Dear daughter, As we are engrossed in the preparations for your birthday, which is just a fortnight away, my mind keeps wandering back to that special day- the day you entered our lives. The memory of that day is still etched in my mind so vividly. Those tiny hands and feet transformed me completely. I felt emotions that I had…
As parents, you will realise how soon time flies. It always gives you great joy to see your little ones grow up so fast. Before you know it, they will be winning prizes at school for academic and extracurricular excellence. From a small sports day prize to their first degree at college, it is you who your kid will run…
Parenting has become a complex phenomenon, especially in this day & age. Modern parents would agree that kids of this generation are absolutely sure of what they want. They are smart kids. Therein lies the catch-22. We the “millennial parents” consider ourselves to be the smartest ones. After all, we have witnessed transition that our kids cannot even imagine, let…
Cover Note by definition is a document that acts as a temporary certificate until the actual policy is issued. It certifies that a person has a current insurance policy. However, the policy can even get canceled by the underwriting team during evaluation for issuance. Hence, it is different from the policy issuance document. Having said that, the Cover Note is…
Introduction: If you are a prudent financial planner, certain financial goals will feature on your list, in varying degrees of priority. These usually include the goals of debt reduction, the building of a corpus for early retirement, increasing your present cash-flow, tax savings & creating an emergency savings fund, among other possible financial goals. Depending on your lifestyle, desires and…
Introduction: When you first enter the world as a professional, your salary getting credited to your account gives you a sense of achievement. And it is! Except when you realise that your salary and the actual amount you take home are very different. This is because the salary that actually gets credited to your account is the net amount after…
We all have career aspirations to achieve; thus it’s very important to build the right foundation to achieve our aspirations. As you go higher up the career ladder, you’ll undoubtedly enjoy more benefits like a bigger bonus and a higher salary. And when your income levels rise, the tax you need to pay also shows a corresponding increase. Without careful…
One of my favourite pastimes is to sit in my balcony garden with a cup of tea, an atlas and my travel journal. These are times; I love to dream and lose myself in faraway lands while planning my next travels. My wish list? It’s an ever-growing list. The more I read and see photos, the more places I keep…
One of the questions that I am always asked is, “Lakshmi, how do you fund all your travels?” The general assumption is that all the trips are sponsored. However, most of the trips are personal and spent from my own travel budget that I prepare zealously every year. I weave my travel calendar around the budget and alternate between trips,…
Today, investment planning is as important as earning. And why is that? In a volatile world like this, you never know what’s coming next for you. There might be an unexpected expense or rise in inflation, and all of this can create a financial imbalance in your life. The way you can deal with all these uncertainties is by investing…