Sunday, October 19, 2008

5 Mantras to survive slowdown From Stock Market

K.F. Sahiwala

Hi Folks ! This is an interesting article from rediff the linked of the same has been mentioned above .Investors in the stock market and mutual funds have already seen great erosion in their wealth. That is, the Sensex is down from the highs of January, when it was over 20,000 points, to close at a dismal 9,975.35 points this Friday -- down a whopping 50 per cent in just 10 months.
And the last 20-25 per cent decline in the stock market has been so swift that it has taken just seven trading sessions to achieve this feat.
To top this, the entire banking and financial system is under a lot of duress. There is a crisis in terms of confidence, with banks sometimes unwilling to lend short-term money to other banks and companies.
Does this mean that we are headed for doom and nothing can be done about it? Certainly not, in fact, the great news is that there are steps that we could possibly take now to better prepare ourselves for some tough times ahead.
Though there is no silver bullet or short-cut that can save you from a financial crisis of such nature, because no asset can protect itself or generate real returns in a panic situation, there are some key things that a family can do to ensure that they are ready to weather these uncertain times.


Step one: Stay Calm. Don't panic and make rash decisions. Even though you know that selling shares of good companies or mutual funds is the worst thing to do, it is often the first thing that comes to your mind.
Of course, this is not to say that if there is money in high-risk, high-return mid-or small-cap funds or stocks, you should not move them. But take a call after you have properly analysed losses that would have incurred in the process.
Yes, these are times when you have to be more alert, but translating your alertness into immediate action need not be necessary. You should opt for rational decisions in such times.


Step two: Just a while ago, you would have got calls from head hunters and felt ultra-confident about yourself.
But with changing times, it is more likely that these calls will slow down, and so will hikes being offered by companies that are recruiting. Even your own company may not give much of a hike in the next year. But it's time that you do not look at hikes and increments. Instead, be defensive about your existing job.
There are several ways of doing this -- right from taking in more responsibilities to improving your skill sets. This could mean putting in more hours, if possible, and working harder and smarter. Be prepared for situations, where your company is pruning its existing workforce and more workload may be coming your way.


Step three: Create a contingency fund aggressively, if you have not already done so. It is far more important now to have that additional cushion. Have at least 4-12 months of expenses in the liquid form, that is, in savings account and fixed deposits, at all points of time.
If only a single member of the family is working then it is imperative to have more funds in the emergency kitty. Additionally, take stock of what you can sell in such markets without incurring a loss.
Can you borrow against fixed deposits, take a loan against your LIC [Get Quote] policy and withdraw from PPF or EPF? Do you have gold that you could possibly sell? Evaluate all possibilities and be ready for all contingencies.


Step four: Perhaps, not taken too seriously, but the most important point -- reduce your expenses. There are two types of expenses: mandatory (groceries, child's education, home loan) and voluntary (entertainment, vacation, eating out and others).
While there might be no way of scaling down mandatory expenses, voluntary ones can certainly be scaled down.
However, even dealing with your mandatory expenses smartly can help matters. For instance, if you have high-interest home loans (most would have gone up to 12.25 per cent), you can look at refinancing it as there are banks that will offer you a loan for around 10.00-10.5 per cent.
This can result in a reduction of the equated monthly instalment (EMI) and improve your cash flows.
But it comes at a cost. So you will need to do a cost-benefit analysis of the loan transfer before going for it.
If you are paying very high interest rates on credit cards and personal loans, you could do a 0 per cent balance transfer for three months (or slightly more), but refrain from using them till you clear the debt.
If you really need to raise cash, opt for relatives instead of institutions or use your fixed deposits, real estate and other investments.


Step five: Have a proper savings budget and continue with your investments in PPF, EPF, SIPs and gold. Most importantly, this is not the time to be adventurous for investing in short-term equity.
Doing all the above means you are much better prepared to tackle the bad times. It's important to pre-empt rather than take drastic measures in the future.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Rise of Towers in Metropolis

K.F. Sahiwala


Hi Folks! This is very absurd of high rising towers in the city. It only includes modernisation and Sanghai view look to our city. The chief problem is it actually adds to our fatigue and causes ill-heatlh to our lives. The high rise could not be beneficial to our health as the degree of temperatures and weathers varies certain degrees as proportional to the heights.

People living on the top floors has to suffer from many health problems as the temperatures differs from the surface of the base. Not to say, about natural calamities like catastrophe, earth quakes. The high rise is only the sign of growing population of our city.
In ancient age, People used to say that the KALYUG will definately will come and in this stage people will not get the roof to live and they live above the heads of one another. So this high rise is only the sign of the KALYUG.

I had seen many sky srappers coming up around in our city and amazed to see such a hugh high rise. The floors of the hight rise or rather windows of each floors looks like the buttons from the down when viewed from the bottom. It simply makes me difficult to see such towers from down as my eyes gets stained or neck gets pained to view up to the top.

Tody evey citizens are in the favour of high rise towers. I can give the best example of GRAND PARADI at Kemps Crner area The towers has been itself builf on a cliff which is 50 to 55 inch high and on that the hugh tower has been build and not to say about the LIFTS. When there is no power, one has to climb or to come down with their own feet.

There is a lopsided or rather unilateral development in our city which causes great woe's to our people. Day by Day new rises are coming up with no equal to our today's transport systems.
On the contrary, Trains should get double or triple deckers coach as to accomodate to these citizens of our city. Many BEST Buses convert from Double Decker to Single Deckers causing great inconvience and adding more to our woe's of the people.

Monday, October 13, 2008

The Two sides of the same Coin

K.F. Sahiwala
Hi Folks! I observed if someone comes to you for any purpose , they are there for you for their own privilidges and comforts. And once there work will get over, they will not see you from back also. They will always show you or rather tells you the benefits, advantages or likeness of that particlar issue for which they have come up.

The best instance is of the salesman , In his sakes talk he will narrate all his advantages of his products and services. Another is the nupital get toghter where a groom's ralatives will always give his best examples to their bride's relatives. The hidden cost i.e. disadvantages never been shown or rather it comes up after that situtation gets over and finally one has to repent the whole life whether in terms of the products or from the life partner.

Everone talks of their own good things or work. No one shows the hidden weakness lying in himself. I can narrate the good example of a sales man who was true and honest in his sales approach. When asks for his competitors he always used to appreciate and encouraged his clients of his competitors. He always sees the budget of his client and also the requirement. If someone was not having requirment he used to say why waste money to buy his proiduct he can also go without his products and finally after a short period of time his sales grows like leaps and bounds.
I can tell one good example of my own self, where I had been invited for the inaugauration for the launch of a new bank produts i.e internet banking. The Branch manager and the guests presents in the meetings gave a very wonderful sppech about their new produts to make an ease for their clients to use internet banking at home without going in to the bank. After the meeting they were clled upon to their customers to say something for any problems. I spoke and said that it is very nice and thanks for coming out of the new products. Besides advantages there lies hindrances underlying the products, when it is used practically like anytning come accross like net problems, server problems, slow download speed etc and etc.

So, these points were not been narrated in their beautiful speech. In every situation there are two sides of the same coins. If anyone used to give some relief to you in return you have to pay its price for it. As it goes with antibiotics it cures your disease but on the other side it gives you side effects also.