joshua Seth Blog, saying, "As I write this article the stock market has seen historic declines, property values are declining, unemployment is on the rise, and inflation is increasing. A lot of people are justifiably worried and glued to the TV news every chance they can get. So what can you do about all this? Actually, quite a lot. You may not be able to change what’s happening in the world, but you can absolutely change how it affects you and actually profit by it in a big way." A must read !!

Investing Angel presents Why Most Investors Buy High And Sell Low » Free Stock Market Investing Tips posted at Stock Tips, saying, "Some ways to avoid the mistakes of buying high and selling low." Informative article !!

Raymond presents New FDIC Insured Limit Covers Bank Deposits Up To $250,000 posted at Money Blue Book.

Phillip Jeffries presents Email Marketing | Make Money Online posted at Make Money Online, saying, "This post explains some of the best ways to make money online through e-mail marketing. I hope you find it to be of use for the upcoming carnival."

Beno Varghese presents Fed Holds New Power to Pay Interest on Reserves posted at Beno Varghese dot-com.

Personal Finance

Ben Dinsmore presents How to Build Up Your "Emergency Fund" in a Dismal Economy posted at Trees Full of Money, saying, "To help you in boosting your rainy day fund in these troubling economic times, I have assembled a list of ways to free up cash now to expedite your emergency preparedness." Super read !!

Kirby presents Are you stupid for paying your mortgage? | Kirby on Finance posted at Kirby on Finance.

Dean Paley presents How To Create a Personal Financial Plan posted at Tax & Financial Planning Blog, saying, "The six seps to start a financial plan." Interesting and informative article !!

Joe Manausa presents Dave McCormick On Restoring Global Stability posted at Tallahassee Real Estate Blog, saying, "Under Secretary David H. McCormick made the following remarks about the current economic turmoil while speaking at Wharton’s Eleventh Annual Investment Management Conference. He identified how the chaos basically got started and acknowledged that we are now paying the price."

Jody T Fransch presents Tips to Managing Student Finances « jody fransch posted at jody fransch. Excellent read !

gazzali presents Live Out Of Bad Credits posted at PROenrichment. Informative and educational !

Andrea Smith presents How Can I Recover from Bankruptcy? | Consolidate4Free: Free Debt Consolidation Articles posted at Free Debt Consolidation: Qualified Financial Management.

Quimby C presents Payday Loans are a Safe, Convenient Option for Consumers posted at directloandebts.com.

Quimby C presents Credit Card Cash Advance or Short Term Loan? posted at paydaymoneyloans.net.

ChristianPF presents How NOT to become rich posted at Money in the Bible | Christian Personal Finance Blog, saying, "It turns out good old fashion common sense and the discipline to follow through are pretty helpful in gaining wealth." Good and informative

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of 123 of investing and financial planning using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Pro and cons of exchange traded funds

All of you are familiar with ETF (Exchange Traded Fund), a basket of securities that are listed and traded on a recognized stock exchange. Simply put, they are mutual funds, whose units can be bought and sold on the stock exchange. Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) can be either passively managed or actively managed. Understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) will help you to take a prompt decision to invest on this instrument. Below are the same.

Advantages of ETFs

1. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) tend to be more cost-effective compare with mutual funds. For instance, while the expense ratio of a passively managed Exchange Traded Funds, ETF, (tracking a benchmark index) would normally be in the range of 0.50%-1.00%; for an Index mutual fund, it can be go high up to 1.50%.

2. Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) providing more flexibility to investors than regular mutual funds. Since they are traded on the stock exchange, investors can buy and sell Exchange Traded Funds (ETF's) at any time during the exchange trading hours. So investors can buy and sell units of an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on a real time basis, unlike regular mutual funds, which can be transacted only at end-of-day NAV (Net Asset Value).

3. Since Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) witness most of the buying/selling on the exchange, the interests of the long-term investor are not compromised. Take a regular equity fund where units are bought and sold at the AMC’s (Asset Management Company) end – when a significant amount of money enters and exits the fund rather quickly, the long-term investor could suffer as a result of the costs (trading costs, registrar costs and opportunity loss, if the fund manager is forced to sell his best stocks) associated with this quick inflow/outflow.

With an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), an investor don't required to approach an AMC (Asset Management Company) and only interacting with other investors over the exchange, his quick entry/exit does not compromise the interests of the long-term investor.

4. Given Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are traded on the stock exchange, and can be bought/sold on a real time basis; they tend to have low tracking error (deviation of ETF's performance from that of the underlying index) as compared to index funds.

Disadvantages of ETF

1. The main requirement to subscribe the Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), an investor should have or open a online dmat account with any reputed stock broker. Like any other exchange traded stocks, Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) also in the dematerialized for and can exchange through on online trading account. Here, mutual funds sends the statements and certificates in paper form and can take those to the mutual fund office for redemption of the units.

For investors, who do not trade in stocks, this could be a bit of a deterrent. Also, maintaining a demat account entails paying annual fees depend on stock brokers. investors, who invest in stocks, this will not pinch as the maintenance charge of the demat account will be spread across the stock and ETF investments.

2. While investors have to incur entry/exit loads at the time of making/redeeming investments in mutual funds, for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) they have to pay a standard brokerage to the stockbroker, along with other applicable charges, every time Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) units are bought or sold. For a trader who frequently trades, this can have a significant impact on the net returns. But for long-term investors, these expenses hold little relevance.

As an investor, what you can do?

It is evident that Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) offer a different investment proposition compare with conventional mutual funds. ETFs may appeal to investors who want to track the performance of a particular benchmark index; similarly, the ETF route can also appeal to investors who are desirous of investing in asset classes such as gold. The allure of ETFs will only grow given the expanding bouquet of offerings.

Investors on their part would do well to thoroughly understand the pros and cons of ETFs; this will help them make informed investment decisions. Also, investors must consult their investment advisors/financial planners to determine the suitability of an ETF in their investment portfolios.

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30 investing mistakes by investors

There are some intelligent actions required any investor to lead his investment to a big success. But, majority of investors are losing there entire money through investments. What is the reason behind such huge failure? Below is the list of 30 common mistakes most of the investors make frequently. As an investor, knowing these mistakes will give you more success.

1. Start investing without any goal or plan.

2. Investing without proper research or study

3. Buying stocks at the time of selling and selling at the time of buying.

4. Short term trading by greed instead of long term investing by patience.

5. Following the actions of big famous investors, FII’s (Foreign Institutional Investors) or fund houses

6. Following the public blindly

7. Investing in penny stocks

8. Taking advice from Uncle Sam for investing or taking advises from a wrong, non-qualified adviser.

9. Believing tips, analyst reports blindly

10. Investing on market rumors

11. Greed

12. Not having good understanding on the company, business, before investing in a stock.

13. Ignorance of necessary valuation methods to analyze a stock or analyze performance of a company.

14. Investing without discipline and patience

15. Ignorance of the basics. I.e. meaning of investing, what is a stock, how stock market working etc.

16. Ignorance of factors that capable to lead a market to bear phase or bull phase

17. Buying through IPO’s only

18. Unable to evaluate a stock to identify to buy or sell

19. Investing only on hot sectors or companies from a fast booming sector like internet, real estate etc.

20. Marrying stocks with emotional attachment

21. Borrowing money for investing in stocks

22. Using credit cards for investing

23. Being panic when fluctuations happening

24. Monitoring the portfolio multiple times in a day or week

25. Not knowing portfolio diversification

26. Over diversification by ‘n’ number of stocks

27. Selling good stocks to meet temporary money requirements.

28. Over enthusiasm and expectations

29. Overconfidence

30. Investing only to avoid tax

Hope the above list will help an investor to take a self assessment as well as help to avoid such mistakes in the future. Be an intelligent investor.

Please feel free to inform any points that you feel I had missed in the above list and good to add within.

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Definition of Investment

There are many definitions available on the word 'investment'. Here are some, received from famous dictionaries, for your knowledge. True understanding of this will lead you to take proper actions to get long term success with your investments.

A commitment of dollars for a period of time with the expectation or hope of receiving future payments that will cover any inflation and compensate the investor for the time that the funds are committed and the uncertainty of any future return. An investment may be made by any person or entity, including corporations, pension funds, or a government, and be made in land, equipment, stocks, bonds, commodities, or any other financial instrument.

Answers.com says:

An asset or item that is purchased with the hope that it will generate income or appreciate in the future. In an economic sense, an investment is the purchase of goods that are not consumed today but are used in the future to create wealth. In finance, an investment is a monetary asset purchased with the idea that the asset will provide income in the future or appreciate and be sold at a higher price.

Investopedia Says:

The building of a factory used to produce goods and the investment one makes by going to college or university are both examples of investments in the economic sense.

In the financial sense investments include the purchase of bonds, stocks or real estate property.

Be sure not to get 'making an investment' and 'speculating' confused. Investing usually involves the creation of wealth whereas speculating is often a zero-sum game; wealth is not created. Although speculators are often making informed decisions, speculation cannot usually be categorized as traditional investing.

Another definitions

Definition 1
In finance, the purchase of a financial product or other item of value with an expectation of favorable future returns. In general terms, investment means the use money in the hope of making more money.

Definition 2
In business, the purchase by a producer of a physical good, such as durable equipment or inventory, in the hope of improving future business.

Definition 3
Trade off between risk and reward while aiming for incremental gain and preservation of the invested amount (principal). In contrast, speculation aims at 'high gain or heavy loss,' and gambling at 'out of proportion gain or total loss.' Two main classes of investment are (1) Fixed income investment such as bonds, fixed deposits, preference shares, and (2) Variable income investment such as business ownership (equities), property ownership.

In economics, investment means creation of capital or goods capable of producing other goods or services. Expenditure on education and health is recognized as an investment in human capital, and research and development in intellectual capital. Return on investment (ROI) is a key measure of a firm's performance.

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Personal Financial Planning thoughts and strategies

Is well structured financial plan is your dream? Are you stuck with any point to start financial planning or not aware where to start and what all are the necessary actions to go ahead? If your answer is "Yes" then this financial advice article for you. Here is a step by step information on the necessary areas where your focus required to have a personal financial planning..

Understand that financial planning is a set of strict rules one applying to life to achieve long term goals. Discipline is the major requirement to achieve the same. There are various personal financial planning software available but, that will do very little to to you. You can have a help of a personal financial planner, a financial adviser or take financial planning tools for reference but ultimately the success depends on you only.

It is better to read this article, keys to financial planning, before reading further. This is about the keys of financial planning including the budgeting, debt management etc that have major part in the personal financial planning.

1. Identification of financial need and obligations

The point where you would begin with your personal financial planning. Identifying financial needs and obligations are depends upon one’s status, life style, family background etc. There are lots of difference in financial planning from a nuclear family with a family where number of members are more. Little effort and study will enable one to properly identify the requirements to plan the financial safety.

2. Life insurance policies for self to protect family members from future financial problems

Protection for life, assets and health for self and dependents should get major consideration when moving with personal financial plan. If you are the only bread winner in family, then protect your self properly. Because, anything small or big, that happening to your life will affect till the other end of your family members. A term cover with 9 times of your annual salary will do better for you to protect your family from such possible financial burdens. Life insurance term cover available with cheap premium and large cover is a best option.

Have a look Article: Insurance space for your family at a glance

3. Children savings plan

Children are our main asset and each parents want to give them maximum they need in life to safe there future. A person run with a personal financial plan should have proper allocation that aim to his/her kid is a must requirements. Children should protected with child health insurance plans and should protect from there future financial requirements through proper investments made for them. A suitable financial planning instruments here are mix of ULIP’s and investment funds. Both can meet the future financial requirements through choosing the right investment mix.

4. Health insurance plans for all eligible members in the home

Remember, hospitality and health relates issues to you or family members break and crash your personal financial planning. You could protect yourself and family members to meet such incidents that can happen at any time, anywhere with anybody. Proper life insurance plan or health insurance plans are the best solutions to deal with such situations. Insurance cover with health/medical facilities are the your best friends and could not avoid this step. Remember to get one that have maximum protection riders and well managed. If your parents are aged, then separate health insurance policy for them is a best choice with enough riders.

5. Creating a second stream or source for income through build emergency fund

Have a habit of keeping an emergency fund in a separate savings account. A best plan is, keeping an emergency fund equal to your 6 moths salary will do better for you and will give necessary protection once if you could face a job lose or any immediate financial requirements. If you would like to invest an amount to use as emergency fund, then select one which has immediate liquidity option. A well performing money market mutual fund is a considerable option for you.

6. Keeping focus on personal retirement financial planning

Learn from a squirrel or ants. They are early collectors and collect food for the winter season and will enjoy the same once after starting the winter. Like this, to enjoy our retirement life properly, we should save from the beginning. Little drops can form a sea. Saving small amount from the beginning will give you a better corpus at the end. You should not touch 401k and/or Employee Provident Funds and keep this focused for retirement. Good long term investments in stock market along some best combination of mutual funds will be do better for you to meet the requirements.

7. Consolidation of assets owned by the aging members of the family

Proper nomination should take place to get better result from this section. A better arranged will, proper management of properties and other investments if aged personal will give you safety from any kind of incidents.

If you still have doubts, there are lots of resources that dealing with personal financial plan available in the Internet and the market. You can also get the help from Financial Advisers as well as the financial planning services firms in your city. you can find a financial planner by the use of Internet as well. You can use the freely available financial planning tools and model financial plans to learn more on the same. There are good financial planning guides available in the Internet to download and read to get more good awareness with the subject.

Visiting the websites of financial planning associations will be a best source to get quality information and materials to help your plan.

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What is Cash Reserve Ratio

Cash Reserve Ratio is a bank regulation that sets the minimum reserves each bank must hold to customer deposits and notes as financial investment. These reserves are designed to satisfy withdrawal demands, and would normally be in the form of fiat currency stored in a bank vault or with a central bank.

For example, if the reserve ratio in the U.S. is determined by the Fed to be 11%, this means all banks must have 11% of their depositors money on reserve in the bank. So, if a bank has deposits of $1 billion, it is required to have $110 million on reserve.

Cash reserve Ratio (CRR) in India is the amount of funds that the banks have to keep with RBI. RBI will pay some interest on this money. If RBI decides to increase the percent of this, the available amount with the banks comes down. RBI is using this method to drain out the excessive money from the banks.

Raising the CRR is depends on the economy changes. As an investor, you could have profit or loss to your financial investment from this action. Stock market react by coming down when there is an increase in interest rate. And behave just opposite when cutting the CRR rate. In another hand, investors in the debt mutual funds will get benefited from the interest hike.

Who will affect badly from a CRR hike?

A borrower. When the interest rise due to a CRR hike, you will probably need to settle in for a lower loan amount given the EMI (Equated Monthly Installment). If you are an existing borrower, as long as the rate of interest on your loan is fixed, you are immune to any rise in interest rates. However, if you have a floating rate loan, then expect either the tenure of the loan or the EMI to jump soon.

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Investing ideas in a down market

Internet world is full with tips on what want to do in a down market. They all are targeting small investors who are more panic due to the present market crash and financial turmoil. Business newspapers filled with market crash news in a daily basis. Can you invest at this time? The ultimate answer is “Yes”. Read below to get an exact idea to the right place to park your money.

I don’t know how many of you read the story of loses happened to billionaires around the world because of present financial turmoil. Lots of suicides happening because of huge money lose. You might have read what happened to Mr. Warren Buffett, the greatest investor, at this time. Yes, everybody losing in the market but he added another $500 Cr’s to his wealth. How?

Any one of us can do the same. I agree that, this is NOT the time to invest in stock market but in the same time, this is the correct time to invest in stock market. These all depends on how your mind works and how much you are tied with your money. If you are dealing with money like a hen which is sitting on the eggs, you are not the right person to read this. Everyone has fear about money lose. But the truth is, intelligent action through well study and long term focus, stock market will never give you loses.

Remember, stock markets are at the bottom line and valuations are very attractive with all the companies. There are 2 major options in front of you to invest your money at this time of down market.

1. First option is very simple and it is secure. Park your money to bank FD’s for desired time and sits freely. Enjoy the interest what you are getting. Your money is safe. But what will do if the bank crash? That is your question to answer yourself.

2. Second available option is, you still have options to invest in stock market. It is not a joke. You can still invest in stock market if you think like Warren Buffett. You are well aware that stock prices touched the bottom line and valuations are very attractive. Yes it is. Financial turmoil or the stock market crash doesn’t mean that all companies are in lose. Why don’t you select large cap companies that have well established business as well as increasing earnings at these times too?

Yes. Invest at this time on the blue chip stocks of carefully selected companies. Don’t go behind any mid or small cap companies at least at this time. Blue chips are your best friends at this time. They have well establish business and it is impossible to close down such business to give you lose. So select such companies and invest on that. This was the method what Buffet was practically doing.

Valuations are very attractive and price of the blue chip stocks are in bottom line because of the financial turmoil. You can see there will not be any affect to there business and that is the best point you have to keep in mind to invest on that stocks.

Don’t panic after investing to well established companies or blue chip companies. Let it be there. Every down has an up. It will take time but, certainly the market it will go up. The only point to remember is, this is not the time to trade or invest your money for short time. If you decided to invest in stock at this time, invest with blue chip stocks and for long term.

It is a bad idea at this time, if you planning to invest bulk amount to mutual funds. Better, wait and see for some time before mutual fund investing. You can select good mutual funds to invest money in a SIP basis. If economic growth is intact, then there is nothing to bother

Be a prudent investor. As I said earlier, keep your new investments only to the stocks of blue chip companies. Invest in good mutual funds ONLY in sip basis or park your money to the bank Fixed deposits. I am sure that this is a temporary problem and the stock market will certainly go up by today or tomorrow. Best wishes to all the investors.

******

An internet bank is one of the best places to find competitive certificate of deposit rates. While they offer some great savings options they don't offer the best credit cards on the market. For those you probably want to visit a traditional bank.

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ICICI bank to build customer trust

Recent unsolicited news and rumors made India's second largest bank's, ICICI, status to red and customers panic. Branches of the bank crowded by its customers to withdraw there money immediately. This rumor related to ICICI banks shares with Layman. Presently bank is trying build trust with its customers. Below is a mail received to my mailbox is the best example for that:

Here is a mail I have received to my inbox by yesterday with the from field: Message from Mr. V.Vaidyanathan, Executive Director ICICI Bank Ltd

Dear Customer,

We are aware that you are being misled by numerous malicious and baseless rumors. Many of these are via SMSes. Many of our customers have written in to us expressing solidarity and confidence in our relationship, and have mentioned they have dismissed these rumors, for which we are grateful. Still we know that these rumors may cause you distress and doubts. You are our valued customer and we would not like you to have any of these feelings. So we have now chosen to write to you directly to allay your concerns if any.

You would have seen the categorical endorsement of the soundness of Indian banking as well as ICICI Bank's sound financial health from the RBI and the Finance Minister. You would have also read about the unequivocal certificate of confidence reposed on us by S&P an independent rating agency of repute. We have categorically and in a transparent manner disclosed that

* We have ZERO exposure, directly or indirectly, to US sub-prime
*We have 150% more capital than what Banks are required to have, and we are one of the highest capitalized banks in the country
* We have a AAA rating
* We have sound liquidity to meet your needs whenever you need and in what ever amounts you may need

Your bank has grown and achieved its status of pre-eminence due to the patronage and trust you have reposed thus far in us. We have made many an Indian smile with a house, car and every banking need dreamed of by Indians. I am sure nothing factually or otherwise has changed in our relationship that we should let baseless rumors cast doubts in your mind. We once again want to reaffirm to you that the bank you have built and assisted to grow to pre-eminence will be with you day and night. We take pride in serving you and being the bank of your first choice.

We desire and request the continuance of your unwavering trust and relationship. We promise to you that not only your deposits but all your interests are safe and secure with us. In case you need to reach us, kindly write to us at customer.care@icicibank.com.

Sincerely

V. Vaidyanathan
Executive Director
ICICI Bank Ltd.

This is a clear example on how baseless rumors can put the status of a bank in red. There may be elements purposely working behind such action. It is pitiable and should not happen in an economy like India were we have an efficient banking system and solid regulatory. Officials should take initiative to find out the source of such humors and should present them in front of the law. Or, such incident can happen again on any other bank. This will put the customers in confusion and as a result, people loose the trust on the banking system. This can effect the economy very badly.

This is one of the best example for the same and we should learn from it.

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Bull market indicators

Identifying bull phase is a great quality of a good investor. This can be done through collecting and analyzing latest updates related to the economy. A good investor should be able to understand and predict how such changes or actions affect the stock market. Here are some indications related to bull phase to update your knowledge:

Bull market is the final result of any changes or actions that supports the growth of economy. If economy is stable and growth is consistent, you can expect a long run bull phase in stock market.

1. Rise in corporate earnings – This is the best indicator on a growing economy. As economy grows along with business stability and capacity to produce better earnings, is a positive symbol to the forthcoming bull phase.

2. Law inflation rate – Low inflation supports the bull market in a great extend. Low inflation support companies by reducing its production costs thus the earnings will be increased continuously. This can leas to a bull run.

3. Law interest rates – There is no secret that when the interest rate is law the stock market will be up and when the interest rate is high, the stock market will go through the bear phase. Any news on reducing the interest rate could be a clear sign to an investor on the nearest bull phase.

4. FII fund flows and increased investor interest– This is another clear sign to the nearer bull phase in the stock market. Increasing interest from big investors and fund houses will make the public happy and they also start participating to the market in a great extend. This is a good sign and can make the price for each stock up and the bull market will be on the screen.

Above are the major indicators that help an investor to identify the forthcoming bull phase easily. It is all visible or the information available in public. There is no extra effort required to understand the above mentioned indicators.

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Important Information !!! Blog name Change

Friends and readers,

The name of the blog "Investment Internals" going to change its name to "The Million Dollar Investing Tips" from 3rd November, 2008. New blog can be accessed via its new URL: http://milliondollarinvestingtips.blogspot.com/

Sherin - Investment Internals

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How do you prepare for losing your job

What to do if jobless? Thousands of people around the world presently have this question in mind. Due to financial turmoil, big companies are under threat. They are trying to file bankruptcy and closing all there offices across the world to make thousands of its employees as jobless.

There are some pain associated with employees who becoming jobless because of the bankruptcy filing by there previous employer. New employers always identify that you are in need of a job and desperately looking for that. This will put you in trouble by drag your salary down to minimum by the next company.

Unexpected job lose are thus painful and enough to put anyone panic. Early, intelligent approaches to prepare a better shield to overcome such situation are the only possible answer to the above question. Little preparation can bring you to the safer side to grant enough time to get a better job as well as salary than the present.

At very first, you should keep the below point in mind:

Never be panic if such situation arises. A panic mind always does wrong actions and that will produce worst result than present. Better idea is to prepare an emergency survival plan by foresee any future problems that can make trouble to your smooth life. Take necessary actions to shield from such nasty situations.

Practice the following to secure yourself from such panic troubles:

Emergency fund

It is vital to create an Emergency Fund to tackle such situations. The fund should be saved in a separate account and sufficient to meet 3 to 6 months expenses. Prepare your monthly budget to identify monthly expenses prior to start this action. Once after identifying exact monthly expenses, this is the time to go forward with accumulating money to keep as your emergency fund. This will greatly help you to survive bad situations without jobs and will give you time to search enough support to take time and search a proper job.

Loan calculations:

If you are in the debt trap with loans, you should include the monthly EMI amount to your monthly budget prior to prepare Emergency Fund as I said earlier. Remember to not apply for any new loans once if you feel your company is inside the heating area and cancel any loan that you have applied previously and not reached to the finishing point.

Credit card debt

You should take extra care to not use credit card unusually. Credit card is the major trouble and that can scatter your entire financial plan if you don’t have control over the same. Remember to pay off all the credit card debt and also remember to not use credit cards till you are in a secure position. Don’t follow any new credit card offers for time being

Consider good investments

Good investments are always your best friends to give helping hands when you are running out of money. Practice to save and invest a portion of your salary in each month to build a good investment portfolio to get trusted financial assistance at your bad times. Well profitable and high liquidity investments can be considered as a part of your contingency fund to provide better safety to your life.

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Who is Foreign Institutional Investors (FII's)

Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) is an investor or investment fund that is from or registered in a country outside of the one in which it is currently investing. The term is used most commonly in India to refer to outside companies investing in the financial markets of India. International institutional investors must register with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to participate in the market.

Who can get registered as FII?

Following entities / funds are eligible to get registered as FII:

1. Pension Funds
2. Mutual Funds
3. Insurance Companies
4. Investment Trusts
5. Banks
6. University Funds
7. Endowments
8. Foundations
9. Charitable Trusts / Charitable Societies

Further, following entities proposing to invest on behalf of broad based funds, are also eligible to be registered as FIIs:

1. Asset Management Companies
2. Institutional Portfolio Managers
3. Trustees
4. Power of Attorney Holders

The eligibility criteria for applicant seeking FII registration

As per Regulation 6 of SEBI (FII) Regulations,1995, Foreign Institutional Investors are required to fulfill the following conditions to qualify for grant of registration:

• Applicant should have track record, professional competence, financial soundness, experience, general reputation of fairness and integrity;

• The applicant should be regulated by an appropriate foreign regulatory authority in the same capacity/category where registration is sought from SEBI. Registration with authorities, which are responsible for incorporation, is not adequate to qualify as Foreign Institutional Investor.

• The applicant is required to have the permission under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 from the Reserve Bank of India.

• Applicant must be legally permitted to invest in securities outside the country or its in-corporation / establishment.

• The applicant must be a "fit and proper" person.

• The applicant has to appoint a local custodian and enter into an agreement with the custodian. Besides it also has to appoint a designated bank to route its transactions.

• Payment of registration fee of US $ 5,000.00

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What is Participatory Notes

Participatory Notes as known as P-Notes or PN are instruments issued by registered foreign institutional investors to overseas investors, who wish to invest in the Indian stock markets without registering themselves with the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

In simple words, P-Notes are Financial instruments used by investors or hedge funds that are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to invest in Indian securities. Indian-based brokerages buy India-based securities and then issue participatory notes to foreign investors. Any dividends or capital gains collected from the underlying securities go back to the investors. This is because the Indian capital market is limited to FII’s.

How P-Notes works?

The investors, who buy PNs, deposit their funds in the US or European operations of the FII, which also operates in India. The FII uses its proprietary account to buys stocks in India. A government report has said that the FII or the broker acts like an exchange since it executes the trade and uses its internal accounts to settle this. Other such instruments include equity-linked notes, capped return note, participatory return notes and investment notes.

Major Disadvantages of Participatory Notes

1. While one reason for using PNs is to keep the investor's name anonymous, some investors have used the instrument to save on transaction costs, record keeping overheads and regulatory compliance overseas

2. It is difficult to establish the beneficial ownership or the identity of the ultimate investor, that is possible for registered FIIs. It fears that FIIs, which have to comply with the know-your customer norms, know the identity of the investor to whom the note was issued. But it is possible for the investor to sell the PN to another player resulting in multi-layering. Tax officials fear that PNs are becoming a favorite with a host of Indian money launderers who use the instrument to first take out funds out of the country, through the hawala route, and then get it back using PNs.

Who can invest in Participatory Notes?

a) Any entity incorporated in a jurisdiction that requires filing of constitutional and/or other documents with a registrar of companies or comparable regulatory agency or body under the applicable companies legislation in that jurisdiction;

b) Any entity that is regulated, authorised or supervised by a central bank, such as the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Monetary Authority of Singapore or any other similar body provided that the entity must not only be authorised but also be regulated by the aforesaid regulatory bodies;

c) Any entity that is regulated, authorised or supervised by a securities or futures commission, such as the Financial Services Authority (UK), the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Futures Commission (Hong Kong or Taiwan), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Australia) or other securities or futures authority or commission in any country , state or territory;

d) Any entity that is a member of securities or futures exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (Sub-account), London Stock Exchange (UK), Tokyo Stock Exchange (Japan), NASD (Sub-account) or other similar self-regulatory securities or futures authority or commission within any country, state or territory provided that the aforesaid organizations which are in the nature of self regulatory organizations are ultimately accountable to the respective securities / financial market regulators.

e) Any individual or entity (such as fund, trust, collective investment scheme, Investment Company or limited partnership) whose investment advisory function is managed by an entity satisfying the criteria of (a), (b), (c) or (d) above.

Thanks to rediff

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Why Diversification is Important in a Portfolio

Learn portfolio diversification from the well known proverb, "Don't put all your eggs to the same basket". This is a best known proverb informing investors to the importance of portfolio diversification to cutting the risk. Through proper diversification, one can reduce the risk involved to a portfolio in a great extend but it required lots of plan and good effort. Below are the details on major required qualities of a diversified portfolio and the two available diversification methods for your knowledge:

To deal with diversification, one should determine the fund allocation to different asset classes prior to build a portfolio. This can be equities, fixed assets, mutual funds or any investments that can give profit to the investor.

The major advantage of diversification is its ability to protect the entire portfolio from various risk and volatility associated to various asset classes. Good portfolio diversification should have following qualities:

1. It should include variety of investments like stocks, mutual funds, bonds and cash etc. You can even select well performed Unit Linked Insurance plans that provide facility to decide and diversify your money across various funds from different asset classes on the basis of risk, associated with the product. Nowadays, people diversifying portfolios by including gold, commodity and real estate investments to there portfolio through various available investment options.

2. A portfolio that should have horizontal diversification exposure inside the asset class itself. For example, building a stock portfolio with large, medium and small cap companies and index funds or a mutual fund portfolio with diversified equity funds, large cap funds, balanced funds, mid-cap and small cap funds, sector funds and thematic funds etc. Cash portfolio with fixed deposits in different banks and different duration, Fixed Maturity Plans, bond funds and liquid funds etc..

3. To limit the industry specific risks, one should spread the investment across various industries. To avoid the location specific risks, one should spread investments geographically. This can be done mixing of domestic and international stocks and funds to the portfolio.

Below are the two known diversification methods for your knowledge:

Horizontal Diversification: This means the same type investment diversification. If you are investing is stocks through horizontal diversification, you are buying stocks of various companies i.e. large cap, mid cap and small cap and belongs to various industries.

It has three key advantages.

1. Investing across industries enable you to protect your portfolio from industry risks.

2. Adding Large cap stocks is a better idea to shield portfolio from huge market volatility because large cap stocks are comparatively low volatile.

3. Adding mid cap and small cap stocks enable you to tap the growth potentials as well as huge profit for long run.

Vertical Diversification: This is very broad diversification because it is investing in different types of securities. Through vertical diversification, you are protecting your amount by investing some amount to different asset classes as I informed previously.

With horizontal diversification, it lessens the risk of investing entirely in one asset class. But, vertical diversification protect your investments against both markets and economical changes.

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How to Shop Wisely and Save Money

Careless shopping can destroy your budget to a great extend. It can put you in trouble with huge credit card debt and spoil financial plan. Most people buying unnecessary items with “one moment attraction”. Little thoughts and understanding on “needs and wants” enable you to manage your money wisely at the time of day to day shopping. Read the complete article below…

Understand, “needs” are the items that you can’t avoid in your day to day life. Like water, food etc.. “Wants” are the items that doesn’t have full time job with you but you some time interested to have one but can postpone a buy, bargain the price or even avoid a purchase.

Ask this questions yourself along with some simple actions before you decide to buy anything that may fall under the category of “wants”:

1. Affordability: You could identify the price and the affordability of the same. Will it affect your whole month budget? Do you have enough money to continue this shopping to purchase more “needs” based items? Will it add more burden to your credit card? Do this buy required you to withdraw any additional amount from your emergency account? These are the questions you must ask self before taking an immediate decision by one moment attraction.

2. How this item useful to you: You should ask this question to identify why you really attracted to purchase this product. Do you really require it? Or, can you go for something else that my have more advantages than this and cheap too? Or, do you have similar item in your home and will this be an additional one to that? You should ask this questions and able to find exact answers. You should think little deeply if the item is the symbol of posh, costly and that really not required to your life other than kept as a show piece.

3. How often the use of this item: Carefully think about how frequently you are going to use the item. How often you will use the same or is it a seasonal one to keep in a corner as a useless piece for long time till the next season comes. Identifying answers to this will be helpful to understand the real worth and value of the product for purchasing.

4. Thoughts on cost: Identify the item is available at any other place where it is cheaper than present one. You can utilize the sources like internet and also can check with other shopping outlets to get a correct idea on this. You can also check for any offer or discount that may associate with the product, to add more value to your money. Some items are seasonal and costly to purchase if you are looking for the same in its season. Be enough intelligent to identify the future needs like an ant, which is collecting food for winter. Remember, to not go for any cheap items that are not providing any guarantee or warranty. If you buy, you could buy a good, branded one with a bargaining price.

5. Identify the item is a seasonal one or not for a regular use. If such, you can have wise options to rent or borrow the item than purchasing one as your own. This is more economical and intelligent that helps you to use the item when it really required. Another advantage is, not required to keep such seasonal item as unused till next season. Remember, keeping anything unused for more time will damage the system. It is applicable to our brain too.

6. Requirement of patience: You can ask a question yourself “Do I wait a little before purchase this item?”. The idea behind is, any item that is coming to market as new will have a high price tag. The similar item can be purchased from market with a reasonable price once after the company launching new version of this product or the price certainly go down once after the launch of a similar product by its competitor. Apple iPod is a best example for this. People prepared to sue against the company because of the high price they had paid to purchase the item within after some days of its launch. Within weeks of time, the prices got reduced to a greater extend and those who bought the item as first got highly disappointed. Any way, apple returned the collected, excess money to their customers but we can’t expect the same in most cases. So it is worthy to take a decision to wait and see for some days before making any immediate decision.

7. Check and identify the product is a correct one based on quality compare with similar products available in the market. Quality and quantity should come under your consideration prior to put your buying order. A simple research on the qualities and features of similar product from various companies along with price will lead you to correct decision.

8. Identify the near season: Remember, festival seasons are the best time to buy items with cheap rate due to heavy discount. You can check and wait till the next nearest festival time to have a discount buying advantage. This will enable you to get the same item with more discounted price than present.

9. Service after sales: You could ask and confirm the possible and available service after sales facilities before purchasing any item. Availability of service centers, facility for free and on site service details should be collected. Generally items with more than 5 years guarantee, you can buy without worries.

10. Purchase points: Most of the reputed companies introduced purchasing based point systems for there customers. They are providing a membership card upon request and enter all the points that you are receiving from each shopping through there outlets. Later, these points will give you some discounts or free gifts. Find out apply and utilize if such facility exists. This feature is best for those prefer all purchases from a single shop in a day to day basis.

If all the above points are supportive to you to purchase an item and you still required to have the item as your own, this is the best time to move forward. All the above thoughts are the practices of intelligent buyers and I am sure the final decision will be a wise one.

Avoiding small mistakes while shopping not only give you worth to your money but also give value and worth to the item that you are purchasing. Be a wise shopper and not be a slave of shopping malls or outlets.

Your comments are most welcome. Please inform if you feel that I have missed any important points in this article which helpful to others. Your constructive criticisms are my best tool to add more quality article to this blog. You are also welcome to link this article if you have similar one in your blog to add more worth.

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Worst company collapses in US

Below are the list of US companies faced collapse due to lose or fraud which known as the biggest company collapses in the US history. These collapses given enormous lose and pain to number of investors and customers world wide and it made the eminent stock markets to run down for long time. Know about those biggest tragedies here:

1. Lehman Brothers: One of the biggest investment banking firm in US. the totla loss is $61,300 Cr. company established on 1844 and collapsed on 15th September, 2008.

2. Washington Mutual: An 119 years old eminent Mutual fund company. Total capital base of $30,700 Cr. Company has been acquired by JP Morgan Chase for $180 cr.

3. World com : Second largest company handling internet data in US. Established on 1983. Total lose estimated to $10,391 Cr. Files against bankruptcy on 2002 July, 21.

4. Enron Corporation: Biggest fortune 100 listed company engaged to electricity and gas industry. an estimated lose was $6,339 Cr. Collapsed on 2002 December 18.

5. Texaco: One of the largest oil company in US. Company established on 1901. Estimated total lose was $3,589 Cr. Texaco files for bankruptcy on 1987.

6. Refco: One of the biggest financial services company established on 1969.Total lose for the company was $3,333 Cr and files for bankruptcy on 2005 October 17. Refco's chief executive, Phillip Bennett, had been charged with defrauding investors sent to jail to serve 16 years term.

7. Conseco Inc: An insurance, investment and lending company filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 17, 2002, after a consolidated lose of $6139 Cr.

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Lehman, Merrill and AIG impact in India

Investors in India already worry on the newses on the collapse of major US financial firms, Merrill and AIG (American International Group Inc.) put them to utter panic on lose of there money invested through DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual funds and Tata-AIG. Still most of them doesn't have any idea about the future of there investments. Here is the exact story on how these collapses impact Indian investors:

To cool the mind of all Indian investors invested through DSP Merrill Lynch and AIG, "Your investments are very safe".

Banking circles says the Lehman-Merrill Lynch effect will be minimal for the banking sector in India. “India’s banking system is largely robust and secure compared to the US banking industry. Mainly, it is because public sector banks continue to be a dominant part of the banking system in India” says a banking sector consultant based in Mumbai.

According to a document from the Reserve Bank of India: “India’s implementation of the reforms process in banking has had several unique features. Our financial sector reforms were undertaken early in the reform cycle. Notably, the reforms process was not driven by any banking crisis, nor was it the outcome of any external support package.”

DSP Merrill Lynch investors are no need to worry because, DSP Merrill Lynch has very little to do with Merrill Lynch because, they have sold there share to BalckRock's, an another eminent financial firm, US arm by January 2008. It clearly saying that the money invested in the DSP Merrill Lynch has no link with Merrill Lynch's global company.

Tata-AIG investors need not worry as the financial conditions of insurance subsidiaries of AIG in India is stable, and they can meet all the liabilities arising out of the claims from the policy holders.

AIG is operating in both life and non-life insurance sector. In both the companies, Tata owns 74% stake each and AIG holds the rest 26%. With AIG facing the heat in US, IRDA has asked for a report from both Tata AIG Life Insurance Company and Tata AIG General Insurance Company on the development regarding one of its promoters AIG in the US.

IRDA said accounts of life insurance and general insurance companies promoted by Tata Sons and AIG as on March 31, 2008 indicate that both companies have satisfactory solvency margins, which suggest that it has enough assets to meet their liabilities. The IRDA further clarified that the life insurance and general insurance companies promoted by Tata Sons and AIG are companies registered under the Indian Companies Act and are bound by the provisions of the Insurance Act and other Regulations.

To simplify more, R. Kannan, member actuary of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) said that: “Currently, the solvency margin of the company (Tata AIG) is quite comfortable at 2.3 against the required level of 1.5. Moreover, business projections and capital infusion plan of the company are of small amounts of which AIG has to provide only 26%. We have asked for operational report from the life and general insurance businesses of Tata AIG. If the company keeps maintaining its solvency ratio, there will be no problem” he added
Thanks to various sources to prepare this article.

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SBI start eating customers money

The largest bank in government sector, State Bank of India start eating customers money in the form of commission upon depositing cash to a savings account from any non-home branch using core banking facility. Earlier, cash deposits up to Rs 50,000 at a non-home branch were free and millions availed of it as a means of sending money home. This action may be to increase bank’s income but, giving more burden as well as pain to a customer. It is a clear sign of greed and increase bank’s income by giving enormous pain to the huge, ordinary customer base

From September 1, any customer approaching to a non-home branch of SBI to deposit money to savings bank account, required to pay a commission of Rs. 2 per thousand or a minimum of Rs. 25 per transaction. This means, if you are depositing 500,000, you have to pay Rs. 1,000 as banks commission. This action not only gives more burden to customers, who are willing to deposit money from non-home branch using SBI’s highly praised core banking facility. As a big government sector bank in India, this action is extremely pathetic and a bad practice for other banks to follow the same path.

This action can’t be justifiable. For an example, if you are depositing Rs. 1000 to an account from a non-home branch to your account using core banking facility, they are charging a commission of Rs. 25. In an interest rate of 3.5% with the savings bank accounts, it will take enormous time to get this money back as interest on this Rs.1000. This is a huge lose for customers. Now customer required to be alert on the implementation of commission when they are depositing to there savings bank in the home branch itself.

What is the best action? The advantage of SBI is its networked ATM’s all over India to give you access to your money from any point. But, nowadays, most of the banks planning or started tie ups with other banks to provide free ATM facilities to there customers. It is the time to really think whether you want to keep the account and fixed deposits with SBI or identifying a bank who providing best facilities, to start banking with them. It is sure that more banks will follow the SBI path in near future to generate more income by eating customer’s money through implementing miscellaneous commission or other new charges.

This is the latest example for the banking pain in India.

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