Category: SponsoredPosts

( Disclosure : This post is sponsored by Royal Sundaram General Insurance)

There are many things in life which we take for granted and one of them is our health. Many believe that they would remain healthy forever. We know that this is not possible hence it is always advisable to have coverage via health insurance. In today’s times when there is a lot of consumption of junk food and increased usage of a sedentary lifestyle, it is always better to be insured via a good health insurance policy.

Your age, dependencies, health conditions, insurance premium to be paid, the network of hospitals which allows cashless hospitalization, health coverage, etc. are some of the important parameters that you should consider while looking for a health insurance policy. Royal Sundaram General Insurance also offers seamless migration to their insurance policy without any change in the insurance plan.

Health insurance cover from Royal Sundaram General Insurance is important for the following reasons

• Patients can avail cashless hospitalization in their growing network of hospitals.
• Depending on the insurance plan, pre-hospitalization and post-hospitalization charges are covered.
• Tax benefits in 80D of the Income Tax Act.

Depending on your requirements, you can opt for health insurance for yourself and your family members. While choosing a suitable insurance plan, health insurance calculator can come handy as it suggests you the best plan and approximate premium depending on your requirements.

Though many diseases are covered under health insurance, some of those diseases are not age-specific i.e. they can occur at any age. One such health problem is called Appendicitis (also called Appendix). Appendicitis is common between the ages of ten & thirty. Since Appendicitis is so common, it makes sense to have coverage for the same.

What is Appendicitis?

Appendicitis is a medical condition where the appendix gets inflamed. Some studies claim that appendix plays an important role in immunity of the gut, though these claims are not 100% proven. Though a person suffering from Appendicitis can live without an appendix, it does require immediate medical attention.

If the surgery is not done on time, the appendix which is swollen will burst and the infectious content will spill into the abdominal cavity thereby causing peritonitis.

Common Appendicitis symptoms

Before getting treatment for Appendicitis, it is important to know the symptoms. Some of the common symptoms of appendicitis are below

Pain near the belly button which is later felt in the abdominal area.

• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Swelling near abdomen
• A painful sensation when the patient takes a deep breath, coughs or sneezes

Diagnosis of Appendicitis

Generally, doctors ask for the medical history of the patient to check if the patient has any other problems. Doctors also suggest CT scan, abdominal examination, and ultrasound to do a root cause analysis of the Appendix.

In some scenarios, the diagnosis might take some time since the symptoms are not directly visible. Appendicitis might be related to illnesses in other parts of the body like gall bladder, urinary infection, etc.; this is where diagnosing Appendicitis becomes a bit tricky.

Hence, it is always advisable to consult good doctors so that diagnosis and treatment can be done at an early stage. However, the average cost of treating Appendicitis is around Rs. 40,000 which can be a bit expensive for many of us. Hence, it is recommended to opt for a health insurance cover which also has Appendicitis in the list. Royal Sundaram General Insurance has good health insurance plans at attractive premiums with cashless hospitalization cover for many illnesses including Appendix.

Conclusion

All of us work hard for having a bright and healthy future and growing medical expenses can ruin those plans. Hence you and your family members should have a good insurance cover so that your savings do not end up in the payment of doctor’s fees. Royal Sundaram General Insurance has attractive packages to suit different types of customers.

It is better to be insured so that you are rest assured!

(Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Vested Finance)

Holding a diversified portfolio is a prudent way to protect your returns during market downturns. There are four key types of diversification: asset class (debt, equity, real estate, etc.), industry, time (SIPs) and geography.

Until now, geographic diversification was a tedious and expensive process for Indian investors. But now with technology advancements, it is easier than ever to invest in global markets, specifically the US stock market, the largest equity market in the world.

This kind of geographic diversification not only helps protect against local macroeconomic conditions but also hedge against rupee depreciation.

Over the last decade, the US market has given superior returns when compared to the Indian stock market. There are two key reasons for this.

The first reason is that the US market has generally performed better than the Indian market. For comparison, lets look at the performance of the DOW Jones vs. the BSE SENSEX. Over the last 10 years, the DOW has returned 196%, while the SENSEX returned 150%.

The second reason is that the rupee has depreciated compared to the USD. In the past decade, the exchange INR to USD has declined by 39%. Compounded over 10 years, this makes a large impact on your returns.

Due to these two factors, the SENSEX, on a USD basis (USD based SENSEX is called the DOLLEX-30), grew only 80% over the last decade, making the performance gap even wider.

To read more about US investing and answers to common questions regarding how taxes would work and the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS), please visit our blog.

(Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Credit Sudhaar)

Travel is always exciting. Not only it lets one unwind but more importantly it lets one learn about culture, cuisine and above all self. Whether one is backpacking, going for adventure or hiking in jungles, travel is liberating.

Most of the urban dwellers travel during vacations owing to the school going kids and other wise work pressures. Since Diwali season is just round the corner and people may be planning to travel to fully optimize the vacation season, following are the must follow tips to keep a check on the finances.

Plan the cost of travel

Budget

The travellers do plan the cost and budget for the travel. However, it is only wise to have an extensive budgeting done. Many a times the travellers fail to take into account smaller expenses that clubbed together can inflate the cost. Expenses like a coffee break, eating out, local travel cost etc if are not planned properly then can result into a much higher expense. Buying souvenirs, tiny demands from kids etc add to the cost of travel, which usually get ignored while planning.

Hotels and travel

If one has missed on planning and booking way in advance then it will be prudent to look out for last minute deals. These can be as sweat as the one booked way in advance. At times these can even turn out to be cheaper. A good deal can help in bringing down the cost of vacation.

Stick to the budget

This is as an important task as would be efficient planning. Many a times the travellers just let the expenses go beyond the original budget. This naturally puts pressure on the following months’ budget and the available disposable cash for day to day expenses may get compromised.

Use credit card wisely

Stemming from the point of sticking to one’s budget, judicious spend on the credit cards is that one must adhere to. Ease at which the cards can be swiped generally make one go much beyond the planned and earmarked funds. The option to pay up in parts is another factor that makes one complacent and let go of the controlled usage of cards. Especially when one is having good time, the emotions are high and the travellers do tend to go over board. One must realize that the credit on cards comes with most high interest rate.

Plan for repayment of obligations

The travellers would also need to plan to meet their obligations on repayments. Whether it is the utility bill or an EMI of loan or the due date of credit card, one cannot afford to miss out on the payment dates. The bank account has to be adequately kept funded to avoid any misses. Not only missing the payments will attract penalties but non payment of loans and other credit outstanding can lead to low CIBIL score.

Travelling abroad

In case one is travelling abroad, then the following needs to taken into consideration to keep the costs under check.

Consider signing up an insurance cover

Medical emergencies can knock one down any time. While travelling abroad, if one is not covered for any such exigency and god forbid, in case of any such requirement, the financial implication can be devastating. The medical expenses if not covered can be financially draining.

Travel insurance

Travel insurance that is a low cost cover will help against the perils like loss of passport, other documents, delayed flights etc. It may only be prudent to get oneself covered.

Roaming on phone

Your local phone costs a lot if is used while roaming internationally. While some affordable packages have recently been rolled out by the service providers, it may be wise to compare these against the local phone connections. One can get the local phone numbers on the arrival in the destination country.

Follow the above points while planning your travel and safeguard your financial interests.

(Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Credit Sudhaar)

Buying a home is one of the most important financial decisions of one’s life.

One needs to be adequately prepared in terms of getting the papers in order and arranging funds for the down payment. Apart from this, one also needs to ensure that the conditions are right so that the Home loan application and approval process goes on smoothly.One needs to make sure that one is not only eligible for the home loan but also get the best home loan interest rates.

For this one needs to understand the factors that affects ones eligibility and make sure that these are favourable. Though different banks have their own distinct criteria for eligibility, the basic factors remain the same.

Age

Home loan providers have strict norms to evaluate your ability to pay off the loan in a certain period of time. The ability of a young person to pay back the loan will be far more than a retired person. A person between the age group of 25 to 45 years has more no. of working years ahead and hence considered more financially stable. Hence many financial institutions have a minimum and maximum age of the applicant that must be fulfilled.

Employment

Your academic credentials and current employment status has a major impact on the home loan eligibility criteria. The time period for which you have been employed, your current position in the company, growth prospects and stability are some factors that are reviewed by the lending institute before approving your home loan application. If you have switched too many jobs in the recent past, you may fail to impress the lenders. Lenders prefer people working in government jobs and traditional industries than new start-ups where the employment uncertainty is high.

Income

A steady source of income is a prerequisite for home loan application approval. The banks lend only to people who they are sure will have a regular flow of income for the entire tenure of the home loan. You will need to bring your salary slips for income proof to show that you are earning enough to afford the monthly EMIs. Higher your income, higher will be the amount of home loan that you can get approved for. Self-employed people or people with commission based jobs may find it difficult to get approvals.

Credit history

Your CIBIL score gives a picture of how you have handled your past obligations. If you pay your EMIs and credit card bills diligently you tend to have a high score.

Banks have very stringent norms when it comes to evaluation of your CIBIL score. They do not approve loans if your score doesn’t satisfy the minimum criteria set by them.

In order to have a high CIBIL score you must pay attention to the aspects that affect your CIBIL score calculation. Payment history, credit utilization ratio and length of credit history are some of the most important factors that affect CIBIL score calculation.

One needs to have a very high score to obtain home loans at competitive interest rates. A higher score reduces the default risk that the bank is exposed to. In case you do not have an impressive credit history, you may look for a co-applicant who has a good credit score.

Alternatively you can apply for subprime loans which offer loans to people with low credit score at a high rate of interest.

No credit score

If you haven’t taken any loans in the past, and do not own credit cards, you may not have any credit history. In such a scenario, banks won’t have any past history to base their decisions of whether they consider you a reliable borrower. Even if you think that you have the ability to repay the loan, banks may not sanction you a home loan because of absence of past credit history. So if you do not have any CIBIL score then pay attention to the factors that affect CIBIL score calculation and work towards building a credit score.

Too much debt

If you have too many loans in your credit report, your debt to income ratio will be high. When a large portion of your income is already used up in servicing past loan EMIs, banks may consider you a risky candidate and reject your home loan application. Pay down some of your existing loans before applying for a home loan to increase your eligibility.

Down payment

Banks usually sanction only 80% of the property value and the rest amount needs to be paid by the borrower as down payment. If you pay a higher down payment, the chances of loan approval become high.

In order to ensure that you are eligible for a home loan, you will need to pay attention to all these above factors. It is not at all an easy job, but definitely possible.

(Disclosure: This blog post is sponsored by Bajaj Finserv)

What do you do when you want to buy something? You probably surf around the internet and search for what you want. Well, similar is the case with Bajaj Finserv’s  website. The only difference is that they provide loan service to consumers instead of the consumable products.

Bajaj Finserv is one of the leading NBFC’s in the country focused on lending, wealth management, asset management and insurance. Bajaj Finserv has always been a research-centric company and provided best of solutions to their clients. As a result of their research, they felt a dire need to redesign their website to provide an improved and optimised consumer experience.

The new website has much better and handy interface, with multiple features like smart calculator, which makes it easier for consumers to find what they need. With easy to fill application forms and the upgraded search bar, consumers can access the information they are looking for without taking the trouble of searching every tab on the website.

Another thing that is impressive is the efforts taken by company to reduce the load time. We all know how annoying it is when a website buffers and imagine the same happening when you’re doing something which involves money. Therefore, buffer time is something that’s imperative to reduce and Bajaj Finserv has scored a 10/10 in it.

Further, Bajaj Finserv has published a plethora of content on their website to educate their audience about the diverse topics related to finance industry. Being a finance nerd myself, I couldn’t control my urge to go through their content to assess its quality. And, trust me when I say, Bajaj Finserv has published sublime content in the simplest way possible to educate their audience. Users can even subscribe to their weekly content, which is strategically send to the consumers with personalised changes.

Such dedication to improve buyer’s journey  and experience by a brand like Bajaj Finserv is a striking example, which proves that customer journey is what matters the most.

The short video below explains the website nicely: