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Tags: Credit Cards, Personal Finance

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Tags: Banking, Deposits, Personal Finance

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I found this interesting snippet circulated through email by ICICIDirect, which describes in simple anecdotes how Short Term Capital Gain/Loss works in India. I am posting it straight away, without any modifications.

1. Mr. Sharma purchased some securities on May 7, 2008 at a total cost of Rs. 100,000. On July 3, 2008, he sold these securities for Rs. 130,000. Here the Short Term Capital Gain, STCG (gain arising from sale of securities which is less than 12 months old) was Rs. 30,000 (a) and STCG tax (15% as per current laws) for this gain calculated to Rs. 4,500.

2. But Mr. Sharma had also purchased securities worth Rs. 90,000 on June 12, 2008 and had sold them at Rs. 45,000 on February 10, 2009. Hence there is a Short Term Capital Loss (loss arising from sale of securities which is less than 12 months old) was equal to Rs. 50,000 (b).

3. Now as per the tax laws, Mr. Sharma’s Short Term Capital Gain (a) is offset by Short Term Capital Loss (b). Hence there is no Short Term Capital Gains tax payable by Mr. Sharma for the financial year 2008-09. Also, he carried forward Rs. 20,000 loss for offsetting any Short Term Capital Gains he makes in the next 8 years.

Thus a person needs to pay STCG tax only for the difference between Short Term Capital Gain and Short Term Capital Loss if the difference is positive; no tax if the difference is zero or negative. Moreover, if the difference is negative, he can even carry forward and offset the loss to gains in the next 8 years, until the loss is completely used off to offset those gains.

Thanks to ICICIDirect.com

Tags: Investments, Mutual Funds, Personal Finance, Stock Markets, Taxation

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Most consumers face a major problem in paying off debts. Whether it is a serious debt problem or simply making minimum payments for a small debt, every consumer desires freedom from the clutches of debt. Once consumers find themselves unable to pay an exorbitantly large debt, they may consider filing for bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy declaration is a legal pronouncement of the inability of an individual or an organization to repay creditors. Through this legal provision, debtors settle debts by dividing non-exempt assets among other creditors. Once bankruptcy is declared, debtors are also able to discharge most of their financial obligations, following the distribution of non-exempt assets, despite their debts not having been repaid completely.

Declaration of bankruptcy need not be a prospect to fear even with all the negative connotations attributed to it. The purpose of bankruptcy declaration is essentially to provide an option for individuals and businesses unable to control their finances for assistance in managing their finances and paying off debts.

Bankruptcy Act offers a speedy alternative for getting out of debt. First timers are eligible to get out of bankruptcy and have all debts written off within nine months. But there are exceptions. The Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act states that a proposal or arrangement between debtor and creditors has to be filed by the trustee . This enables the debtor to pay off only a portion of his total debts, grant extended time to pay off the debt or a combination of both.

The Bankruptcy act classifies two types of debtors, in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 respectively. In the former, the debtor’s non-exempt properties are sold off to clear the debts. However debts including child support, student loans and taxes are not covered. For these cases, debtors have the option to restructure debts and pay them off by means of an appropriate repayment plan over the next few years.

Thus when you find yourself neck deep in debts, bankruptcy declaration presents the ideal means of minimizing the impact.

Tags: Bankruptcy Declaration - A Way To Get Out Of Debt!

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Press Release) April 8, 2004 –

Tags: A And J Finance

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 5th, 2005 at 2:23 am and is filed under Banking, Financial News, Investing, Saving Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “HSBC Online Savings Account interest rate now 4%”

1. Dolores Bartgis Says:
   July 12th, 2006 at 4:02 am I found a Peninsula Bank advertising 6.17% interest on 20 month cd’s and will add 1/4% point if you open a checking account brings it to 6.42% apy - that’s pretty good, don’t you think? I think this with this one you have to be a Florida resident - looks like interest is going to creep up slowly but surely. Well, that’s my news Grandma Dolores
2. My Personal Finance Blogger Says:
   July 18th, 2006 at 7:10 am That is very good. I’m not crazy about a 20 month term at this point however. Interest rates could continue to go up or could fall in the next few months. Still 6.42% is a good return for safe money.

Tags: Banking, Financial News, Investing, Saving Money

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Went to check my HSBC balance today and noticed they’ve bumped their interest rate to 4.25%. That’s the best I’ve seen anywhere and certainly kicks the crap out of Virtualbanks 3.55% rate. I imagine some of the other banks will follow suit shortly but so far I’ve been very happy with HSBC and plan to keep using them as my primary bank. I may even just close my Virtualbank account, especially now that I’ve linked my TreasuryDirect account to HSBC and Netbank.

Kind of a pity that my current 0% balance is coming due and we haven’t gotten any new offers. The best I’ve seen recently is 1.99% for the life of the balance which isn’t bad but is not enough of a return after tax to make it worth my while.

For those of you who don’t have an account already there is a $25 account opening bonus available. Details (courtesy of

Tags: Banking, Financial News, Investing

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Mittal (symbol MT), one of the stocks I hold in for my Investment Experiment just launched a surprise bid to buy the Arcelor, another huge steel company.

I have to admit this one took me completely by surprise. MT has been climbing recently well exceeding my $30 strike. This underscores the main risk of selling covered calls. If the stock moves up a large amount here I don’t get to participate in the gain. In essence I’ve already sold my shares for $30. (Actually a little more when you include the premium I received for the option.)

This has happened a few times to me in the past and always causes me to resist the urge to kick myself… I shouldn’t be too unhappy though, I am now virtually guaranteed roughly a 11% profit on my investment, on a stock I bought in mid November last year. I’ll take that any day and not cry over the missed opportunity.

According to my openportfolio I’m up over 9% year to date and 7% overall. I’m crushing the S&P by over 7% this year. That’s not bad. Again, no guarantee that I’ll continue my (short) winning streak. I am probably due for a loss anyway.

So, on option expiration day in Feb (Feb 17th) I’ll again be largely in cash. If there is an opportunity to do so profitably I may unwind my MT options and sell some more but that has typically not worked out for me in situations like this.

Time to do some more research and line up my next play.

Tags: Financial News, Investing, Investment Experiment

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Saw this in the NY Times… prosper.com is a relatively new site which matches lenders and borrowers in an online format.

I don’t currently carry any debt outside of our mortgage so I won’t be likely to use it for borrowing myself but I do plan on spreading some of my risk portfolio into these loans. The idea of being able to help people in need out just fits with where I am in life right now.  My plan is to spread my loans out among many borrowers with a mix of good and bad credit profiles (and lower or higher interest rates).  This should help alleviate risk and provide a better return than a savings account.
I’ve also started a group there called “PFBloggers”. It’s currently waiting for approval. Belonging to a group allows you to share in a payment reward system of up to 5%. This could lower your effective interest rate on the loan.

So, if you can’t get in on the 0% offers we often talk about and are carrying some high-interest credit card debt check it out. I’ll be giving preferential treatment to those who are in my group with the money I have to loan.

Tags: Financial News, Investing, Saving Money

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This is the first post of a series I’ll be doing on government and other public sources of solid financial information. I’ve added a category called Financial Information Resources which will contain all of the posts in the series. I’ll be characterizing and rating the sites based on the type of information they have as well as how valuable I found it to be. So without further delay, my guide to Financial Information Resources:

Site: MyMoney.gov
Provider: US Government
Type of information: General personal finance info including: Budgeting & Taxes, Credit, Financial Planning, Home Ownership, Paying for Education, Privacy, Fraud, & Scams, Responding To Life Events, Retirement Planning, Saving & Investing, Starting A Small Business
Languages: English and Spanish
Synopsis: The US Federal Government has developed a surprisingly good (if somewhat basic) reference site for financial information and to promote financial literacy. The impetus behind this was the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACT Act) of 2003. The information may seem like common sense to many of us who have taken it upon ourselves to become more educated about our money but in my opinion is a great place to start if you’re just now taking charge of your financial life.
My Ranking: 4.0/5 - The site provides a large collection of information regarding personal finance. The more advanced stuff is missing but isn’t really something I would expect to see here.

In the site’s words:

MyMoney.gov is the U.S. government’s website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education. Whether you are planning to buy a home, balancing your checkbook, or investing in your 401k, the resources on MyMoney.gov can help you do it better. Throughout the site, you will find important information from 20 federal agencies government wide.

About the site.

Title V of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACT Act) established the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (Commission) with the purpose of improving the financial literacy and education of persons in the United States. To reach the widest number of people possible, the Commission established a website and a toll-free telephone number to coordinate the presentation of educational materials from across the spectrum of federal agencies that deal with financial issues and markets.

I’ve ordered their MyMoney Toolkit, will review it’s contents when I receive it.

Tags: Banking, Credit Cards, Financial Information Resources, Financial News, Investing, Miscellaneous

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